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SC hikes rate for DDA acquisitions in 3 villages
Ansals’ statement on Uphaar tragedy
Money lender killed in Naraina
HC stays merger of boys and girls schools
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Expect rain by Monday
CAG frowns on poor control of sex diseases
ICSSR staff to demonstrate on August 9
Jaundice cases swell in Ghaziabad
Residents troubled by irregular power supply
Cancellation of Yash Chopra’s studio revoked
Olympics pop album released
Misuse of press stickers
Kapil Dev interacts with Amity students
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SC hikes rate for DDA acquisitions in 3 villages
New Delhi, August 7 The villagers of Kondli, Gharoli and Dallupura should be paid the compensation at the rate of Rs 76,550 per bigha plus 10 per cent escalation cost, a Bench comprising Justice Shivaraj V Patil and Justice B N Srikrishna said. However, the court rejected the formula of calculating the cost at the rate of Rs 345 per sq yard, saying that the land owners were entitled to statutory benefits available to them under the Land Acquisition Act on the compensation amount as modified. The DDA had issued a notification for acquisition of the land in November 1980 and fixed the compensation rate at Rs 8,500 per bigha, which the villagers had challenged in the Delhi District Court, contending that it was grossly inadequate. The District Judge had enhanced it to Rs 76,500 per bigha. Still not satisfied, the villagers moved the Delhi High Court, which had devised altogether a different mechanism for calculating the compensation at the rate of Rs 345 per sq yard and the amount per bigha thus would have been Rs 3.45 lakh per bigha. The DDA had sought modification of the High Court order on the ground that the compensation had earlier been paid at the rate of per bigha not per sq yard, which was accepted by the apex court but by giving 10 per cent hike in the compensation as awarded by the District Judge. Probe sought into defunct societies The Apex Society of Legal Awareness has demanded an inquiry into the revival of 80 defunct societies for the purpose of land allotment by the DDA. In a memorandum to Lieutenant Governor B L Joshi, ASLA president S.K. Agarwal said the nexus between these societies, some of which were registered way back in 1966, and the authorities behind the proposed allotment of land should be probed. It was pointed out that while some societies, which have completed all their formalities, have their requests pending for the last 15-20 years, these obscure societies all of a sudden were being considered for land allotment against all norms, he added. Demanding that no institution henceforth is allotted land at concessional rates and, instead, it is given through auction, the ASLA said connivance of builders, politicians and bureaucrats was leading to corruption creeping into the system. Pointing towards several lacunae in the land distribution system of the DDA, the ASLA said the agency’s policies were being stretched to mint money through joining of hands with unscrupulous builders. |
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Ansals’ statement on Uphaar tragedy on Aug 26
New Delhi, August 7 Additional Sessions Judge Mamata Sehgal fixed August 26 to record the statements of the accused, including Ansal brothers, the owners of Uphaar Cinema that was gutted on June 13, 1997. The court recorded the statements of 115 witnesses out of which eight turned hostile. The CBI, which investigated the case, had produced a list of 191 witnesses. The rest of the witnesses were dropped during the course of the trial. The court had framed charges against 16 accused, including proprietors of Ansal properties – Sushil Ansal and Gopal Ansal – for their alleged involvement in the Uphaar fire tragedy. The other accused in the case include PWD engineer SN Dandona, cinema hall director RM Puri, cinema hall managers KL Malhotra, RK Sharma, NS Chopra and Ajit Chaudhary, DVB officials AK Gera, BM Satija and Beer Singh, MCD officials ND Tiwari and Shyam Sunder Sharma, Delhi Fire Service officials HS Panwar and Surinder Dutt besides balcony usher Manmohan Unniyal. Sushil Ansal has also been charged under Sections 337 and 338 of the IPC and Section 14 of the Cinematograph Act. Gopal Ansal, SN Dandona, ND Tiwari (MCD), Shyam Sunder Sharma (MCD), HS Panwar (Delhi Fire Service) and Surendra Dutt (DFS), all face charges similar to that of Mr Sushil Ansal. The Director of the cinema hall, RM Puri, manager KL Malhotra, Radha Krishen Sharma, NS Chopra, Ajit Chaudhary and Manmohan Unniyal have all been charged by the CBI under Sections 304, 337, 338 of IPC and Section 14 of the Cinematography Act. Brij Mohan Satija, AK Gera and Bir Singh, all officials of the Delhi Vidyut Board, have been charged under Sections 304, 337 and 338 of IPC.  |
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Money lender killed in Naraina
New Delhi, August 7 The police said that there were no visible injury marks on him and the suspects are likely to have known the victim. Since the accused was in the business of money lending for the last 20 years, he could have had some problems with his business associates. The police also said that the entry looked friendly and there was no ransacking in the house. The police also questioned his sister-in-law, who is residing near his house, and his neighbours to ascertain information about the incident. Gang of dacoits busted With the arrest of six persons, the North East district police today claimed to have busted a gang of dacoits who used to commit road robbery and dacoities. The accused were identified as Samim, Naushad, Sabbu alias Intezar, Amir alias Meeru, Badre Alam and Jainul Abedin. Two country made pistols along with two live cartridges and four knives were recovered from their possession. The accused were arrested from behind the DTC terminal, Shahadra, where they had assembled to plan a dacoity. During interrogation they disclosed their involvement in a number of robberies and dacoities in Delhi and Ghaziabad, the police said. In another case, the police arrested Bittoo, a resident of Baghpat, and recovered one stolen Hero Honda Splendor motorcycle from his possession. The police claimed to have worked out two motor vehicle theft cases with his arrest. He was arrested from Durga Mandir in Welcome Colony when he was going to Shahadra to meet one of his associates. During interrogation he disclosed that he was unemployed and to earn quick money he had started stealing vehicles.
Pharma co director nabbed in funds case The Economic Offences Wing claims to have arrested the director of Paam Pharmaceuticals for siphoning of Rs 50 crore in connivance with the directors
of the company. The accused, who had been evading arrest, was nabbed on August 6
and was identified as Mukesh Bhargava. The sleuths have also arrested three other
directors, Anil Bhargava, Arvind Bhargava and Prabha Rani Bhargava. The accused persons had adopted a unique modus operandi to usurp public money by manipulating the accounts to misappropriate the stocks hypothecated with the consortium of three banks — PNB, UTI and IndusInd Bank. According to the police, these three banks had
provided credit facilities of Rs 50 crore in 1997 to the accused. But the directors later claimed to have destroyed drugs worth Rs 16.54 crore in 1998 and drugs worth
Rs 33.87 crore in 1999, claiming that the drugs had expired. However, during the investigation the sleuths found that the certificates issued by the Inspectors of Drug Control Department were fake and arrested assistant drug controller S.N. Gupta and drug controller D.D. Upreti of Uttranchal. |
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HC stays merger of boys and girls schools
New Delhi, August 7 Justice C.K. Mahajan issued a notice to the Delhi Government on a petition contending that the merger of Lajpat Nagar Boys School with Lajpat Nagar Girls School was in violation to its own policy. The petition filed by Ramesh Chaddha, whose two sons were studying in the boys school, said the merger would put an extra burden on one school leading to hardship, including infrastructure and sanitation problems, not only for the students but also for the teachers. Advocate Avik Datta, appearing for the petitioner, contended that the March 25, 2004, policy of Delhi Government clearly stated that no boys and girls schools would be merged. It was pointed out that the merger of the two schools by the July 8 order is in violation of the policy. The court has fixed October 8 as the next date of hearing. Engineering college in Geeta Colony The construction of an engineering college in Geeta Colony will begin at year-end. Finance and Urban Development Minister AK Walia said that an “East Campus” would be set up in Surajmal Vihar, also in East Delhi. This campus would be that of the Guru Gobind Singh Indraprastha University. The work of constructing the engineering college will cost Rs 27.35 crore. It will admit up to 800 students and offer courses in computer science, electronics and communication, information technology and mechanical engineering. The minister said architects and project management consultants are being appointed in order to process the finalisation and approval of the detailed plans and designs from the various statutory authorities and preparation of detailed estimates.
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Expect rain by Monday
New Delhi, August 7 The Indian Meteorological Department’s forecast shows rain by Monday. According to the IMD officials, there is a pocket of upper air circulation over west Madhya Pradesh and Rajasthan and a western disturbance passing over Jammu and Kashmir; when these systems cross, Delhi would get rain. Haryana, Punjab and other parts of the western plains were also likely to have rain under the influence of these systems, it was pointed out. |
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CAG frowns on poor control of sex diseases
New Delhi, August 7 In its report for 2002-03, the CAG points out the shortfalls in setting up STD clinics as well as in supply of both condoms and essential drugs by the Government of NCT of Delhi. The number of AIDS cases in the Capital increased from 359 in December 1999 to 862 in October 2003 while the sero-positive rate of HIV infection rose from 3.81 per thousand in 1999 to 18.87 per thousand till 2002 end in the cases surveyed by the National Sentinel Surveillance, the CAG notes. It says the supply of condoms fell short of the requirement during 1998-99 to 2002-03. In a survey conducted by the ORG Centre for Social Research in 2002, only 23.4 per cent non-brothel based commercial sex workers reported consistent use of condoms with non-paying partners. Observing that STD increases the chances of HIV infection and its control forms a key component strategy in the battle against AIDS, CAG regrets that the Delhi State Aids Control Society could add only one STD clinic during the five-year period against the target of 30 clinics. The Society strengthened only seven of the 41 blood banks functioning in the Capital. No training in blood transfusion practices was given to blood bank officers and laboratory technicians till March 2003, CAG says. |
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ICSSR staff to demonstrate on August 9
New Delhi, August 7 The demonstration will be held during lunchtime at the ICSSR Headquarters, a press release issued here today said. The demonstrators also alleged that there was rampant corruption in the ICSSR. In the line of fire are services including hiring of taxi services, running of the guesthouse, purchase of computers and their maintenance and foreign visits. The 50-60 members of the ICSSR Employees Welfare Association said they had, on July 21, approached the ICSSR chairman who assured them that he would look into their demands within 48 hours, but nothing had been done so far. They said they had also approached President Dr A.P.J. Abdul Kalam and Human Resource Development Minister Arjun Singh in this regard. The employees are also demanding that the 21 messengers regularised from 1993 be given the benefit of past services from the date of their initial joining. |
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Jaundice cases swell in Ghaziabad
Ghaziabad, August 7 According to the district hospital sources, as many as 705 cases of jaundice had been found in the district last year. Month-wise figures indicate that during January 2003, 70, during February, 77, March, 43, etc making up a total of 705. During the current year, 55 cases were reported in January, 44, in February 43, in March and April, 104, in May and in June symptoms of jaundice were found in 100 patients. If we include the jaundice cases found in private hospitals, these figures will swell to over 1,500. Senior Physician Dr S. K. Sindhai said that the root cause of increasing cases of jaundice is the supply of impure water to the people. It is only due to contaminated water that cases of jaundice are on the increase. On an average five to seven people come to hospital for treatment of jaundice daily. The Nagar Nigam and Palika Parishads are just doing a formality of supplying water to people, which was highly contaminated and polluted, said Dr Manoj Verma. Bride gets the boot for dowry Noida: A newly wedded woman was beaten up and thrown out from the house by her in-laws in Mumbai for her failure to bring in Rs 2 lakh and a Maruti Esteem car in dowry. The parents of the victim lives in Sector-15A, Noida, lodged a report in Sector-20 police station. In his complaint, Vijay Gupta, the father of the victim, a resident of Sector 15-A, stated that he After beating her up, they threw Ritu out of the house. The police have registered a case against Ritu’s husband Amit, father in-law Rakesh Aggarwal, mother in-law Reshmi, sister in-law Rachna and S. K. Aggarwal. Police are investigating into the case. Man bobitised Bulandshahr: Driven by lust, a man tried to rape his niece in Badalpur village under Kakode police station. The victime reportedly severed his sex organ with a sickle in self-defence. According to report, Prem Veer of Badalpur, scaled the wall of his elder brother’s adjacent house at mid-night and tried to rape his niece sleeping in the courtyard. On being attacked with sickle, he gave out a shriek. Before other family members could come to
the scene, the elder niece hit him with club, used for washing cloth, on
his head. Prem Veer was thoroughly thrashed before being handed over to the police. |
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Residents troubled by irregular power supply
Faridabad, August 7 While there has been no official communication about the increasing power cuts in the last three days, it was believed that continuing problem in the Northern Grid was responsible. Sources in the Dakshin Haryana Bijli Vitran Nigam claimed that the cut had been mainly due to short supply, as result of problems in the Northern Grid and the main power project in Himachal Pradesh. A representative of the industries association also expressed concern over the continuing irregular power supply. He said the authorities had already imposed cuts in power supply to the industrial units. Now, the unscheduled power supply would hit hard the productions in majority of the units here. A member of the local Beopar Mandal also claimed that the irregular power cuts was proving to be harmful for the commercial activities, besides adversely affecting their daily routine. ‘Sarkar Apke Dwar’ programme Presiding over the ‘Sarkar Apke Dwar’ programme at Mindkola village of the district last evening, the Chief Minister, Mr O. P. Chautala, announced that the government would continue to provide amenities such as potable water supply to those villages, which were ready to deposit at least 10 per cent of the funds required for the project. Mr Chautala said the government would provide drinking water facilities under the ‘Swajaldhara’ scheme to those village whose Panchayats were able to deposit the required amount. He said the government would bear 90 per cent expenses on such schemes. The Chief Minister heard the grievances of the
villagers in the Taoru Assembly segment and promised to redress them as soon as possible. He also announced that the government would provide an Anganwadi–cum-training centre and a stadium in those villages, which were able to deposit Rs 25,000 and Rs 75,000 respectively with the authorities concerned. However, it is not known how many village panchayats have come forward to take benefits of the schemes. Mr Chautala also reminded the gathering of the conditions attached for the upgradations of the schools in the villages. He, however, added that the government would soon take up the repair works of roads and replacement of ‘weak’ power lines and transformers in the rural areas. There are 23 villages of Hathin block and 94 villages of Nuh block in the Taoru Assembly segment.
Haryana Cong gets new
general-secretary The Congress president, Mrs Sonia Gandhi, has appointed Mr Anand Kaushik of Ballabhgarh as the general-secretary of the Haryana unit of the party. Mr Kaushik was also the member of the All India Congress Committee and has been actively involved in the political activities in the region. Several local leaders and activists of the party, including Mr V.D Saluja and Mr Baljeet Kaushik, have welcomed the appointment.
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Cancellation of Yash Chopra’s studio revoked
Noida, August 7 Mr Yash Chopra had met Noida Chairman-cum-CEO Dev Dutt Sharma yesterday, when Noida Authority agreed to restore the Aditya Studio for which Yash Chopra will be paying Rs 7.20 lakh as restoration fee. Aditya is located on a 1200 sq mt (Plot No 8) in Film City, Sector-16-A Noida. Yash Chopra is scheduled to present full details of the projects and programme of studios on a stamp paper on August 9. The allotment of Aditya studio was cancelled as the studio was being misused for social functions like marriages etc and no bonafide film production activity was ever organised there. The plot was allotted on March 26, 1988 and by March 25, 1990 first phase of construction had been completed. The second stage and third stage were to be completed by March 31, 1991 and March 31, 1993 respectively. But on March 31, 1994 Noida Authority officials had found that stage II and III had not been completed. |
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Olympics pop album released
New Delhi, August 7 Hailing from 15 different countries across four continents, contributors to ‘Unity’ include Lenny Kravitz, Sting, Destiny’s Child, Avril Lavigne, Tarkan and Kadim Al Sahir. With an underlying theme of harmony and peace most of the 16 tracks of the album feature two or more artists performing together. In association with the release of the album, EMI Music will donate at least US $1,80,000 towards UNICEF’s vital HIV/AIDS programmes in sub-Saharan Africa. In all, there are three official Athens 2004 Olympic Games albums. In addition to ‘Unity’, ‘Harmony’ is the official Athens 2004 Olympic Games classical album and ‘Phos’ is the official Athens 2004 Olympic Games Greek album. |
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Misuse of press stickers
Noida, August 7 During his surprise visit to Noida recently, the IGP had found that cops were not seen on duty on the roads. As a result, vehicle checking operations are being conducted with renewed vigour. A large number of people were known to be misusing the “press” stickers. SSP J. N. Singh has ordered Noida police to start checking vehicles with ‘press label” and challan them if they are found to be violating any law. |
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Kapil Dev interacts with Amity students
New Delhi: Amity School of Mass Communication, New Delhi, and Amity School of Event Management conducted a week-long orientation programme for its new batch of students from August 2 to August 6.
Mr Kapil Dev, former Indian cricket captain also interacted with the students.—TNS |
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