Main Page                                                                 Archives

 

Fire-unsafe buildings in Delhi may soon be sealed

         New Delhi: Over 2500 buildings in the Capital may be sealed by the year end if they fail to conform to fire-safety norms. After a proper survey, the Delhi Fire Department has listed about 80 per cent buildings in Karol Bagh alone for lack of fire-safety safeguards. Besides, buildings in `Azadpur, Sadar Bazar area, Mahipalpur, Mohammadpur, Karampura, etc., have also been listed by the Department for the purpose. The Delhi Fire Service had issued a public notice to owners and occupants of buildings that are over 15 metres high or have five storeys, including the ground floor. "Buildings that are 15 metres high or are five storeys and do not meet fire safety standards have been issued notices. Moreover those buildings which were already cleared by the fire department earlier have also been issued notices for reispection in order to check whether they are complying with the norms still or not," said RC Sharma, Chief Fire Officer, Delhi.

        The public notice was issued following a Delhi High Court order in August ordering all buildings to comply with fire-safety norms. According to the notice, owners and occupants of these buildings would have to ensure that there was an access road at least six metres wide for fire-tenders to reach the buildings in the event of an emergency. Also, residential buildings would need to have water storage tanks of 50,000-litres capacity, while commercial buildings would need to have water tanks with a capacity of 200,000 litres. Other devices that have to be installed include automatic sprinkler systems, hose reel, portable appliances, compartmentation, automatic fire detection and manual alarm system, public address system, exit signs, emergency power supply and firemen grounding- switch in the lift.

Pak spy held (Go To Top)

         New Delhi: A Pakistani national, who came to New Delhi nearly a month ago, has been arrested on charge of spying along with his cousin. The two - Asif Raess and Naushaad - were arrested here after intelligence agencies gave Delhi Police's Special Cell information about their whereabouts. "Asif Raees alias Nadeem Ahmed alias Kabir Malhotra, a Pakistani national, was nabbed by Special Cell sleuths in Yamuna Vihar area last night. We got the information and when we investigated further, we found that he was coming to a cyber cafe in Yamuna Vihar," Deputy Commissioner of Police (Special Cell) Ashok Chand today said. "Some documents including handmade sketches of different areas and photographs of defence establishments were allegedly recovered from Asif," Chand said. Police also recovered an ATM card of Muslim Commercial Bank of Pakistan from him. Trained in spying activities in Pakistan, Asif had allegedly entered India through Bangladesh in February this year, Chand told reporters.

Sayeed to contest from Pahalgam (Go To Top)

        Srinagar: Jammu and Chief Minister Mufti Mohammad Sayeed will contest from Pahalgam Assembly seat, which fell vacant following the election of PDP president Mehbooba Mufti, his daughter, to the Parliament. Confirming this at a function at the Kashmir University today, he said that he would contest from Assembly segment. Election to as many as four Assembly seats, two each in Jammu and Kashmir divisions, became imminent following the election of three MLAs to the Lok Sabha. The Congress' decision to not to contest election against PDP in the valley has paved the way for the PDP to give a tough fight to the opposition National Conference.

Pappu Yadav granted bail (Go To Top)

        Patna: The Patna High Court today granted bail to former MP Pappu Yadav, an accused in the murder of CPI-M MLA Ajit Sarkar, who was shot dead at Purnea on June 14, 1998. Justice RS Garg allowed Pappu Yadav's petition for regular bail in the case. Earlier, Yadav's counsel YV Giri argued there was no legal evidence against his client and none of the 38 witnesses had spoken about the former MP's involvement in the murder. He pleaded that since his client had been in jail for long, he should be provided bail in the case. "There is no reasonable ground to believe. By examining the all evidence of 38 witnesses now there is no legal evidence against him," said Giri.

Sporting heroes honoured (Go To Top)

       New Delhi: President APJ Abdul Kalam today conferred the sports awards to various sports persons, including shooting star Rajyavardhan Rathore who won silver medal in the just concluded Olympic Games. Rathore received the Rajiv Gandhi Khel Ratna award. Ace long-jump queen Anju Bobby George was also among the 15 sports persons awarded the Arjuna award. Five coaches received the Dronacharya award. The awards, presented in three categories, were given away at a glittering ceremony at the sprawling presidential palace here. On the occasion, Rathore, urged equal recognition for all sports so that athletes can be inspired to excel. "Awards in itself are being given away for the last several years but have they encouraged enough to bring India more medals in various events? The real award is for the one who is practising hard on the field. He achieves a little then he gets recognition and as he starts performing well, his recognition and assistance also increases. Then people idolise such sports person and wish to follow his footsteps. This is happening in cricket, very good but it should happen in other sports also. Then only we can win in front of the world," he said.

BCCI blow to Zee, cancels cricket telecast tender (Go To Top)

       Mumbai: The Board of Control of Cricket in India (BCCI) today cancelled the tender it had earlier awarded to Zee Telefilms for cricket telecast rights. The Board's decision was conveyed to the Bombay high court. It brought to an end the fortnight-long legal imbroglio surrounding the award of telecast rights of the matches to be played in India from October 2004 to September 2008. Accordingly, ESPN-Star Sports withdrew its petition challenging BCCI's decision to award telecast rights to Zee Telefilms. Zee Telefilms, however, has not given up and its CEO Subhash Chandra told reporters outside the court that they were aggrieved and might challenge BCCI's decision. Zee Telefilms contended that they were asked to make arrangements for production and had paid an initial amount of 20 million US Dollars. Though they were accepted as eligible bidder by the 14- member marketing committee of BCCI, the latter told the court that the tender had not concluded.