Rattan Lal, injured in the September 7, Delhi high court blast succumbed to his injuries. The death toll now stands at 15.
58-year-old Rattan Lal was in a serious condition and both his legs were amputated. Doctors at the Ram Manohar Lohia hospital said he died at
8:20am.
“Yesterday, he had expressed his desire to meet his wife and son and we had agreed,” the doctor said.
Twenty-four victims of the blast are undergoing treatment in different city hospitals – 11 in RML, five in AIIMS, four in Safdarjung, two in Max and one each in Moolchand and LNJP.
]]>Minutes after anti-corruption activist Anna Hazare ended his fast on Sunday, he declared that electoral reforms will be on top of his agenda next so that corruption can come down. “I have only deferred my fast, not given it up. Only when these reforms are complete will I really end my fast. I will not rest until all the changes that I look to are achieved,” he said to thunderous applause from thousands of his supporters waving tricolour and shouting slogans like ‘Anna Hazare Zindabad’.
Hazare broke his 13-days long fast on Sunday morning after Parliament adopted the Sense of the House resolution on the three key demands made by him.
Dismissing the charge that his campaign was against Parliament and Constitution, he said the change has to be through constitutional means.
Hazare said that his fight would now be for Right to recall and Right to reject as part of electoral reforms so that corruption can be reduced.
“While Right to recall would be for those elected, the Right to reject will be a column in the ballot paper which would ensure the voter has a right to say that he does not like the listed candidates.
“We have to reform electoral system. (we need) Right to reject. You should be able to reject your candidate in the ballot paper. We have to do that.”
“If the majority in a constituency says that they reject a candidate, even then the election should be cancelled. How much money they (candidates) will distribute? Once the candidate spends Rs 10 crore for one election and if the election is cancelled, then right sense will dawn upon them,” he said.
]]>With the existing ban on use of plastic bags not being very effective, the Delhi government is now considering closing down over 400 manufacturing units of such items across the city. A top official said the government was determined to rid the city of plastic bags and a final decision on shutting d own the manufacturing units is expected to be taken very soon.
“There are practical difficulties in enforcing the ban on use of plastic bags. So we are considering closing down the manufacturing units of plastic bags so that these bags are not produced at all,” the official said.
Currently, around 400 plastic bag manufacturing units are operating in the city and the total yearly turnover of these units is be in the range of Rs 800 crore to Rs 1,000 crore, an industry expert said.
The Delhi government had in January, 2009 imposed a ban on the use of plastic bags in various markets, shopping malls, hotels and hospitals but it has not been very effective.
]]>The Delhi government on Monday said it will take a decision after Oct 25 on whether to bring around 1,600 Blueline buses back on the city’s roads, and maintained it was committed to phase out these privately owned public transport vehicles.
The Bluelines were taken off to decongest some of the roads ahead of the Oct 3-14 Commonwealth Games.
Transport Minister Arvinder Singh Lovely told reporters: “The nearly 1,600 Blueline buses which were asked to go off the roads on the Games routes and New Delhi areas, will remain so till Oct 25. Any decision on them will be taken only after that.”
He also stressed that the government was fully committed to phase the Blueline buses as the Delhi Transport Corporation (DTC) now has enough buses to ferry the capital’s commuters.
The Delhi government had earlier planned to phase out all the Blueline buses before the Commonwealth Games. The Blueline bus operators had approached the high court, where the matter is pending.
]]>The threat of floods is looming large over Delhi once again with Haryana releasing 7 lakh cusecs of water into the Yamuna on Sunday.
The amount of water discharged broke the 32-year-old record when 7,09,000 cusec water was discharged at Tajewala on September 3, 1978, officials said.
The water from the river entered agricultural land in 22 villages in the district, damaging standing crops.
The flood water has reached Karnal and Panipat districts and is likely to reach Sonepat.
The Haryana government has sought assistance of National Disaster Relief Force (NDRF) for rescue operations in the state.
Meanwhile, the flood situation in neighbouring Punjab continued to remain grim with heavy in-flow of water in Sutlej river submerging villages in Ropar Patiala, Ludhiana and Anandpur Sahib.
All major reservoirs in the state, including the Bhakra dam, are full to the capacity due to heavy rains in hills.
This is the maximum one-time release of water ever from the Hathinikund barrage in Yamunanagar and has sent the level of the Yamuna above the danger mark.
The water released from Hathinikund will reach Delhi in the next 72 hours, posing a threat to areas such as Okhla, Usmanpur and Yamuna Bazar.
]]>The US State Department will send Senate Foreign Relations Committee Chairman John Kerry to Pakistan next week to assess the damage from the country’s flood disaster.
]]>If there’s a pharmaceutical company equivalent of JetBlue ’s Steven Slater , it’s Ranbaxy CEO Atul Sobti , who quit yesterday with no notice after a long-simmering dispute with his bosses.
]]>Black Kite birds fly around as Indian Muslims sit on the steps after offering Friday prayers at the Feroz Shah Kotla Mosque in New Delhi, India, Friday, Aug.
]]>India may ask Google and Skype for greater access to encrypted information once it resolves security concerns with BlackBerrys, which are now under threat of a ban, according to a government document and two people familiar with the discussions.
]]>New Delhi, Aug.13 : ARINC Incorporated has successfully cut over and launched the passenger technology for India’s largest airport terminal-the newly constructed Terminal 3 at Indira Gandhi International Airport , New Delhi.
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