Will a clean chit for Ashok Kumar restore his life?

On September 8, Gurgaon Police arrested Ashok Kumar, the school bus conductor, for the gruesome murder of 8-year-old Pradyuman Thakur of Ryan International School, Bhondsi.  

Tortured and humiliated, Ashok claims to have been forced to confess under duress.   

Later, the CBI charged a Class XI Commerce student of the same school with the murder. Ashok, however, was not given a clean chit.

Gurgaon civil court recently granted him bail on a bond of Rs 50,000. His lawyer, Mohit Verma, has moved court to clear his name. He will appear before a district judge today.

But will it be any comfort for a man snatched from a humble life? Will he be able to restore his life, provide for his family again? But he must, as he is the only breadwinner.

His face has been etched in public memory for a crime he says he was not party to. Will anybody trust him around children again? Not likely.

Speaking to City Spidey, head of a transport company, Naveen Mehlawat, said, "If tomorrow he approaches my company for work, I will certainly be hesitant to keep him. He may not be the prime accused any more, but doubts will always linger. Any face associated with that incident will not be treated kindly.”

Another transport supervisor of a reputed school said on condition of anonymity, "The children have seen his face. This case has received a lot of media attention. It will be difficult to create the trust factor in people, in parents.”

Damage to reputation is irreparable, said another transport supervisor, Ved Pal. "Even if I keep him, parents will feel extremely insecure. It's sad, but I need to think about my business.”

Is the damage inflicted by Gurgaon Police on a family of six, with only one earner, not criminal enough to call for a compensation? 

A case of red tape, with a twist!

This is a case of red tape — but with a twist. Concerned Dwarkites got together glue red-tape reflectors on about 20 electric poles in Sector 7. This was done to improve visibility of the poles, and some of them stand right in the middle of the road.

Anil Parashar from Sri Agrasen Apartments; SK Sharma from Air Force Naval Apartments; PK Chopra of Shivalik Apartments; Col Rai Singh of Siddharth Kunj Apartments; Dr Neelam Kumari from Kamal Vihar and several others carried out the initiative yesterday.    

The idea was the brainchild of AK Parashar, former human rights official. He promptly floated the idea on the WhatsApp group, Mission Clean and Safe Dwarka, and most members responded positively.

He recounts, “We were just fed up with the authorities and their callous attitude, so we decided strike on our own. We put reflector red tapes over electric poles that stood in the middle of roads. We plan to do the same for the whole of Dwarka. Our next stop is Sector 11, as we have been getting requests from residents there.”

In fact, people have now been sharing location of poles situated in the middle of the road on the WhatsApp group — and there are plenty in Dwarka.

Nidhi Gupta, a member of the group, has identified such poles in her own Sector 10. “I have identified three such poles in the middle of the road. So we are working as a team under the guidance of Anil Parashar.”

In Dwarka, there are many electric poles in the middle of the service lanes, and some have been removed by the authorities after laying the cable work underground. But many still remain. 

Ryan murder case: Accused's fingerprints to be taken on record

In the latest development in the Ryan International murder case, the CBI moved an application for the juvenile accused’s fingerprints in court. A copy of it was today handed over to the accused’s lawyer.

However, on the other hand, the lawyer of the accused, Sandeep Aneja, also moved an application for his original date of birth and the Class X marksheet to be taken on record. 

"The court has issued a notice to the CBI about this as well," said Aneja.

Both the applications are to be taken on record and heard on December 6.

Another application alleging that the juvenile was questioned by the CBI at non-permissible hours was also submitted.

In the meantime, the juvenile had earlier this week asked for his books to study, which are being arranged for him. 

The juvenile was arrested by the CBI for the murder of Pradyuman Thakur, a Class II student of the Ryan International School, Bhondsi.

Cambridge parents meet DM over hiked fees

The Cambridge School Parents’ Association (CSPA) met GB Nagar DM over the issue the school holding back report cards of around 100 children from various classes due to non-payment of hiked fees.

According to K Arunachalam, CSPA general secretary, the school management issued a notice to parents to pay hiked annual charges totalling Rs 10,000 within a week. This, he added, was illegal since a circular released by joint director of education, Meerut, stated that schools could not hike fees unless approved by the UP government.

Parents also alleged that the quarterly fee was hiked from to Rs 35,000 from Rs 20,000 for this academic year. This 75 percent hike, they felt, was totally uncalled for, and was done without taking the parents into confidence

The school management did not have the approval of the UP government to hike fees, said Arunachalam. “If the government had approved the hike, then show us the copy of the letter. The DM advised us to meet the joint director of education, Meerut, Divyakant Shukla. So, we are planning to meet him soon,” he added.

The joint director told City Spidey that the matter of fee hike is being heard in Allahabad High Court, and that schools cannot raise fees unless the court has passed an order to that effect. “Action will be initiated against the school if it is found that it had been holding back the report card due to non-payment of hiked fees,” he added.

When City Spidey contacted AK Bakshi, principal (in-charge) of Cambridge School, he refused to comment, saying he was in a meeting.

Will 50,000 homebuyers get their flats by the end of the year?

The three-minister committee formed by Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath earlier this year to solve builder-buyer issues is scheduled to meet builders in Delhi on December 4. The committee, comprising of state industries minister Satish Mahana, urban housing minister Suresh Khanna and state minister Suresh Rana, was formed on August 22.

Manmohan Mishra, finance controller of Noida Authority, confirmed the date of the meeting.

The panel, after holding a few meetings in Noida and Greater Noida, is now moving to Delhi. However, homebuyers say these meetings have not translated to much.

Rashesh Purohit, founder member of the NCR Homebuyers Association, told City Spidey that they had high expectations this time. “The government should draft a proper policy and roadmap for buyers so they get the flats they have invested in,” he said.

On September 12, CM Yogi directed the officials of Noida, Greater Noida and Yamuna Authority to deliver 50,000 flats to buyers before December 31 this year, giving them some hope. However, with only a month to go before the deadline, buyers can’t help but be a little sceptical.

According to officials in all of the three authorities in Gautam Budh Nagar, they are preparing the list of flats to be delivered to homebuyers by the end of the year. A complete review and status of the projects will be provided by the officials to the three-minister panel on December 4.

According to an official of GNIDA, about 25,000 homebuyers will get their flats before the year ends. An official of Noida Authority said they had already given occupancy and completion certificates to builders of about 8,000 flats, and planned to do so for 10,000 more in the coming days.

Dwarka, Sector 12: Dark then, dark now!

For a planned sub-city, Dwarka fares quite badly on several fronts, especially lighting. The area behind societies such as Gangotri Apartments, Sri Hari Apartments, Sahyadri Apartments, Shubham Apartments and Shivam Apartments in Sector 12 hardly has any provisions for light.

Some of the back lanes have been without light for more than five years, complained residents. The subject has been discussed at various forums, but nothing has been done by the authorities to ameliorate the situation.

President of Sri Hari Apartments, Sector 12, NC Mishra, said, “Just behind our society there is a streetlight pole that stands without any bulb. So the stretch is completely in dark at night. Also, there’s no light in the adjacent park and the stretch towards Sahyadri Apartments. It gets pretty risky after sundown.”

Pankaj, a resident of Abhiyan Apartments of the same sector, slammed the corporation for its slack approach. He said, “The area behind Pocket 1, near Gangotri Apartments in Sector 12, and behind Sector 12A (plotted area) is completely in dark at night. This has been the scene since 2012.The maintenance of these areas has not been given to BSES or any other contractor till date. Hence the poles are missing fittings. The South Delhi Municipal Corporation (SDMC) had taken Rs 34 lakh in March 2014 from the DDA, but has not undertaken pole replacement or repair works in the sector. The DDA is now asking for a refund, but the SDMC, of course, is not willing to return the money.”

Residents also feel police patrolling in the area must be increased till proper lighting is made available. Many have had to face incidents of snatching in the absence of light.

SK Singh, a resident of Gangotri Apartments, said, “The whole area behind our society has been in dark for years. We have been facing security issues. Open drinking and other illegal activities are happening in the area quite blatantly. The issue was raised in police-public meetings and also in meetings with the authorities, but nothing has happened so far.”

According to the residents, several complaints regarding defunct streetlights have been made to the BSES, but there has been no response.

Vice-president of BSES, SK Dagar, said he would look into the matter as soon as possible.

New dustbins for Dwarka Sec 7 societies

Dwarka Sector 7 will soon see new garbage bins in its societies. Only last week, the mayor of SDMC Kamaljeet Sehrawat had met representatives of various societies and heard this specific demand from them.

About 10 societies have already received new bins and the mayor is even taking into account various suggestions from residents.

AK Parashar, a resident of Sri Agrasen Apartments, Sector 7, who has been actively campaigning for the need for dustbins, said, “We have received two big dustbins for our society. We are grateful to the mayor and hope to get her attention in other matters as well.”

Parashar informed City Spidey that the mayor has assured residents that she will be visiting areas where dustbins are being installed to ensure everything is being done properly. “She will also visit parks and other spots. We will be requesting her to allot dustbins depending on the number of flats in each society.”

Residents and people from managing committees of various societies said that in an earlier distribution drive, old dustbins had been given out instead of new. So these needed to be replaced. Anurag Bahl, a resident of Shruti Apartments, Sector 7, said, “The corporation workers should monitor the distribution. They should not be distributing old dustbins.”

President of Shruti Apartments, TL Sohal, said he was happy to have two big dustbins for his residential society. “There are 58 flats in our society. Two dustbins are sufficient, and I am happy that the corporation has heeded our demand so promptly. We also want some benches and swings for the society parks.”

Incidentally today, the Mayor had visited the sector to review the ongoing work (upgrading civic amenities) of the corporation in the residential areas. Sehrawat who was accompanied by officials and staff members of the sanitation department of SDMC  met the RWAs and managements of various societies and did a reece of the area to understand the existing issues and devise permanent solutions for the same. She was apprised about the encroachments, state of garbage disposal and deplorable condition of parks and service lanes in the area.

Speaking to City Spidey, PP Wangchuk, Secretary of Media Apartments, Sector 7 said, “The Mayor’s visit has indeed been encouraging for the residents. Encroachment and sanitation were two major issues that we highlighted. We took the authorities to the area around the mall at Ramphal Chowk for them to understand the severity of encroachment.”

Residents of the area also apprised the Mayor about the deplorable condition of parks. They requested her to draft a policy through which these parks can be adopted by specific societies. “Then these parks will be properly maintained. Also people will be encouraged to participate in their upkeep,” says a resident.

Unitech Fresco, Gurgaon: This time, it's Tower 16

The problem of lifts persists at Fresco in Sector 50, Gurgaon. This time, it’s Tower 16. Both the lifts of this tower have not been operational for some time now.

Incidents of people getting stuck in lifts have only become too common in this condominium.  

On August 9, three children were stuck in the Tower 4 lift for nearly 30 minutes. There have been other minor episodes as well.

Residents claim that the lifts are not maintained, as the builder has not deposited dues of Rs 40 lakh to Otis, the lift agency.

And since the annual maintenance contract (AMC) with Otis has expired, the company is not willing to carry out maintenance work until their dues are paid.

A harassed resident, Yogesh Mathur, complained, “The builder gets the charges from us on time, but does not pay Otis, and hence our lifts remain unrepaired.”

Desperate for help, the RWA even lodged a complaint with the sub-divisional magistrate (SDM).

“The senior citizens and heart patients in our condominium stand at perpetual medical risk, owing to malfunctioning lifts. This time, both the lifts in Tower 16 have stopped working,” said a resident.

Speaking to City Spidey, Nilesh Tandon, RWA president, said, “We wrote to the SDM, after all our complaints to the builder went unheard. We are looking forward to some action now.” 

Torture over, but what lies ahead for Ashok Kumar?

He didn’t feel like eating on November 21, the night before his release. Somehow, the thought of food made him nauseous — the pain of all that had tragically transpired was welling up inside him.

The police torture, which went on for hours till he fell unconscious, has been indelibly etched in his mind.

On November 22, the paperwork for Ashok Kumar’s release was being prepared. He was to be let out on a bond of Rs 50,000 after a harrowing 74 days in jail.  

The jail superintendent got special food prepared for him. Kumar recalls emotionally, "They made rajma aloo for me as a special gesture. The superintendent also had halwa made for me — it was auspicious, he felt." 

Stepping out of jail, he hugged his father and wept inconsolably. But he knew he had to remain strong for his mother, who was not strong enough to shoulder his burden.

He returned home and sat through a prolonged interaction with the media. All this while, his wife, Mamta, kept a low profile, serving biscuits and tea to reporters who had descended on the house. But her eyes gave away her joy.

For dinner, his favourite food was served, prepared carefully by Mamta — hara saag and bajre ki roti. His sons — Rohan, 9, and Keshav, 6 —  have not been off his lap ever since he came home. The older son said affectionately, “My father has come back home, and now I will eat food with him from his plate."

Ashok woke up the next morning not feeling well, complaining of chest pain and low blood pressure. He had been running a temperature over the past two days.

"I wanted to go to our kul devta [clan god], Hanumanji.  But I don’t think I can go at this point — I need to get better first,” he said.

Though the family has reunited, Ashok’s nightmare is far from over — he’s without a job now, and finding one will prove difficult.

Only time will tell how the rest of his life will unfold.

Ahinsa Khand: Got a thing to spare? Green Team is here

What better way to beat the chill slowly settling in than sharing warmth — especially with those who don’t have much on them. So enterprising residents from over 10 high-rises in Ahinsa Khand, under the banner Green Team, have been organising donation camps in societies to collect just about anything — old shoes, worn-out caps, clothes.

Notices were put up in societies to deliver the items to the collection area of the society, from where the bags would later be delivered at the main collection point at Rishabh Platinum Society.

The drive has been on since the second week of November.

A member sorts out the collected stuff

However, the collection process has been halted for the time, said Priyanka Gupta of Ashiana Upvan. The reason? “A lot of donated packages have been collected, but the items have to be segregated. It’s a tedious process, and we still have to distribute a lot of the collected items.”

Agreeing, Jayati Jain of Rishabh Platinum said, “Residents usually deliver things in one bag, with everything. These items need to be segregated, and that’s a tedious and time-taking process. We have opened all the packages and separated the items according age groups, such as 0-3years, 4-12 years. Items for children have been distributed in local government-run schools, while other things are being given out to construction workers in the nearby areas,” elaborated Jain.

Anil Kukreja from Ashiana Green brings in the donations

Gupta, a school teacher, also teaches at a school for under-privileged children in Princess Park Society. She keeps a part of the collection for her school at Princess Park. “I select and keep items such as caps, shoes for the children. Winter is already here, and they need shoes. It gives me a lot of happiness to see their faces light up the moment they get the items,” she added.

The members are also thankful to the AOAs of the area, who helped in managing the donations.

“We will very soon initiate the second phase of the drive, when we’ll collect blankets and other similar items to distribute in the winter,” Jain confimed.

Will this second panel by Delhi Govt help to curb arbitrary school fee hikes?

The Delhi Government shall soon set up an independent panel under the Directorate of Education (DoE) to take care of complaints regarding fee hike and other issues that affect school children and their parents. This decision has been taken on the order of the Delhi High Court.

Last week, a group of parents angered by the arbitrary fee hikes by some private schools operating on government land, had sought the intervention of the court. Delhi Breaking News

According to a Delhi Government official, this panel will be named the ‘Fee Anomaly Committee’. “Fee hikes by private schools are happening far too frequently and arbitrarily these days. Parents of school children are understandably upset. This panel shall be an interface between the parents and schools managements. It will also be in charge of submitting a detailed report to the DoE,” Nagender Sharma, spokesperson of Delhi Government informed City Spidey.

Recently, around 100 parents had protested against the fee hike of Ahlcon Public School in Mayur Vihar. “We have even sent a written complaint to Manish Sisodia, education minister of Delhi. However, no action has been taken,” said Ritu Jauhar a parent.  

Interestingly, sources within the government have told City Spidey that a similar committee already exists from 2012. However, it is almost defunct now. “A similar committee was formed by former Delhi chief minister, Sheila Dikshit. About 20 officials including senior officials were deployed there. However, it long ceased to be an active body and many officials have now been shifted to other departments,” a senior official said on condition of anonymity.

Why is Delhi Government not enforcing the Solid Waste Management Policy?

About two months ago, the Delhi Municipal Corporations (MCDs) along with environmental experts had framed a draft of bye laws on Solid Waste Management (SWM). However, it has not been implemented.  

Last week, when the Delhi High Court had hauled the state government for not complying with its earlier order, the government stated that the Lieutenant Governor’s approval on the draft was pending. However, the court had directed the AAP government to implement SWM bye laws within two weeks.

Interestingly, this fact has been contradicted by a section of state government officials who have told City Spidey on condition of anonymity that the draft had already been approved in September. However, the official refused to give any further details on this matter.

The draft was jointly framed by local authorities and court-appointed environmental experts. The environmental experts’ have proposed user fee for municipal services.

P K Khandelwal, chief engineer (EDMC) informed City Spidey that when the proposal for user fee was accepted by the HC, MCDs were immediately asked to fix the amount. “NDMC and Delhi Cantonment had unanimously fixed charges on municipal services and handed it over to the court appointed committee. The power to implement such bye laws lies on the Delhi Government.”

If the draft bye laws are implemented, the buildings in residential areas commanding floor area up to  50 square meters shall be charged Rs 50 per month by way of  municipal user fee.  Buildings having floor area above 50 square metres to 200 square metres shall be charged Rs 100 and the buildings above 200 square metres shall be levied Rs 200 (as user fee). User charges shall also be imposed on street vendors ranging between Rs 50 to Rs 100 per month.

On the other hand, commercial establishments, shops, eating places (Dhaba/sweet shop/coffee house etc) each would have to pay Rs 500 per month as user charges. A sum of Rs 2000 has been fixed for guest houses, dharamshalas, hostels, restaurants with sitting capacity up 50 persons. Restaurants with sitting capacity above 50 persons shall be charged Rs 3000.   

Hotels (unstarred) would pay Rs 2000 while hotels up to three stars and above would pay Rs 3000 and Rs 5000 respectively. Each commercial and government office would pay Rs 2000.

Kahndelwal said, “These charges shall be uniform across the city including regularised residential colonies.”

The bye-laws would also enforce segregation of waste at sources such in the households, and housing societies.

Thanks to the callousness of DDA, dust and pollution are engulfing Dwarka!

The surge of construction activity in Dwarka is translating to a civic menace. Waste materials from construction and demolition activity are being dumped in vacant lands across the sub city. Even green areas and metro corridors have become dumping grounds for trucks and tractors that transport raw materials for ongoing construction projects.

Ironically, the administration is feigning ignorance of these dumping activities despite the fact that an official ban on dumping has already been levied.  Needless to say these concrete and semi-concrete waste dumps are unleashing dust particles and adding to pollution levels. The vegetation cover of the adjoining areas is also getting damaged. . Dwarka Breaking News

Malba (construction waste) deposits can be clearly seen in Sector 8 under the metro line, in Sector 22 along the Master Plan Road, in the vacant lands of Sector 19 and 20 and in the vacant lands in front of the metro stations of Sector 9, 10, 11 and 12.  Some waste dumps are visible near schools like Sam International School in Sector 12 and Bal Bharti School. The vacant land behind Maxfort School in Sector 7 has become a regular dumping spot for construction trucks.

President of Dwarka Forum and a resident of Sector 22, Rejimon CK has been raising his voice against this rampant and illegal practice in the sub city.  He has even written to the DDA and other concerned authorities. Speaking to City Spideyhe said, “Construction and Demolition Waste Rules 2016 cautions against the dumping of malba in vacant spots. However even the authorities have no provisions for properly disposing their own waste. Waste malba adds to dust pollution and creates environmental and health hazards.”

Rejimon CK shared this video with City Spidey that clearly depicts the seriousness  of the subject.