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New Delhi/METRO Vol. LXXXIX No. 175 Price R 4.50 52 pages. Area specific pgs extra.
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Hold interviews of those shortlisted for posts of block and city unit head in Amethi >P15
AT ORPHANAGE
In Bollywood first, Ranbir Kapoors Besharam trailer to make exclusive debut for orphans
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SALARY UP TO R5L? TAX FILING A MUST
NEW DELHI: Filing income tax returns has now become mandatory for salaried individuals earning up to R5 lakh annually, Central Board of Direct Taxes said on Tuesday. The deadline for filing P23 returns is July 31.
Ex-CJI Kabir rubbishes allegation of bias NEW DELHI: Former Chief Justice of India Altamas Kabir has hit back at news reports accusing him of stalling the elevation of Gujarat chief justice Bhaskar Bhattacharya to the Supreme Court. P10 SC dismisses Dutts curative petition in blasts case NEW DELHI: The Supreme Court on Tuesday dismissed actor Sanjay Dutts curative petition against his conviction in the 1993 Mumbai blasts case. It was his last legal option against the five-year jail term handed to him. P10 Awards for HT in civic, environment reporting NEW DELHI: HTs Delhi Metro team on Tuesday won the civic journalism award, instituted by the Ramnath Goenka Memorial Foundation, for its CWG coverage. Shalini Singh was feted for environmental reporting. P2
PATNA/NEW DELHI: Bihar chief minister Nitish Kumar blamed a BJP and RJD conspiracy for the mid-day meal tragedy but his party chief Sharad Yadav said a conclusion could only be drawn after the submission of the probe report. The Masrakh and Bodh Gaya incidents have shown that the BJP and RJD have joined hands. More such incidents can take place, Kumar said at a meeting of Janata Dal (United) MPs, legislators and leaders in Patna on Monday. I do not know what chief
Masrakh (mid-day meal tragedy) and Bodh Gaya incidents have shown that the BJP and RJD have joined hands. More such incidents can take place.
NITISH KUMAR
Bihar chief minister
minister Nitish Kumar and education minister PK Shahi have said. One can reach a conclusion on the Chapra episode only after the probe is over, JD (U) chief Sharad Yadav said on Tuesday. In a sudden development, Rajya Sabha MP Shivanand Tiwary, considered close to the CM, was removed as the JD (U)
spokesman, leaving KC Tyagi, known to be close to Yadav, as the sole national spokesman. When reached for comments, Tiwary said he didnt know of the decision. On July 16, 23 schoolchildren died after eating lunch at a primary school in Masrakh in Chapra district. Autopsies
revealed that the children died of insecticide poisoning. The CM said the BJP wanted to derive political mileage after it failed to sell its hardline agenda. The BJP was quick to hit back. The fact is Nitish Kumar is shamelessly trying to cover it under a conspiracy theory, hold-
ing the political parties in Bihar responsible for midday meal deaths general secretary Rajiv Pratap Rudy said.
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WAKE UP INDIA
AN HT
is coming under increasing pressure from within and outside the country to reverse its decision on denying a visa to G u j a ra t c h i e f m i n i s t e r Narendra Modi. BJP president Rajnath Singh, who is currently in the US, has said he plans to raise the issue with lawmakers during his meetings with senators on the Capitol Hill. Republican House representatives Aaron Schock, Cathy M c Mo r r i s Ro d ge rs a n d Cynthia Lummis also recently
visited Modi, promising to work on his visa. But Modi has his detractors. Letters written in November and December 2012 by 65 In d i a n M Ps a s k i n g U S President Barack Obama to continue to deny Modi a visa were re-sent last Sunday. And the head of the US Commission on International Religious Freedom (USIRF), Katrina Lantos, recently said: There is significant evidence linking him to the violence (2002 Gujarat riots)and for this reason, a visa would not be appropriate.
CONTINUED ON PAGE 6 >> SHOTGUN FOR ADVANI, P10
CONG BULLIES Pulled up, SHUT DOWN WCD official MUMBAI EATERY slits her wrist
HT Correspondent
A terrorist plot to target Pakistan Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif at his residence in Lahore has been foiled by Pakistani security agencies. Of the eight arrested, one was Sharifs neighbour whose property was to be used as a base to carry out the attack, planned for later this month. Pakistan daily Express Tribune said the plot to attack Sharif at his farmhouse in Raiwind was unearthed by a team probing the abduction of Ali Haider Gilani, son of former premier Yousaf Raza Gilani, who was kidnapped during election campaign in May. The team tracked down a North Waziristan-based militant group belonging to Tehrik-eTaliban Pakistan, whose commanders Matiur Rehman and Muhammad Yasin have been involved in suicide attacks on former President Pervez Musharraf and former PM Shaukat Aziz.
ISLAMABAD:
MUMBAI: Youth Congress workers forced a Mumbai restaurant to down shutters on Monday after they found its cash memos too cheeky for their taste. A footnote on bills issued by Aditi restaurant in Parel read: As per UPA eating money (2G, Coal, CWG scam) is a necessity and eating food in a A/c restaurant is a luxury. Gujarat CM Narendra Modi termed the incident Height of intolerance on Twitter.
CONTINUED ON PAGE 6 >> MODI ON TWITTER, P10
Im part of nobodys life. Annu Mukherjee was blinded in an acid attack by a female colleague >> P11
R OYA L C E L E B R AT I O N
also in ht today
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3dayweather
WEDNESDAY FORECAST: Short spells of rain in Delhi and NCR. The sky will remain cloudy.
Friday
duchess of Cambridge and their baby boy spent their first full day as a family on Tuesday inside a London hospital, thanking staff for their care but making well-wishers wait for a first glimpse of the royal heir. As celebratory lights, gun salutes and other tributes were unleashed, William said, We could not be happier. He thanked St Marys
Hospital staff for the tremendous care the three of us have received. One of the doctors present at the royal birth was Sunit Godambe, who grew up in Mumbai. As the Kensington Palace office announced Kate had given birth to the 8 pound, 6 ounce (3.8kg) baby at 4.24pm Monday (local time), an impromptu party broke out in front of the hospital.
CONTINUED ON PAGE 6 >> THE WAIT ENDS, P17 COMMENT: THE FUTURE, P12 HT CITY: BIG FANFARE
NEW DELHI: A senior woman and child development ministry official slit her wrist in her Shastri Bhawan office on Tuesday after a turbulent meeting with her boss, WCD secretary Nita Chowdhury. Rugmini Parmar, the ministrys economic adviser, was taken to RML hospital by colleagues and later discharged after firstaid as the cut wasnt deep. The Indian Economic Services officer was reportedly pulled up by Chowdhury over work pending in her department at the meeting. She put up with it, sources said, adding that others present were quiet too. But after the meeting, Parmar who works in the womens bureau that drafts key legislation, right from preventing sexual abuse at the workplace to the dowry prohibition law went to her room and slit her wrist.
She was later found bleeding by her personal secretary. Parmar, an official said, had sought and received a transfer from the ministry and was expected to leave by next week. Sources said this wasnt the first time she and other officials in the ministry had felt humiliated b y C h o w d h u r y s acerbic remarks. The secretary, a UP cadre IAS officer, did not respond to calls and texts to her mobile. Parmar, too, was not available for comment. A man who answered her phone said she didnt want to speak on the incident.
SIGNALLING TROUBLE
123.4mm
Rainfall on Saturday
mustread
The newborn Prince of Cambridge sleeps in his mothers arms as she poses outside St Marys Hospital. AP
For every millimetre of rain the Capital re ce i ve s , i t seems, there is a traffic signal that goes kaput. A total of 123 signals went out on Saturday when the Capital received a record 123.4mm of rain, causing traffic jams on several arterial roads in south and central Delhi. The recurring problem of signals that stop working with just a small amount of rain had prompted the traffic police to change the signal operator last year. But the issue persisted, leading
NEW DELHI:
123 Signals
that went out that day 100 Estimate of old signal posts police have replaced
them to realise that the trouble was with the signal posts. They are now in the process of replacing them with advanced ones. These signal posts have become very old and need to be changed. We have already replaced around 100 old ones on C-Hexagon and in Dwarka, said Anil Shukla, additional commissioner of police (traffic). Some of the posts on NH8 and NH24 also need to be replaced, the police said. The traffic police are also in the process of erecting 45 signals and 30 blinkers at new locations.
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M I S E R Y
NEW DELHI:
quotemartial
It is shocking how a chief minister, instead of taking corrective action, can ask the residents to pray to God for their waterlogging woes. VIJAY GOEL, Delhi BJP chief
Waterlogging during monsoon is an annual phenomenon in Delhi, yet no concrete measures have been put in place to rectify the problem. All VIRENDRA SINGH GOSAIN/HT PHOTO civic agencies do is either make tall claims or indulge in blame game.
Despite a go-ahead from the government, transferring property using the general power of attorney (GPA) is not going to be easy in the Capital. A day after the revenue department of the Delhi government came out with a circular allowing GPA transfer, experts said nothing had changed on the ground. A sub-registrar who did not want to come on record said the new circular did not allow a GPA-holder to execute a GPA in favour of another person. The circular clearly says that only a sale-deed holder (title owner of a property) can execute a GPA in favour of a home-buyer. This doesnt change the earlier position. It is just that the revenue department has reframed the paragraphs of the earlier circular, a revenue department official said, requesting anonymity. There is absolutely no change in the prevailing situation. The seller who holds the property on a GPA will first have to get the sale deed registered in
his name and only then he can transfer it to another person, a sub-registrar told HT. There have been several inquiries since morning asking whether transfer of property from one GPA holder to another GPA holder is now possible. We have told everyone that it is still not allowed, he added. Recently, the Delhi High Court had struck down an internal circular of the state government issued in April
2012, restricting property transactions through GPA. The latest circular states: There is nothing in the existing provisions of law that prevents a registered property owner... from executing general power of attorney in favour of his family or relatives or person of trust to manage his property. There was no ban on transfer of property from one family member to another on GPA, an official said.
THE AUDIT REPORT WILL COVER SCHEMES BEING IMPLEMENTED BY THE DELHI GOVERNMENT FOR FLOOD CONTROL AND EFFECTIVE DRAINAGE SYSTEM AND ON FRAMEWORK TO HANDLE SUCH SITUATIONS
unforeseen situations arising out of waterlogging. The audit will examine the steps taken for coordination among various departments such as the municipal corporations, flood control department, the New Delhi Municipal C o u n c i l , P u b l i c Wo r k s Department and the Delhi Jal Board. It will also take stock of the governments plan of action to face such eventualities. The audit body will examine how the city responds to the warnings of the meteorological department. Standard operating procedures adopted by the government and the mechanism for informing/alerting the public about any impending flood or waterlogging challenges will be examined.
W I N N I N G
L AU R E LS
will on Wednesday examine the steps taken by the civic agencies in the Capital to implement its orders issued many years ago to address the problem of waterlogging. The issue was raised before the court by president of the NGO Nyaya Bhoomi Col. BB Sharan. He told the court that waterlogging and traffic snarls on the Capitals roads during the recent rain proved that the government, the three municipal corporations, NDMC and the PWD had not implemented the
courts orders issued since 2005. The government had submitted before the court last year that a team led by IIT professor AK Gosain will examine the Capitals waterlogging problem and prepare a master plan to provide a long-term solution. A bench of acting chief justice BD Ahmed and justice Vibhu Bakhru posted the matter for hearing on Wednesday. The court had directed all civic agencies to ensure that drains were cleared of silt before the monsoon. Seeking a short- and longterm road map to deal with the menace, it had asked the traffic police to ensure the
smooth functioning of traffic lights during the rain and also deployment of additional traffic police personnel. Two other PILs have sought steps to address the problem of waterlogging in Delhi. One of the petitions claimed the civic agencies did nothing significant after 1998 to clean the drains. It submitted a list of 41 waterlogging-prone areas in the city. The petition said Minto Road, Ashram Chowk, South Extension Part-I, Mathura Road, ISBT Kashmere Gate, RTR Marg near Moti Bagh flyover, Dhaula Kuan underpass are waterlogged every year.
Swamy moves SC, verdict in Processions and VIP minors case may get deferred movement hit traffic
T R A F F I C WO E S
HT Correspondent
[email protected]
HTs Delhi Metro team won the Prakash Kardaley Memorial Award for Civic Journalism.
NEW DELHI:
The verdict on a minors involvement in the December 16 gang rape may get deferred as the Supreme Court on Tuesday agreed to hear a plea by Janata Party president Subramanian Swamy for a fresh interpretation of the term juvenile. A bench headed by Chief Justice P Sathasivam admitted the plea for hearing on July 31. The juvenile justice board (JJB), which had been hearing the case against the minors involvement in the rape, had fixed July 25 to pronounce its verdict. When Swamy said his petition would become infructuous as the board was scheduled to pronounce the judgment on Thursday, the CJI told him to inform the JJB about his petition in the apex court. Inform the board that we are seized of the matter, it said.
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The straightjacket interpretation of the term juvenile is in violation of the UNCRC and Beijing rules.
S WA M Y S P L E A
in central Delhi
HT Correspondent
[email protected]
NEW DELHI:
HT Correspondent
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In his petition, Swamy has asked to consider the mental and intellectual maturity instead of age limit of 18 years for offenders involved in gruesome crimes. He said the straightjacket interpretation of the term juvenile in the present law was in violation of the United Nations Convention for the Rights of the Child (UNCRC) and Beijing Rules. The UNCRC and Beijing Rules say the presumption of the age of criminal responsibility be fixed while bearing in mind the mental and intellectual maturity of offender, Swamy said.
NEW DELHI: Traffic movement in central Delhi on Tuesday was thrown out of gear due to religious processions and restrictions imposed for the visit of US vice-president Joe Biden. Vehicular movement was slow on Sardar Patel Marg, which connects west and north Delhi with central Delhi. Traffic was also affected on Ashoka Road, Baba Kharak Singh Road, GPO, Kali Bari Marg, Talkatora Stadium, Connaught Place Outer Circle, Windsor Place and Janpath. The traffic jam on central Delhi roads was mainly due to the celebration of the birth anniversary of Guru Harkishan Sahib. A large number of devotees started assembling at Gurdwara Rakhabganj and
Gurudwara Bangla Sahib since morning, which resulted in congestion on some roads, said Anil Shukla, additional commissioner of police (traffic). The movement of Biden, who is in Delhi, added to t h e c h ao s o n S P M a rg, said a traffic police officer. The traffic police on Monday evening had issued advisories on Facebook, asking commuters to avoid Baba Kharak Singh Marg, Ashoka Road and Pt Pant Marg. However, no diversion was imposed. Many commuters complained about the lack of proper directions on alternative routes and the absence of policemen to manage traffic. It took me over two hours to reach Barakhamba from Gurgaon as vehicles crawled on SP Marg around 10.30 am, said Sandeep Sharma, a commuter.
Tuesday evening saw the finest in Indian journalism being honoured for their commitment, courage and enterprise at the sixth Ramnath Goenka Excellence in Journalism Awards. Twenty-nine print and broadcast journalists in 17 categories, selected by a 10-member jury, received the awards that were handed over by Chief Justice of India P Sathasivam at a function held in New Delhi on Tuesday. Hindustan Times Delhi Metro team won the Prakash Kardaley Memorial Award for Civic Journalism instituted by the Ramnath Goenka Memorial Foundation. The team got the award for its coverage of the Commonwealth Games in 2010. In exclusive reports and special full-page series, HT focused not just on preparation delays but also how the lack of planning and the pressure to meet deadlines left a big question mark on what would otherwise be the Games lasting infrastructural legacy. Shalini Singh, principal correspondent with the features team of Hindustan Times, won the Ramnath Goenka award in the environment reporting category for her in-depth report on mining and the presence of tigers
CJI P Sathasivam giving the Ramnath Goenka Award for environment reporting to HTs Shalini Singh. VIRENDRA SINGH GOSAIN/HT PHOTOS
in Goa in 2010. These stories were among those researched as a fellow of Centre for Science Environment. Harinder Baweja won the award in the investigative reporting category for her special reports in Headlines Today. Baweja works with Hindustan Times at present. Josy Joseph of The Times of India won the Ramnath Goenka Journalist of the Year award (print), while Ravish Kumar of NDTV India won the Journalist of the Year award (broadcast). Among the other winners in the print section were Mehboob Jeelani of The Caravan for reporting from Jammu and Kashmir and the North-east; Atul Chaurasia of Tehelka for
excellence in Hindi Journalism; and Shivani Naik of Indian Express for excellence in sports journalism. Manu Pubby of Indian Express got the award for on-the-spot reporting. Suanshu Khurana of Indian Express won the award for excellence in film and television journalism. Some of the winners from the broadcast section were Mufti Islah of CNN-IBN for excellence in reporting from J&K and the North-east; Umashankar Singh of NDTV India for excellence in Hindi Journalism; and Latha Venkatesh of CNBC TV18 for business and economic journalism. Veteran journalist Inder Malhotra received the lifetime achievement award.
Three days after filmmakers death in Green Park, civic agency takes action
For latest news and updates, log on to HT Correspondent
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maker was electrocuted in Green Park, the south Delhi municipal corporation removed air-conditioner compressors and an electric signboard from the spot where the incident took place. Naked wires hanging out of the AC compressors and the signboard, which were in contact with an iron gate, had claimed the life of Anand Bhaskar Morla during Saturday afternoons downpour. The civic body officials also demolished a concrete platform that was constructed around a tree under which the electric equipment was installed.
Kamlesh Bansal and her son Dhruv Dhawan Bansal, who owned a jewellery shop and some of the equipment, claimed that no prior notice was given to them to remove the signboard or compressors. They had been arrested on Monday and later released on bail. Their shop is located in the same building Morla visited on Saturday when he came in contact with an iron gate and was electrocuted. I dont deny the fact that current was flowing in the iron gate. But it I am sure that it was not because of our AC compressors, said Kamlesh. South Delhi municipal commissioner Manish Gupta described
the three-day delay in removing the equipment as procedural. Meanwhile, Morlas family demanded corrective measures by the agencies concerned so that such incidents do not recur. Our loss cannot be compensated. Being a responsible citizen, Anand had a keen civic sense, said Anands mother Amreshwari. Talking to HT, she said her family now wants the civic agencies and police to take immediate action and see to it that no such tragedy recurs. Anand, who did his four-year cinematography course from Paris, was electrocuted when he had gone with his family to a bank branch.
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