JAIPUR: A day after a 54-year-old man arrested for alleged involvement in a theft case died at Mansarovar police station, the entire staff of 50 cops at the station were sent to police lines.

Acting deputy commissioner of police (South) Virendra Jhala on Thursday ordered removal of policemen deployed at the police station, including four SIs, two ASIs, five head constables and 37 constables. “All of them have been sent to police lines till further orders,” he added. On Wednesday, Jhala had suspended circle inspector, Mansarovar , Dharamveer Singh and investigating officer of the theft case, Jagdish Prasad.

“It has been done in compliance with the directives of police headquarters which suggests that the policemen at a station shall be removed in case of any custodial death,” said acting deputy commissioner of police (South) Virendra Jhala. Though the medical reports of the deceased, Yogesh (54), suggested that he died of heart attack when the police had brought him to questioning, the entire station staff is now facing the ire.

“He was booked in a dozen cases of thefts and we have recovered valuables including electronic goods worth Rs 11 lakh. The action is not justified since no violence was used against him as he died of heart attack. Are we facing action for arresting a theft accused from who stolen goods were recovered?,” asked a policemen who too was removed on the condition of anonymity.

Meanwhile, the traders association of Mansarovar has came in support of the policemen of Mansarovar in protest against the action of senior police officers. The businessmen and traders will observe a bandh on Friday.

JAISALMER: Renovation work has started at Sonar Fort where parts of boundary wall had collapsed in heavy rain in August last year. About 15 labourers have been engaged in the reconstruction of the collapsed wall. Renovation work has also started at two other places in the fort.

TOI had reported the apathy towards the oldest living fort in its edition dated January 16, 2012. The report caught the attention of Prime Minister Manmohan Singh who sought a report from Union culture minister Selja. The minister later held a meeting at the secretariat in Jaipur for the protection and conservation of the fort.

The Archaeological Survey of India, Jaipur, had sent a proposal worth Rs 91 lakh for reparing the wall to New Delhi but to no avail. However, approval has not been received from ASI to change the sewerage line that was to be started by RUIDP. Now, recently the department has issued a new notice asking IIT New Delhi and Kharagpur experts to give a new report in regard to sewerage, after which the approval will be given. ASI has also given directions that those people who have made houses illegally, will not be given connection in the new sewerage line.

Seilja has sent Gautam Sengupta, director general, ASI to oversee the work. He will attend meetings on February 3 and 4 where national and foreign experts will take part. Some prominent names include Mark Baber from World Watch Monument, New York, senior geo technical consultant from Canada Dr John Hughes, senior architect Sameer Deqmonte, Drona’s Shikha Jain, Bombay Coalbatery Urban Design and Conservation director S C Deshpandey, World Watch Monument India representative Amita Baig, ASI director (conservation) Jahanavi Sharma and National Culture Fund’s Yamini Moboy. Besides, technical experts from IIT-Madras and IIT-Hyderabad are expected to participate.

Bombay Coalbatery Urban Design and Conservation has been given the work of stablisation of the fort by ASI. The fourth and final phase of checking the tumult in the hill has been started from February 1. Using modern machines, Inclimeter, has been put at 9 borewells to note the reading. Later, the data will be sent to London for study. Till now Inclimeters have been put in borewells in the hill at three different times and the data has been sent to London for study. Based on the reports, the three faults of earthquake and tumult will be found.

JAIPUR: Apart from getting completed in record time, the Jaipur metro rail project is on the verge of making another record — for the first time in the country sharp curve of 120 metre radius will be given by the Delhi Metro Rail Corporation (DMRC).

On the Jaipur metro from Mansarovar to Chandpol (9.2 km route), the DMRC will give sharp curves at two critical points for the first time. DMRC project director Lalit Meghnani said, “We will give curve of 120 meter radius between Ram Nagar and Shyam Nagar station and railway station to Sindhi Camp.” He added, “This sharp curve will be given for the first time in India. The roads are narrow and we cannot give a bigger curve as it requires more land acquisition and could affect many private properties.”

As it will be for the first time, the DMRC wants to complete all the civil work before December 2012 as the inspection team from the Research Design and Standards Organisation ( RDSO) will conduct the number of oscillation trials. “The two curves will be thoroughly studied. It’s a stringent procedure as ministry of Railways directs to issue the speed certificate to conduct oscillation and Emergency Braking Distance (EBD) trials for public comfort,” Meghnani said.

An official said the train can run on the steep curves of 120 metre radius with speed restrictions. He said, “Both the curves are near the metro station so it will not be a major problem in clearing the speed test.”

Not only sharp curves, there are other various civil construction that the DMRC will do for the first time. For instance, the DMRC is constructing the double-deck viaduct for elevated road and the metro track. The DMRC will construct metro station on a single pier for the first time in India. According to DMRC officials, the Mansarovar station will be the first in India to be constructed on middle pier alignment.

“The elevated road had already been proposed by the Jaipur Development Authority (JDA) on Ajmer Road, which also had the metro route. The DMRC has taken up both the works and double-deck viaduct is being constructed. The elevated road height would be approximately 7 metres and the metro on this route will run at a height of 20 metres,” said an official.

JAIPUR: Apart from getting completed in record time, the Jaipur metro rail project is on the verge of making another record — for the first time in the country sharp curve of 120 metre radius will be given by the Delhi Metro Rail Corporation (DMRC).

On the Jaipur metro from Mansarovar to Chandpol (9.2 km route), the DMRC will give sharp curves at two critical points for the first time. DMRC project director Lalit Meghnani said, “We will give curve of 120 meter radius between Ram Nagar and Shyam Nagar station and railway station to Sindhi Camp.” He added, “This sharp curve will be given for the first time in India. The roads are narrow and we cannot give a bigger curve as it requires more land acquisition and could affect many private properties.”

As it will be for the first time, the DMRC wants to complete all the civil work before December 2012 as the inspection team from the Research Design and Standards Organisation ( RDSO) will conduct the number of oscillation trials. “The two curves will be thoroughly studied. It’s a stringent procedure as ministry of Railways directs to issue the speed certificate to conduct oscillation and Emergency Braking Distance (EBD) trials for public comfort,” Meghnani said.

An official said the train can run on the steep curves of 120 metre radius with speed restrictions. He said, “Both the curves are near the metro station so it will not be a major problem in clearing the speed test.”

Not only sharp curves, there are other various civil construction that the DMRC will do for the first time. For instance, the DMRC is constructing the double-deck viaduct for elevated road and the metro track. The DMRC will construct metro station on a single pier for the first time in India. According to DMRC officials, the Mansarovar station will be the first in India to be constructed on middle pier alignment.

“The elevated road had already been proposed by the Jaipur Development Authority (JDA) on Ajmer Road, which also had the metro route. The DMRC has taken up both the works and double-deck viaduct is being constructed. The elevated road height would be approximately 7 metres and the metro on this route will run at a height of 20 metres,” said an official.

JAIPUR: Taking note of a report prepared by Delhi-based Centre for Science and Environment (CSE), which alleged irregularities in the implementation of National Solar Mission, the BJP has decided to raise the issue in the forthcoming budget session of the assembly. The BJP on Thursday demanded that the state government provide a factual report on the projects in the state under the mission.

The CSE recently claimed that the distribution of projects worth Rs 13,000 crore to bidders last year were rigged to favour some companies, in violation of the guidelines. It had accused infrastructure company Lanco Infratech of grabbing many of the projects under the garb of nine different entities.

With Rajasthan being the main beneficiary under the project, the BJP claimed that if irregularities had emerged at the Centre, it is most likely that the state too would have been a party to it. ‘The National Solar Mission is a flagship programme of the Centre, which it sold to the state and the state is further selling it to lure investors. Even during the Pravasi Bharatiya Divas programme recently, the government had repeatedly talked about developing the state as a solar power hub,” said Dr Jyoti Kiran, spokesperson of BJP.

She said that it was shocking that it was an independent research body which has raked up the issue and brought to light the allegations of 40% tenders being allotted to a single firm. “Why had the tendering not been made transparent by the Union government?” asked Kiran, adding that it would be corruption and not benefits which would percolate down to the people under the mission.

Kiran also questioned the economics behind the solar power projects in the state. “While the production cost per unit is estimated to be between Rs 10-15, the discoms are expected to purchase it at Rs 5. Who will bear the difference?” she asked, adding that it was an illusion of development the state and central government was trying to create but might not succeed.

JAIPUR: Taking note of a report prepared by Delhi-based Centre for Science and Environment (CSE), which alleged irregularities in the implementation of National Solar Mission, the BJP has decided to raise the issue in the forthcoming budget session of the assembly. The BJP on Thursday demanded that the state government provide a factual report on the projects in the state under the mission.

The CSE recently claimed that the distribution of projects worth Rs 13,000 crore to bidders last year were rigged to favour some companies, in violation of the guidelines. It had accused infrastructure company Lanco Infratech of grabbing many of the projects under the garb of nine different entities.

With Rajasthan being the main beneficiary under the project, the BJP claimed that if irregularities had emerged at the Centre, it is most likely that the state too would have been a party to it. ‘The National Solar Mission is a flagship programme of the Centre, which it sold to the state and the state is further selling it to lure investors. Even during the Pravasi Bharatiya Divas programme recently, the government had repeatedly talked about developing the state as a solar power hub,” said Dr Jyoti Kiran, spokesperson of BJP.

She said that it was shocking that it was an independent research body which has raked up the issue and brought to light the allegations of 40% tenders being allotted to a single firm. “Why had the tendering not been made transparent by the Union government?” asked Kiran, adding that it would be corruption and not benefits which would percolate down to the people under the mission.

Kiran also questioned the economics behind the solar power projects in the state. “While the production cost per unit is estimated to be between Rs 10-15, the discoms are expected to purchase it at Rs 5. Who will bear the difference?” she asked, adding that it was an illusion of development the state and central government was trying to create but might not succeed.

JODHPUR: Amri Devi, the octogenarian mother of Congress legislator from Luni Malkhan Singh Bishnoi, was hospitalized on Thursday after two days of her alleged interrogation by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) in connection with Bhanwari Devi case. She was apparently summoned by the investigating agency to building pressure on her daughter Indra Bishnoi to surrender.

Though the CBI has denied summoning her, she was apparently made to sit at the Circuit House for nearly three hours on Tuesday and for one hour on Wednesday. The development has invited sharp reaction from the Bishnoi community which alleged harassment of the elderly woman, who is the wife of late Ramsingh Bishnoi, the most prominent leader of the Bishnoi community.

The community leaders have written to the National Human Rights Commission (NHRC), National Commission for Women (NCW) and National Commission for Protection of Child Rights (NCPCR) demanding that a case be registered against CBI officials for violation of human rights of an elderly woman. They have also warned of a mass agitation.

Currently, she is undergoing treatment at Mathura Das Mathur Hospital in Jodhpur.

The CBI, on the other hand, tried to wriggle out of the controversy by claiming that no interrogation had taken place with Amri Devi. “The CBI had spoken to her twice at her residences in Bilara and Jodhpur on Monday and Wednesday respectively,” said a CBI spokesperson.

Amri Devi had come twice to the CBI office on Tuesday and Wednesday but CBI has denied her ever having called her to its office for interrogation.

“Her condition deteriorated due to two days’ summoning by the CBI for interrogation as she was too old to report to CBI,” said Kisan Kesri Sangharsh Samiti’s representative Ram Pal Bhawad. He said that CBI is unnecessarily harassing the innocent children and women of Ram Singh Bishnoi’s family in the name of building pressure to apprehend Indra Bishnoi or to make her surrender. They also shouted slogans against the chief minister Ashok Gehlot and CBI and warned the CBI against harassing the innocent in the name of investigation.

A large number of people from the community took Amri Devi to the MGM Hospital on Thursday alleging that her condition deteriorated due to interrogation.

A press release from the state’s police department said that she had come to Jodhpur Circuit House with her grandson on her own will on Tuesday and Wednesday to talk to Babu Lal Bishnoi, brother of accused Sohan Lal Bishnoi, regarding his statements in which he had said that he had talked to her on September 2 informing her about abduction and elimination of Bhanwari Devi.

Ram Pal Bhawad said that we will first hold a community meeting at Bishnoi Dharmshala in Jodhpur on Friday and proceed to the district collectorate in the form of a rally from there to submit a memorandum to the district collector demanding the CBI to stop harassing children and women in the name of investigation by summoning them frequently at its camp office at Circuit House in Jodhpur.

JODHPUR: Amri Devi, the octogenarian mother of Congress legislator from Luni Malkhan Singh Bishnoi, was hospitalized on Thursday after two days of her alleged interrogation by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) in connection with Bhanwari Devi case. She was apparently summoned by the investigating agency to building pressure on her daughter Indra Bishnoi to surrender.

Though the CBI has denied summoning her, she was apparently made to sit at the Circuit House for nearly three hours on Tuesday and for one hour on Wednesday. The development has invited sharp reaction from the Bishnoi community which alleged harassment of the elderly woman, who is the wife of late Ramsingh Bishnoi, the most prominent leader of the Bishnoi community.

The community leaders have written to the National Human Rights Commission (NHRC), National Commission for Women (NCW) and National Commission for Protection of Child Rights (NCPCR) demanding that a case be registered against CBI officials for violation of human rights of an elderly woman. They have also warned of a mass agitation.

Currently, she is undergoing treatment at Mathura Das Mathur Hospital in Jodhpur.

The CBI, on the other hand, tried to wriggle out of the controversy by claiming that no interrogation had taken place with Amri Devi. “The CBI had spoken to her twice at her residences in Bilara and Jodhpur on Monday and Wednesday respectively,” said a CBI spokesperson.

Amri Devi had come twice to the CBI office on Tuesday and Wednesday but CBI has denied her ever having called her to its office for interrogation.

“Her condition deteriorated due to two days’ summoning by the CBI for interrogation as she was too old to report to CBI,” said Kisan Kesri Sangharsh Samiti’s representative Ram Pal Bhawad. He said that CBI is unnecessarily harassing the innocent children and women of Ram Singh Bishnoi’s family in the name of building pressure to apprehend Indra Bishnoi or to make her surrender. They also shouted slogans against the chief minister Ashok Gehlot and CBI and warned the CBI against harassing the innocent in the name of investigation.

A large number of people from the community took Amri Devi to the MGM Hospital on Thursday alleging that her condition deteriorated due to interrogation.

A press release from the state’s police department said that she had come to Jodhpur Circuit House with her grandson on her own will on Tuesday and Wednesday to talk to Babu Lal Bishnoi, brother of accused Sohan Lal Bishnoi, regarding his statements in which he had said that he had talked to her on September 2 informing her about abduction and elimination of Bhanwari Devi.

Ram Pal Bhawad said that we will first hold a community meeting at Bishnoi Dharmshala in Jodhpur on Friday and proceed to the district collectorate in the form of a rally from there to submit a memorandum to the district collector demanding the CBI to stop harassing children and women in the name of investigation by summoning them frequently at its camp office at Circuit House in Jodhpur.

JAIPUR: The 108 ambulance service is apparently making a contribution towards bringing down the infant mortality rate (IMR) in rural Rajasthan as around 1,658 delivery cases were reported to108 ambulances in 2011 and 75% of them were from rural areas.

“In 2011, the service transported around 5.20 lakh patients, of which 1.32 lakh were pregnant women who were transported for deliveries,” ZHCL chief executive officer Sweta Mangal said.

She said that since 1,658 delivery cases were recorded, the ambulances saved lives of many pregnant women and infants. “Had these 1,658 deliveries not been facilitated by ambulances, they would have happened at some unsafe places on failing to reach hospitals in time. In rural Rajasthan, the hospitals are very far away. In some districts, the nearest hospital is more than 100 km away. So ambulances play an important role in such emergency situations.”

The service is the only transportation facility available in villages and can further bring down the IMR but the obstacles cited by the 108 ambulances service provider Ziqitza Health Care limited (ZHCL) officials are that pregnant women’s attendants call at the last stage of delivery. They also claimed in some cases they are not even provided the complete address.

To strengthen the facility in rural areas, now 108 ambulances have been launched at block levels. In each block, the government has deployed at least one ambulance. “From January 15, we will operate 464 ambulances across the state. The figure was 366 in November. It shows we have more ambulances for the rural areas,” Mangal said.

She said that under the Janani Shishu Suraksha Yojna, the service is providing transportation to pregnant women from home to hospital and hospital to home.

JAIPUR: The 108 ambulance service is apparently making a contribution towards bringing down the infant mortality rate (IMR) in rural Rajasthan as around 1,658 delivery cases were reported to108 ambulances in 2011 and 75% of them were from rural areas.

“In 2011, the service transported around 5.20 lakh patients, of which 1.32 lakh were pregnant women who were transported for deliveries,” ZHCL chief executive officer Sweta Mangal said.

She said that since 1,658 delivery cases were recorded, the ambulances saved lives of many pregnant women and infants. “Had these 1,658 deliveries not been facilitated by ambulances, they would have happened at some unsafe places on failing to reach hospitals in time. In rural Rajasthan, the hospitals are very far away. In some districts, the nearest hospital is more than 100 km away. So ambulances play an important role in such emergency situations.”

The service is the only transportation facility available in villages and can further bring down the IMR but the obstacles cited by the 108 ambulances service provider Ziqitza Health Care limited (ZHCL) officials are that pregnant women’s attendants call at the last stage of delivery. They also claimed in some cases they are not even provided the complete address.

To strengthen the facility in rural areas, now 108 ambulances have been launched at block levels. In each block, the government has deployed at least one ambulance. “From January 15, we will operate 464 ambulances across the state. The figure was 366 in November. It shows we have more ambulances for the rural areas,” Mangal said.

She said that under the Janani Shishu Suraksha Yojna, the service is providing transportation to pregnant women from home to hospital and hospital to home.