Discom turns to crime, pulled up

New Delhi, April 13 -- If you have been paying your electricity bills regularly and yet find power company officials at your doorstep for inspection of meter, beware.

Discom BSES Rajdhani (BRPL) has just been found guilty of falsely implicating a South Delhi consumer after framing up a power theft case.

The capital's power regulator has fined BRPL Rs 1 lakh for the criminal act and also for destroying evidence and deliberately harassing the consumer.

Besides, one of the company's area managers have been imposed with a personal penalty of Rs 5,000, to be deducted from his salary while the customer will get Rs 20,000 as compensation.

The Delhi Electricity Regulatory Commission directed BRPL to instruct its employees to "desist from doing any illegal, unwarranted action" and be careful during inspections.

Vasant Kunj resident Suresh Sharam, who won the battle against the city's biggest discom that services 70% of Delhi, said incidents like this were rampant.

"The confidence with which they framed the case step by step was proof enough that they are used to doing this," he said.

He said one fine day last year, a team of discom officials reached his house and demanded to inspect the electricity meter saying they had enough information to prove that Sharma was stealing electricity. The inspection happened in the absence of Sharma or any adult member of the family, as is the law.

Sharma's minor son stood watching as the officials tore out the meter, hit it with hammer and rods to plant some marks of "tampering" and then claimed that the meter was tampered, Sharma told the electricity commission.

"They basically wanted me to cough up money," Sharma, an MNC executive, said.

With thanks : source : Hindustan Times & Yahoo India. Detailed news can be viewed from the link in headline above.

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Implementing Project Jeevan Soon, Pay Your Water, Power Bill On Cellphone

More than a year after offering citizen-centric services through its portal called Jeevan, the Delhi government is set to step into the next leg of the project: accessibility through mobile phones.

The government is now looking at integrating the 73 services offered through Jeevan with mobile phones.

To begin with, citizens will be given cellphone updates on the status of their applications related to Employees' Provident Fund (EPF).

"Once the application is put in through the centre, an applicant will be given regular updates on its status, the various channels that it goes through, and the date on which the PF cheque would arrive," A K Singla, project head for Jeevan, said.

The service on cellphones would be in place by next month, Singla said.

Besides the usual services of paying water, electricity and BSNL phone bills, the service related to accepting EPF forms is one of the new services added to the existing system. These included applications related to the Bed and Breakfast scheme, payment of bills of IGL pipedgas connections and matters related to the Drug Comptroller's office.

DETAILED NEWS CAN BE VIEWED FROM THE LINK IN HEADLINE ABOVE.

With thanks : source : IndianExpress

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Surprise Test For Delhi Motorists

And you thought you know all the rules of traffic just because you hold a driving licence! The road ahead is full of bumps for Delhiites to whom breaking traffic rules has become second nature.

The Capital's residents holding valid driving licences registered in the state will be in for a surprise check of their knowledge about traffic laws and driving rules in the coming days.

After endless challans , traffic- awareness initiatives and advertisements, the Delhi Traffic Police recently came up with the idea to correct -- hopefully -- the common flaw with city motorists: little knowledge about traffic rules.

Every few days, a draw of sorts of motor vehicle licence holders will be conducted.

Whoever's name is picked, he or she will be called in for a surprise test.

In the test, the licence holders will have to answer some of the most basic questions related to the Motor Vehicle Act and other road safety laws, his or her general awareness about the traffic laws while driving and possible reaction to different traffic scenarios.

DETAILED NEWS CAN BE VIEWED FROM LINK IN HEADLINE ABOVE.
With thanks : Source : MailToday
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Fix Time Limit For Response Under RTI

Chief information commissioner Wajahat Habibullah has advised the chief vigilance commissioner to fix time limits for getting responses from departments whose officials are being investigated by it.

"CVC may consider fixing time limits for responses by various departments to whom complaints are referred for investigation and report," Habibullah said in his order.

Habibullah offered the "advice" to Pratyush Sinha, chief vigilance commissioner, under section 25 (5) of the RTI Act "so as to bring the exercise of the functions of the CVC into greater conformity with the spirit of the RTI Act".

The CIC was hearing the plea of Anjani Bhushan who had sought to know from CVC the details of inquiries conducted against an employee of United India Insurance, but could not get them as the probe was still going on at the time of filing the application.

With thanks : Times of India

Detailed news can be viewed from Link in headline above.

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Wishing you a very Happy Baisakhi

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BHAGIDARI MEETING ON 23 rd APRIL 2010

TO DAY i went to dy.commissioner east office in connection with my tatkal passport as a VERIFICATION CERTIFICATE IS needed.
I came to know about above meeting for preet vihar area.
During bhagidari meetings..suggestions have been made that a small group of bhagidars be entrusted with a problem which has defied solution over couple of years.
To hold meetings area wise is an excellent idea. Now officers shall have to be specific in action taken report.
The crime rate and police apathy need to be looked into in a detailed manner.
We must know what is the schedule of installation of CCTV CAMERAS ON IMPORTANT TRAFFIC SIGNALS.
WE ALSO NEED TO BE BRIEFED WHY FOOTH PATHS ARE NOT MEANT FOR WALKING ALONG NAGRAJ MUNI MARG FROM SHAKARPUR T POINT TO PREET VIHAR NEW DELHI 110092...G BLOCK.
Further, i must compliment police authorities for establishing preet vihar thana near durga mandi.A senior officer must be available so that staff attached to SHO do not refuse to accept letters even from SDM PREET VIHAR. A board need to be put up to indicate status of FIRS lodged say over six months.
Again i thank commissioner police for establishing police stations for preet vihar area.

kk ghei

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Price Watch: A Weekly Comparison Of Prices Of Essential Food Commodities On Sale At Kendriya Bhandar

Sugar prices have climbed down by a rupee from last week to Rs 33.50 this week at Kendriya Bhandar. However, the retailers did not lower down prices at their end.

With thanks : Source: Hindustan Times : Link in the Headline above.

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DDA Asked To Compensate Rs.15,000 To RTI Applicant

BY IANS :

NEW DELHI - The Central Information Commission (CIC) has asked the Delhi Development Authority (DDA) to pay Rs.15,000 as compensation to an RTI applicant who suffered because the housing agency provided the information after a delay of about four months.

The decision came on an application filed by Govind Prasad Aggarwal, a resident of Haryana, who had sought some information under the Right to Information (RTI) regarding a DDA flat in Mayur Vihar area of east Delhi.

Aggarwal had filed the RTI application Feb 29, 2008 but got information only after July 28, 2008.

Under the RTI Act, information is required to be provided in 30 days time. In other words, the information should have been provided by the end of March, 2008. However, there was delay of about four months, Information Commissioner M.L. Sharma noted in his order last month.

It is clear that this matter has passed through the hands of several officials, and, therefore, it is difficult to determine individual responsibility for the purposes of imposition of penalty under the RTI Act. The fact, however, remains that there has been delay of four months in responding to the RTI application, Sharma observed.

The DDA officers vehemently opposed compensation stating that the matter involved several departments/offices of the DDA, which naturally took time.

They also plead(ed) that delay was not deliberate…was inherent in the situation…The explanation given by the DDA officers is not found to be satisfactory. The appellant pleads that this has caused him detriments and he requests for compensation, Sharma said.

Delay of four months has occurred in supply of information to the appellant and thereby the appellant has suffered detriment… On a thoughtful consideration of the matter, we are of the opinion that the ends of justice will be met if compensation of Rs.15,000 is paid to the appellant, Sharma directed.

With thanks : source : Taragana

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Lawmakers Ticked Off For Illegal Construction

A Minicipal Corporation of Delhi ( MCD) report has found that nine municipal councillors and two legislators live in buildings in the Capital that have illegal constructions.

Either the lawmakers or their families own these buildings. The report said that the illegal constructions in these 11 instances are non compoundable one that cannot be legalised even by paying a penalty.

In eight of these cases, the MCD said it had during routine inspections in the past failed to detect the illegal portions and did not record the irregularities.

In the remaining three, the MCD didn't demolish illegal additions even though it had booked them, the report added.

Click On Image For Large View

The damning report was last month submitted to Lokayukta Justice Manmohan Sarin. The Lokayukta deals with the conduct of elected representatives.

FOR DETAILED NEWS, PLZ CLICK THE HEADLINE ABOVE.

With thanks : Source : Mail Today

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Delhi in foreign media

A peek into what the international press is saying about the Commonwealth Games in the Capital and the recent Maoist attacks

A countdown clock outside the Commonwealth Games offices in New Delhi shows 192 days left until the Indian capital hosts the 17-sport event. But the city still looks like a messy construction site. The main stadium is months overdue and remains a tangle of cranes, and residents are furious over new taxes to pay for the Games.

Meanwhile, dozens of construction workers have died and hundreds of thousands are laboring in unsafe conditions in the rush to prepare the city for the Games, a court-appointed investigation said. India hoped that by hosting athletes from the 71 countries of the Commonwealth, the former British Empire, it would boost its global image and become a contender for the Olympics. Now, with the October-3 start date approaching, many are wondering whether it's worth it.

Children are slaving away at work on building sites in New Delhi as the Indian capital struggles to get ready for this year's Commonwealth Games.

Parents have been promised bonuses, such as money for bread and milk, on top of their normal pay, if they bring their children and put them to work. The building drive comes amid major concerns the city will not be ready to hold the Games when they fall due in October, with major sporting and transport infrastructure still not ready.

Struggling to hold up shovels, which are as tall as they are, the children are helping to build drainage works in front of the $1.8-billion Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium in New Delhi, where the opening and closing ceremonies for the Games and the athletics events will be held.

At least 75 paramilitary policemen were killed in a dawn ambush by Maoist rebels in thick forest in central India today. The loss was one of the worst in a single attack by the insurgents in many years and highlights the increasingly serious problem extremist leftwing violence poses to the country.

Several hundred fighters from the Communist party of India (Maoist) appeared to have used mines and small arms against a unit of 120 men from the central reserve police force.

The force was taking part in a months-long operation in the central state of Chhattisgarh aimed at re-establishing state authority in thousands of square miles of territory now under the sway of the insurgents. This year has seen a series of such attacks though the latest is by far the most ambitious and deadly.

The harsh fact is that a third of the country's districts are now fighting insurgencies, and unless more of India's citizens get a sense of belonging to their "shining," "incredible" country as the PR disciples would have it there are fears that the violence may increase substantially.

FOR DETAILED NEWS, PLZ CLICK THE HEADLINE ABOVE.

With Thanks : source : Indianexpress

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