The Tribune, Chandigarh, India - Delhi and neighbourhood

CISF draws up security plan for DJB plants
Alert on terror attack, biological contamination
Tribune News Service

New Delhi, July 23
The CISF has prepared a proposal for providing multi-tier security to vital water installations under the Delhi Jal Board (DJB) in view of a threat perception of terror attacks and biological contamination.

The paramilitary force has drawn up a detailed proposal for securing the Hyderpur, Bhagirathi and Wazirpur water treatment plants here after the DJB approached it following an alert from the Delhi Police.

“We sought help from the CISF which has the expertise to provide security to industrial units after being warned by the Delhi Police of the threat to our plants,” DJB sources said.

The CISF, which conducted a comprehensive survey of the DJB installations over the past one month to ascertain the kind of protection needed, has concluded that its facilities are vulnerable and warrant a tight security cover, the sources said.

The force has recommended the deployment of 300-odd personnel armed with hi-tech gadgetry to provide “overall security” to the civic body’s water treatment plants, source said.

“The survey has been completed. We are in the process of forwarding the proposal to the Union Home Ministry for security and financial clearance,” the sources added.

However, the job would not be easy for the CISF as almost all of the treatment plants are not fenced and the force would have to start from scratch, including the erection of watch towers and making arrangements for lighting, the sources said.

Realising this fact, a senior official of the DJB said, “The DJB is not averse to even having the security on a mix and match basis — half of our men and half of CISF personnel.”

Meanwhile, the DJB board, which met here on Friday, has cleared a proposal for deploying CISF personnel on contract basis.

“Power theft rampant in affluent colonies”
Tribune News Service

New Delhi, July 23
The PHDCCI has discovered that there is considerable theft of power in affluent colonies of the Capital. The PHDCCI discovered that the distribution companies had theft tracking system and concrete information on power rolled out and billed for at each transformer and the consumers connected to various transformers in each area. They are also transparent in sharing the zone level data on billing and losses. The discoms have been providing this data on a monthly basis to the DERC.

Accordingly, the PHDCCI took the lead and sought transformer level data in relation to HT load, LT Loads and billing etc for various districts in the city. The NDPL, a Tata company, has taken the lead and has made public transformer-wise losses being incurred by the company for its region of operation exclusively to the PHDCCI. The NDPL has also promised to provide data with names of people connected to the highest loss incurring transformers.

It is surprising that despite such a strong evidence of theft of power in affluent colonies of the city no action is being taken against the wrongdoers. It has been further found out that even the jhuggiwalas are not stealing power. They pay for the electricity but the money is not going back into the system, a release claimed.

The AT & C losses in some districts are as high as 69 per cent. The AT & C loss for the past one year in Burari was 68.8 per cent; 66.03 per cent in Pooth Kalan and 65.55 per cent in Karala. Zones where losses are very low are Rohini (7.83 per cent), Civil Line (9.6 per cent) and Keshavpuram (10.63 per cent).

Mr Kamal Meattle, Chairman, Environment Committee, PHDCCI, has informed none of the political parties favour power theft and have assured their support in stopping theft of power.

The PHDCCI has urged the Delhi Government to take urgent measures to stop power theft in Delhi as the rampant power theft by the more affluent sections of our society are causing undue burden on honest customers who have to bear the burden of losses suffered by the discoms. The PHDCCI is also requesting the DERC to share information on tariff fixation methodology to ascertain the impact of losses on tariff and requests the discoms, the DERC and the Delhi Government to jointly work out a programme to zero in and punish the dishonest. According to the PHDCCI, there is an urgent need for establishing an enforcement cell with adequate teeth to identify, try and penalise the thieves of power.

Even the Electricity Act 2003 prescribes stringent action against those indulging in power theft and mandates the state governments to set up special courts to try and penalise the guilty. The PHDCCI is of the view that if electricity theft is checked Delhi will no longer be a power deficient city. The PHDCCI, according to an internal study, has estimated that if thefts are checked and CFLs and electricity-efficient electronic chokes replace the currently in use copper chokes there will be no power cuts in Delhi in 2007.

NHRC sends 15-day notice to DGP, Noida SSP
Takes stock of false murder case against husband
Parmindar Singh

Greater Noida, July 23
The National Human Rights Commission has asked the Director-General of the UP Police and the SSP of Noida to file a reply within 15 days about the police role in the Anita case, which hit the headlines recently.

The Greater Noida police had sent Anita’s husband Rakesh to jail six months ago on the charge that he had killed Anita. But Anita was found hale and hearty in her brother-in-law’s house. A case was filed by Rakesh’s parents against Anita, her parents and brother-in-law.

Now, the police say that investigations show that Anita was sold off. But, according to observers, the case is full of twists which can land the cops in a tight spot.

The main question is that if Anita was alive and kicking then why was her husband sent to jail. Secondly, whose body was it which had been identified by Anita’s father as that of hers?

Finding itself in a bind, the police have now based their case on statements of Anita that she was given some drug-laced eatables. The police have changed the case from that of murder to kidnapping and attempt to sell off Anita.

Meanwhile, Anita’s father Mohinder has been sent to jail on the charge of falsely identifying a body as that of his daughter. Mukesh, brother of Rakesh, had filed a complaint with the National Human Rights Commission, alleging that the Noida police had sent his innocent brother to jail by implicating him in a false murder case.

Viewing the case seriously, the NHRC shot off a notice to the DG, UP Police, and the SSP, GB Nagar.

The SP (Rural), Mr Sudhir Kumar Singh, said that Anita’s statement that she had been sold was verified and found correct.

Cops fail to arrest land shark
Our Correspondent

Noida, July 23
In spite of senior IAS officer and Revenue Board member T. George Joseph’s strong indictment of the police force, the latter have failed to arrest the accused in land scams.

Mr Joseph, who is the inquiring into land scams by Moti Goel in Ghaziabad and GB Nagar, said that without the arrest of the accused filing an FIR and registering a case had little significance.

Mr George Joseph has now called for a full report from the SDM and threatened to report lapses in the case at the highest government level.

Land shark Moti Goel has got 206 hectares land in Kasna, Dharabara, Haldauni, Shahpur, Govardhanpur, Amarpur, Chak Besantput, Nangli Nogla, Tughalkpur transferred in his name and those of his relatives through revenue officials, lekhapal, kanungos, the registrar, the tehsildar and the SDM. The land thus registered in government records is worth Rs 2200 crore.

Moti Goel is known to have got farmers’ land along with panchayat land transferred in his and his relatives’ names. All this land was in the possession of Moti Goel.

But the panchayat lands have been retrieved and handed over to respective panchayats. FIRs have also been lodged in various police stations against the 1206 accused. But after arresting 16 accused, the police seem to have developed cold feet as the remaining accused have not been arrested so far..

Additional DM Rajesh Kumar Yadav said after inquiry the land has been registered in the names of panchayats. The administration has filed FIRs against all accused in the police stations concerned. Now, action was to be taken by the police, ADM said..

According to informed sources, Moti Goel was still in illegal possession of over 100 bigha land in Bijhore, Morna, and Barola. Neither the district administration nor the Noida Authority have shown any interest in retrieving this land. Four former Noida Authority CEOs are known to have written about getting the land in Bijhore freed from Moti Goel but no action has been taken.

Artscape
A festival in honour of the monsoon
Ravi Bhatia
Tribune News Service

“Torso and Clouds” by Kanchan Chander

New Delhi, July 23
What better way to greet the monsoons than to hold a festival in its honour? This is exactly what Red Earth in collaboration with Alliance Francaise de Delhi is doing. From July 28 to August 3, the festival will present varied interpretations and narratives of the monsoon in visual art, music, theatre, cinema and readings.

According to the organisers, monsoon holds a special place in the Indian heart. “An omnipotent creative catalyst, it is the source of multi-hued awakenings and experiences; from the delightful expressions of love (in celebration as well as in bereavement) to the experience of change as symbolized by change in nature to inspiring awe and terror with its at times ferocious grandeur”. The monsoon is not just the rain, but a season, one that offers a range of other complex sensual, visual and aesthetic experiences. The festival hopes to foreground this by presenting varied interpretations through various art forms.

The festival will be kicked off with an exhibition, “The Monsoon Chapter,” comprising works of some prominent artists at the Galerie Romain Rolland at the Alliance. The exhibition is being curated by Himanshu Verma who is also the director of Red Earth.

On July 29 and July 30, movies with rains and monsoon as the theme will be screened at the ML Bhartia auditorium at the Alliance. On August 1, a play entitled “Mission Called Meghdutam” will be presented at the same auditorium. The festival will conclude with multilingual readings on monsoon at the same venue.

People of Bengal on canvas

Art and Soul is holding an exhibition of paintings by Shyamal Mukherjee who is adept at depicting the life of the people of Bengal in reverse painting. Entitled “People From the East”, the exhibition will be on till August 4.

Enthralling ballet by Rashmi Khanna

Bharatanatyam danseuse Rashmi Khanna

Danseuse Rashmi Khanna on Sunday presented Krishnamritam, a ballet in Bharatanatyam at the Sri Sathya Sai International centre, Lodhi Road here, to herald in the spirit and festival of Janmashtami. Rashmi, who started dancing from the tender age of four, dedicated the performance to Lord Krishna, depicting his life and the bhakti towards him, through the compositions of renowned Bhakti and Sufi poets from all over India, including Kanaka Das, Meera Bai, Surdas, Kabir, Jaydev, Uttakaada Venkata Subbaiyyar and Kazi Nazrul Islam.

The performance started with a Shlokam derived from “Krishna Karnamrutam” followed by the famous composition of Kanaka Das, “ Krishna ni begane baaro”. This item depicted Krishna’s childhood and shows how mother Yashoda dotes over him and beckons him to come to her quickly as he keeps running away. His childhood pranks of teasing the young girls of the village and breaking their earthen pots bring many maidens to his doorstep complaining to Yashoda. Hearing all this, she punishes him by tying him up, only to find him a while later eating mud from the ground!! She becomes even angrier and asks him to open his mouth. When he reluctantly complies, she sees the entire universe in his tiny mouth and bows to Krishna - The God, The Preserver.

Other performances included “Pag Ghungroo Bandh Meera Nachi Re”, a very famous composition of Meera Bai, “Nindati Chandana”, an ashtapadi from Geet Govind written by the famous poet Jaydev, “Kannan Varugindra”, “Ore neel jamunaar jol”, “Ab main nacho thakyo”, a composition of Surdas, “Na main Dharmi.. Na Hi Adharmi”, a very famous composition of Kabir, and the last item was a rare and traditional Tillana in praise of Krishna, the merciful, beautiful protector of mankind.

Rashmi began learning Indian creative dance under the guidance of Neelima Banerjee, a student of Guru Mayadhar Raut. But it was her passion for Bharatanatyam that brought her to Guru Kalyani Shekhar from whom she trained in the Dandayudapanipillai style of Bharatanatyam for nearly twenty years and is continuing to do so. Her expertise in dancing won her many awards, including the “Critic Circle Of India Award”, the “Sakha Award”, “Pride of the Nation Award” and the “Sarasalaya Award”. She also has many titles tucked under her belt, the important ones being the “Nritya Vidya Ratna” and the “Nritya Bharat Ratna”, bestowed upon her by leading dance institutions of Delhi and Chennai.

Subhash Nagar bypoll held, result tomorrow
Tribune News Service

New Delhi, July 23
The byelection to the MCD ward 20, Subhash Nagar, was held today peacefully. The polling started at 8 am and ended at 5 pm. About 45.09 per cent voters cast their franchise. There was six candidates in the fray. There was no report of any untoward incident. No complaints were received by the Election Commission. At least 500 officials were deployed to man the polling booths. The voting trend was generally even and no large variation in voting percentage during any particular hour was noticed. The security arrangement was elaborate. Electronic voting machines were stored under tight security at the community centre C-2/B, Janakpuri, where counting of votes will start at 8 am on July 25. Results were expected by noon the same day, Secretary of the State Election Commission V. K. Harit said.

	New technology to improve night vision Tribune News Service New Delhi, July 23 The Zyoptix Aspheric Lasik technology launched by Bausch & Lomb here promises to significantly reduce post operation aberrations or distortions to give patients clearer vision compared to standard Lasik procedures. At a press conference here to mark the launch of the technology, Dr Mahipal Sachdev, Medical Director, Centre for Sight, said, “This latest technological innovation in eyecare management introduced by Bausch & Lomb in India is the first Aspheric Lasik treatment that has clinically proven to preserve the shape of the cornea and ensure better night vision. Given that a large number of patients annually seek Lasik surgery in India, the new Zyoptix Aspheric technology will benefit those who want clearer vision without the night and other low vision problems.”
	Jamia reopens today Tribune News Service New Delhi, July 23 Jamia Millia Islamia will reopen tomorrow and begin the admission process stalled by agitating students. Though the date for resumption of classes would be announced later, the revised schedule for the admission shall be available at the university’s website, a spokesman of Jamia said. Besides this, the other decisions taken at a meeting chaired by the Vice-Chancellor today were that admission of rusticated students was non-negotiable and those indulging in violence would be dealt with severely. However, provision had been made for any “genuine lapses” in the admission process for which the option of scrutiny was open, he said.
	Bomb scare at Satyam Cineplex Tribune News Service New Delhi, July 23 The police today received a call saying that a bomb had been placed in Satyam Cineplex in the Patel Nagar area of West Delhi. The bomb disposal squad, the dog squad, the Fire Brigade and security personnel rushed to the spot after the call was received at the Police Control Room at 1230 hours, according to Fire Brigade. The police immediately cordoned off the area and vacated the multi-storied cinema hall before beginning search operations. Nothing suspicious was found.
	CORRECTION The headline on the Ghaziabad datelined story appearing on Page Four of the Sunday Tribune inadvertently mentions the figure Rs 200 instead of Rs 200 crore as the estimated daily loss because of the closure of the highway. The error is regretted.