Delhi at 43 degrees, but weekend should bring rain

New Delhi: Delhi continued to reel under the scorching heat with the maximum temperature recorded at 43 degrees Celsius - five notches above average - and the city's power demand reached a new high of 5,330 MW Friday. Respite is in sight with rains forecast early on Saturday.

This is the fourth time in June that power consumption has broken all previous records.

The capital recorded the highest-ever consumption of 5,271 MW on Thursday while June 16 saw the consumption peaking at 5,265 MW and reaching 5,178 MW on June 1.

Friday's minimum temperature was five notches above average at 32.4 degrees Celsius while the humidity levels wavered between a high of 46 and a low of 26 per cent.

According to the India Meteorological Department (IMD), Delhi might get some respite from the heat Saturday as the skies are expected to be partly cloudy while parts of the city may get light rains.

"The maximum and minimum temperatures are expected to hover around 42 and 32 degrees Celsius," said an IMD official.

Thursday's maximum temperature settled five notches above the average at 43.6 degrees Celsius, while the minimum was six notches above the average at 33.6 degrees Celsius.

Thrown out of house by son, elderly woman pleads for him

New Delhi: A 79-year-old woman was forced to spend a night in the open when her businessman son refused her entry into her own house in Delhi's upscale New Friends Colony. 

On a police complaint, the son was sent to jail, but the mother requested the court to grant him bail.

The mother, Krishna Dawar, has been approached by Aamir Khan's "Satyamev Jayate" team to speak on their upcoming show on problems faced by the elderly.

Krishna, who owns nearly half of the Rs. 30 crore property in New Friends Colony, had gone to Dehradun to meet a relative in the middle of June.

When she returned on June 29, she found that the house had been taken over by her son, Sheetal Dawar.

Krishna's husband died in 2007, leaving 42 per cent share of the property to her, and 29 per cent share each to her two sons, Sheetal Dawar and Rupak Dawar.

Rupak has settled in Surat, Gujarat, for his business while Sheetal resides with his mother.

Additional Chief Metropolitan Magistrate Sanjay Sharma on Monday granted bail to Sheetal, upon his mother's request.

The court while allowing the son's bail plea, asked Krishna whether her son should be released on bail or not.

The mother requested the court to grant him bail saying that they would try to settle the matter among themselves.

The court granted interim bail to Sheetal till July 17 on condition that he must not treat his mother badly again.

The court asked him to treat his mother properly and warned him not to repeat the episode again.

Social activist Dulbin Sethi told IANS that the son wanted to illegally occupy his mother's share of property.

"The senior citizen was not allowed by her son and daughter-in-law Nikita Dawar to enter the house and she had to spend Friday night under the open sky," said Sethi.

On Saturday morning, Krishna approached Sethi for help. With the help of residents, Sethi went to the police to lodge a case against Sheetal. 

Police arrested him and he was remanded to two days police custody by a local court in Delhi.

Sethi told IANS that a team from "Satyamev Jayate" had approached Krishna to interview her for their upcoming show that deals with the problems of senior citizens.

She added that the show would be based on parent-child relationships.

Parliament to shift to a new address?

New Delhi: Parliament may have a new building in place of the existing 85-year-old heritage structure with Lok Sabha Speaker Meira Kumar giving approval for setting up a high-powered committee to suggest an alternative complex.

Lok Sabha secretary general TK Viswanathan told IANS that the speaker had given an "in principle" approval to set up a committee to go into questions such as the site of alternate complex to house the Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha and how it will be constructed. He said there was need for an alternate complex as the existing building was heavily used and cannot take the strain.

"Footfalls are increasing...Its heritage character should be preserved.... (There is need to) plan for the future," he said.

Mr Viswanathan said composition of the committee will be decided in the next few days but it was likely to be headed by a leading public figure. The committee is likely to have representation from the urban development ministry.

The Central Public Works Department (CPWD) had said on Thursday that the parliament building needs renovation as there were apprehensions of loosening of small ceiling tiles.
The Speaker had directed the secretariat to take all possible precautions in the wake of Mantralaya fire in Mumbai. Mr Viswanathan said apart from seeking opinion from CPWD, his secretariat had also made its assessment about the present condition of the building.

The secretary general, who has accompanied the speaker on some of her visits abroad, said many parliament buildings were new and had been designed with future requirements in view. He said there were suggestions during the discussion on women's reservation bill to increase the seats in Lok Sabha and possibility of increase in strength of parliament cannot be ruled out.

The foundation stone of Parliament House building was laid in 1921. Constructed at a cost of Rs.83 lakh, it was inaugurated in January 1927.

From 340 rooms to four, temporary digs await Pratibha Patil

New Delhi: After the 340 rooms of Rashtrapati Bhavan, a four bedroom bungalow in New Delhi will be President Pratibha Patil's temporary residence after she steps down on July 24 before moving into her retirement home in Pune in about a month.

"Bungalow No.2 on Tughlaq Lane has been allotted to Pratibha Patil and she is scheduled to move in on or before July 25," an official of the Central Public Works Department (CPWD) told IANS.

Under the ministry of urban development, the CPWD is responsible for constructing and maintaining the government's residential and office complexes.

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Brisk work is on to give final touches to the premises.

Surrounded by trees, the bungalow, which is painted in white, has a lush green lawn.

"It took us barely 15 days to work on the bungalow, which is now absolutely ready. We started the work on July 1 and it has been nicely done up," said another CPWD official, without giving any more details.

According to officials, CPWD received a letter on June 27 asking it to prepare the bungalow for Ms Patil.

"We have made some changes as requested by her. We have carved out a small puja room in a portion of house," the official told IANS.

"We also have added some security features," the official added.

Among Ms Patil's neighbours will be Congress general secretary and Lok Sabha MP Rahul Gandhi.

Planning Commission member secretary Sudha Pillai had previously occupied the bungalow. She vacated it on her retirement earlier this year.

Raigad, a bungalow in Pune, has been selected as Patil's retirement home. Formalities are underway to transfer it to the CPWD for refurbishment. This process is likely to take a month.
 

Man held at Delhi airport for stealing i-Phone

File photo

New Delhi: A man was arrested from the IGI Airport in New Delhi for allegedly stealing an i-Phone and a digital camera from a store just before boarding a flight to Bangalore, police said today.

The youth, who resides in Kalkaji, was apprehended at the boarding gate yesterday afternoon, minutes before he was to board a flight to the southern city, a senior police official said.

The arrest came following a complaint filed by the staff of a store located in the IGI Airport selling electronic items.

According to the complaint, the accused came to the store around 4:10 PM and purchased a hair straightener worth Rs. 1,995.

"During this purchase, he also allegedly lifted one i-Phone worth Rs.50,900 and a camera worth Rs. 13,900 and kept it in his hand baggage without billing and left the store.

When the staff noticed this, they rushed to the boarding gates.

"When he came to the store, he was wearing a pink T-shirt but he soon changed into a yellow T-shit. He was found near boarding gate no. 42 and on suspicion when we checked his hand baggage, we found both the stolen items" the complaint claimed.

Delhi to have 94 more government schools

New Delhi: The Delhi government will open 94 new schools in the national capital in the current academic session, a Delhi minister said on Friday.

The capital currently has over 900 government schools.

"Ninety-four new government schools will be opened in different parts of the city in the current academic session," Delhi's Education Minister Arvinder Singh Lovely said here.

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"This major step has been taken in view of the growing demand for admission to government schools," said a government official.

The government would also set up modern playgrounds in all the nine districts of Delhi, said Mr Lovely.

The minister made the announcements while inaugurating a new school in Gandhi Nagar in east Delhi. 

Built at a cost of Rs. 2 crore, the school has 27 classrooms and five labs.

Delhi Metro services resume on all lines

New Delhi: Services on all six lines of the Delhi Metro resumed by 8.45 a.m. after almost three hours of disruption due to tripping of the power supply across northern India, an official said in New Delhi on Monday.

"Services in all the six lines became normal by 8.45 a.m. We are receiving hydel power from Bhutan on priority basis," a Delhi Metro official said. He added that Delhi Metro was amongst the emergency services, including the prime minister's residence and the All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS), being provided power.

"We were unable to operate any of the lines for an hour from 6 a.m. to 7 a.m. due to tripping of power supply. At 7 a.m. we restored 25 per cent of the trains on all the lines, and now all the trains are plying as usual," the official added.

Train services on the 190 km Metro network connecting the length and breadth of the national capital region (NCR) were affected due to power failure in the Northern Grid, the main power source for Delhi, Uttar Pradesh, Punjab, Haryana, Rajasthan, Himachal Pradesh and Jammu and Kashmir.

The Northern Grid failure also caused power cuts in most parts of Delhi.

Delhi Metro normally operates over 2,700 trips a day, covering about 70,000 km and carrying around 1.8 million passengers on week days.

Lawyers strike affects proceedings in Delhi courts

New Delhi: The proceedings in six district courts in New Delhi were today affected by the day-long strike called by lawyers to protest against the hike in court fees in Delhi.

The lawyers abstained from work in all the six district courts of Patiala House, Tis Hazari, Karkardooma, Rohini, Saket and Dwarka, saying the Delhi government has notified the Court Fee (Amendment) Act due to which the common people will have to suffer as court fee has been increased by ten times.

The Delhi government had recently decided to increase the court fees ten-fold to shore up its coffers by around Rs. 450 crore annually.

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Rajiv Jai, Chairman of the Co-ordination Council of All Bar Associations and President of New Delhi Bar Association, said that the strike is successful as the lawyers are not appearing in the court proceedings.

"We (lawyers) are observing a day-long strike in all the six district courts here. The strike is successful today and we will start hunger strike from tomorrow onwards at Patiala House Court Complex so that the notification for the increase in the court fees may be rolled back," he said.

Nitin Ahlawat, secretary of Delhi Bar Association, said no work was being done at Tis Hazari courts due to the strike.

Similarly, president of the Shahdara Bar Association R K Jain said that the strike is successful at Karkardooma courts.

The bar leaders of Saket and Dwarka district courts also said that lawyers are not appearing in any case.

The lawyers said that the government should roll back its decision to hike the court fee as it would increase the burden on common litigants.

The strike also affected the hearing in the 2G spectrum allocation scam case at Patiala House court and the proceeding was adjourned due to the boycott of work by the lawyers. 

The government has decided to hike the court fee and Delhi Revenue Minister A K Walia had earlier said that court fees in the city were last hiked in 1958 by the Punjab government which were extended to Delhi and the same have continued till date in the national capital.

Ashton Kutcher meets Delhi's 'powerful girls'

Hollywood star Ashton Kutcher, who is on his maiden trip to India for a shooting assignment, met women of a NGO working for the cause of sex trafficking victims.

He took to Twitter Friday to share the update of his activity in the Indian capital, and even posted a happy picture with young girls, dressed in traditional salwar-kameez.

"Met some powerful girls today in Delhi at Apne Aap: A grassroots movement to end sex trafficking," tweeted Kutcher, who seemed to have put a 100-watt smile on the girls' faces, as visible in the photograph.

The 34-year-old is reportedly here to shoot Jobs, a biopic on the late Apple founder Steve Jobs. Kutcher plays the lead role in the Joshua Michael Stern-directorial.

He is said to have shot for the movie in Vrindavan and Delhi.

Railway constable arrested for rape in Delhi

New Delhi: A 21-year-old woman was sexually harassed in New Delhi by a Railway Protection Force (RPF) constable who has been arrested, the police said on Wednesday.

The incident took place on Tuesday in New Delhi Railway Station's dormitory situated on the second floor.

Following the victim's allegation, constable Pintu Kumar, 24, who joined RPF two years ago, was arrested from his residence Wednesday. A rape case has been registered against him, a police official said.

"The victim is a homeless and often sleeps in temples or gurdwaras. Around 11 p.m. Tuesday, when the victim was sitting at the station the accused approached her sexually harassed her," said a police officer.

The victim approached the police on Wednesday morning. After the medical examination, a case of rape was registered against the constable.

Minor maid falls to death from flat

New Delhi: A 17-year-old maid died in New Delhi after falling from a third floor flat where she worked, police said on Tuesday.

Poonam fell from the flat's balcony at Jhulelal Apartment in west Delhi's Netaji Subhash Place around 11 a.m. on Monday.

"She succumbed to her injuries in hospital," said a police officer.

"The post-mortem report of the victim is awaited. No suicide note was recovered from the spot," said the officer.

Poonam lived in a neighbourhood close to Netaji Subhash Place. Her mother also worked as a domestic help in the apartments, he said.

Bharat bandh: Mulayam Singh Yadav joins protests in Delhi, makes UPA squirm

Edited by Surabhi Malik | Updated: September 20, 2012 15:26 IST

New Delhi/Lucknow: Mulayam Singh Yadav, crucial to the survival of the UPA government, is making the Congress squirm. Teamed with Left leaders, he decided to court arrest in Delhi today to protest against the new reforms introduced by Dr Manmohan Singh. 

Mr Yadav emerged from the Parliament Street police station in the national capital surrounded by commandoes, holding hands with the CPM's Sitaram Yechury and said, "What better example of the Third Front coming together?" He meant the leaders walking beside him like AB Bardhan and D Raja of the CPI, Chandrababu Naidu of the TDP and HD Deve Gowda of the Janata Dal (Secular).

But Mr Yadav was careful to distance himself from the BJP.  "I am supporting the government to stop communal forces. BJP se hamara koi vaasta nahi hai (We have no relationship with the BJP)."  

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