Students happy with easy' AIEEE paper

AHMEDABAD : Around 26,000 XII science students appeared for All-India Engineering Entrance Examination (AIEEE) conducted by Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) at 42 centres in Ahmedabad and Gandhinagar on Sunday.

Barring three-four questions of mathematics, which students reportedly found quite lengthy, the paper was by and large easy. "I did not attempt questions related to maths, as I found them too tedious. I had to leave them unanswered as wrong answers would have resulted in negative marking for me," said Varun Vyas, who appeared for AIEEE at a centre in Gandhinagar.

Himali Shah of Ahmedabad said, "Many of my friends complained of mathematics questions, which they found too difficult to solve. However, I did not find the paper tough. I appeared for the exam to secure admission in premier engineering institutes of Gujarat."

Sunil Trivedi, exam co-ordinator and principal of DPS school, also termed the paper very easy. "We have so far received no complaints from students regarding the paper being tough. On the contrary, as per our observation, the paper has been perceived as an easy one by students," Trivedi said.

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Three thefts in Ghatlodia, Thaltej houses

AHMEDABAD :  Three households were targeted by thieves on Saturday afternoon from where goods worth Rs 1.96 lakh were stolen. Officials believe it to be a handiwork of one gang.

According to Sola police station officials, Viral Patel, a resident of Raviraj Park Apartment, Ghatlodia, has lodged a complaint with officials that somebody entered his house between 2.15 pm and 2.30 pm after breaking the lock on the door. According to Patel's complaint, the thief stole gold and silver jewellery worth Rs 1.03 lakh from the house. He managed to get a glimpse of the thief - aged around 30 years, wearing blue shirt and black trousers.

Gold jewellery worth Rs 63,500 was stolen from a residence in Vishwas City, Ghatlodia, on Saturday. According to a complaint by Parul Patel, somebody entered her house between 10 am and 6 pm on Saturday after breaking the latch on door and stole jewellery from a safe. She has filed a complaint for theft with Sola police station officials.

In the third incident, a flat in Thaltej was targeted by thieves in an hour. According to a complaint by Nikshita Hemant, a resident of Om Chamunda Apartment, Thaltej, somebody entered her house between 10.30 am and 11.45 am after breaking the door lock and stole Rs 23,000 cash and gold jewellery worth Rs 6,000 from a safe.

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Burglars target Big Bazaar, flee with over 75 cellphones

A major theft took place at Big Bazaar on SG Highway in the wee hours of Sunday. Thieves broke into the electronics section on the first floor of the store and carted away cash, cellphones, laptops and other items totalling more than Rs 8 lakh. The Satellite police said that the theft occurred between 12.30 and 9.30 am.

Burglars entered the store from its AC plant. They made their way to the electronics section after breaking the grill of a bathroom window on the first floor. In all, they fled with more than 75 cellphones and two laptops. Strangely, they stole 22 cameras, including those used specially for video recording, but later dumped them at a farmhouse near Big Bazaar. Cops recovered these cameras on Sunday night.

“The store shuts down between 10 pm and 11 pm every day. After that a stock audit and counting of cash takes place. These processes last till 2.30 am. Thieves must have broke into the store after that,” the manager of Big Bazaar, Vishal Parmar, said.

Four security guards — Naresh Rajput, Ram Rajput, Bhagwat Rajput and Raju Mackwan — were on duty when burglars struck. Incidentally, a new private security firm was hired by Big Bazaar only a few weeks ago. A police officer, who didn’t want to be named, said that the robbery appeared to be an insider’s job. “It’s not easy to sneak into a store with CCTV cameras and security personnel. The theft appears to be a work of an insider,” the officer said.

Meanwhile, cops have pulled up the store for not installing a CCTV camera at its main entrance. According to a notification issued by the police commissioner, every mall and major store should install a CCTV camera at key entry and exit points. The notification also says that malls should store surveillance footage.

“A warning will be issued to Big Bazaar to install a CCTV camera at its main gate within a week. If it fails to do so, action will be taken against it,” JCP (sector 1) Satish Sharma said.


Special squads to keep night vigil
Following the theft at Big Bazaar, JCP (sector 1) Satish Sharma on Sunday called an emergency meeting of officers of Satellite, Sola and Vastrapur police stations. A decision of forming special night squads was taken at the meeting. “Sixty police personnel, divided in three teams of 20, will patrol western parts of the city at night,” he said.

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Stung by AMC’s apathy lawyer to seek Rs 10 as ‘compensation’

A 57-year-old lawyer who, along with his family, has been facing bee attacks at his residence plans to send a legal notice to civic body chief and demand Rs 10 as ‘damages’.

The reason: earlier this month, he mailed two letters with stamps costing Rs 10 to the Ahmedabad Municipal Corporation (AMC) to draw its attention to the bee problem. Both the letters were returned unread.

The lawyer, Dilip M Shah, claims the civic body cannot reject any post. “A government department or a body like the AMC cannot refuse any post. My mails were rejected twice. I fail to fathom why,” he said.

Shah has been urging AMC to get rid of a honeycomb on a tree outside his flat in Shital Sagar Apartment, Navrangpura, for more than a month now.

“I and my family members have been facing bee attacks. I have repeatedly requested civic authorities to remove the honeycomb from the tree in front of our kitchen, but to no avail,” he said.

Shah said that the menace of the inspects had forced his family to avoid stepping into the kitchen balcony after sundown. “I wrote to the AMC twice, on April 1 and April 7. On both the occasions, my letters were returned,” he said. “After the letters were sent back, I phoned AMC’s west zone office. My call was transferred to different departments. No official, however, came on the line.”

Shah’s April 1 letter was sent back to him on April 4, while the other on April 8. “The first letter was returned to me without the      stamp,” he claimed.

The lawyer said that he would serve a notice to Municipal Commissioner I P Gautam over the civic body’s failure to take note of his problem and seek the money he spent on stamps. “I and my family members are fed up with these inspects. We don’t want to live in this constant fear of being stung,” he said.

When Mirror contacted Deputy Municipal Commissioner U C Padia, he said that the issue of Shah’s letters had not been brought to his notice. “I will, however, look into this issue,” Padia, who is in charge of west zone, said.

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ONE YEAR AS WIFE’S HOSTAGE

The wife of a 30-year-old man in Gandhinagar tormented him for a year by allegedly locking him up in a small room, starving him and frequently hitting him. This disturbing case of incarceration came to light when the police rescued the man, Dalbir Singh Gill, from his rented house near InfoCity on Friday.

Cops are yet to find out why Dalbir’s wife, Rajvinder Kaur, subjected him to such cruelty. His mother, however, claims Rajvinder tortured him to coerce him into demanding a share of family wealth. Dalbir, who cannot move without a walking frame, used to play cricket in domestic leagues before a road mishap left him with head and leg injuries in 2002.

On Friday when the Gandhinagar mahila police — prodded by Dalbir’s mother — entered his home in Meghdhanush Society III near Info City to rescue him, they found him in a horrifying condition. He was alarmingly frail because of days of starvation; his skin was pale; he smelt terrible and had a thick beard. Worse, months of captivity had left him disoriented.

 The room in which he was allegedly held hostage was dark and unkempt. Cobwebs and termites could be seen all over the place, which had an unmistakable odour of fetid air. “The room and the house’s condition was terrible. There was hardly any food in the kitchen. Dalbir could hardly move and his clothes stank,” a sub-inspector with the Gandhinagar mahila police, A M Brahmbhatt, said.

fter being rescued, the 30-year-old — who claims to have once shared a room with Sachin Tendulkar in Pune before the little master was selected to play for India — was admitted to Gandhinagar Civil Hospital. Doctors who examined him told cops that he had sustained a lot of psychological damage.

Cops freed Dalbir, known to some as Bunty, from captivity after his mother, Sukhdayal Kaur, complained about Rajvinder.

‘Daughter-in-law from hell’

“My daughter-in-law had been harassing my son for quite sometime. I and other family members didn’t intervene because we didn’t want to intrude in their lives,” Sukhdayal said. “I approached cops after I learnt that my son had become a hostage in his own house.”

“She used to lock the house and leave. My son’s neighbours have told me that they have rarely seen windows and doors of his house open,” she claimed. “Rajvinder used to frequently fight with him and even used to hit him.”

Dalbir, she said, often complained about domestic abuse to his neighbours. “They (neighbours) had not seen my son for quite sometime and they were worried,” Sukhdayal said.

‘I was always nice to my husband’

Rajvinder, however, claims that she never ill-treated her husband. She blamed her mother-in-law for creating a rift between her and her man. “I always took proper care of my husband,” she said. “Allegations against me are false.”

No FIR in the case yet The Gandhinagar mahila police have not filed an FIR against the 30-year-old’s wife as they don’t have the powers to do so. They, however, will transfer the case to the sector 7 police, who will then initiate action against her.

Sub-inspector Brahmbhatt said that she had taken statements of both Dalbir and his wife. “He no longer wants to live with his wife. He wants to live with his mother,” she said.

2002 crash left Dalbir with multiple injuries
The incarceration victim married Rajvinder seven years ago. In 2002, his cricket career stopped on a dime following a collision between his motorcycle and a tanker. He sustained multiple brain and leg injuries. He, in fact, was in coma for four months. He was treated at hospitals in Ahmedabad, Mumbai and UK, and he underwent at least four surgeries. 

                                          

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City of lakes

Amdavadis will soon be able to stop cribbing about the lack of recreational places in the city. The Ahmedabad Municipal Corporation (AMC) has come up with a Raam baan idea: More lakes. Not just one, two or 10 — 34 new lakes will dot the cityscape in a few years. And most of it will be modelled on the Kankaria lakefront.

The sight of Amdavadis thronging the Vastrapur and the Kankaria lakes encouraged the AMC to come up with this plan. It has already implemented the plan in Bapunagar, Asarwa and Baug-e-Firdaus. And, it has proposed to create lakes at Saijpur and Lambha. The remaining 29 lakes have been sanctioned under the Jawaharlal Nehru National Urban Renewal Mission (JNNURM).

Recreational spots

Standing committee chairman Asit Vora said, “The rush at Vastrapur and Kankaria lakes on holidays is unbelievable. We decided to plan a lake in every ward. This will increase the number of recreational spots, reduce the rush and help people enjoy themselves more. The five new lakes will have landscaped gardens, walkways, children’s park and snack parlours.”

He added, “The projects are part of AMC’s effort to create and preserve waterbodies in the city. The lakes will have inlets to recharge the groundwater table. As rainwater will flow into the lakes, it will solve the problem of waterlogging. Several trees will be planted here. This will green up the area and bring down the temperature. The city will become more beautiful.”


Developing environment

AMC chief I P Gautam said, “The lakes will help develop the micro environment. Trees planted at the lake will clean up the air in its one-kilometre radius. These spots will develop as a parallel eco-system. Most of the lakes had dried up. The lake beds were choked. Dregging the bottom will not only help groundwater to percolate easily, it will also increase the lake’s water-holding capacity. This helps in recharging the groundwater table successfully.”

Under construction

“The Lal Bahadur Shastri lake in Bapunagar is coming up on an area of 1.36 lakh sq metres. The 15-m deep lake will have water capacity of 83.2 crore litres. Currently, the bottom of the lake is being levelled. Just the earthwork will cost about Rs 4.25 crore,” said an AMC official.

Spread on an area of 68,000 sq m, the lake in Asarwa will be ready by December. It will cost the AMC Rs 11 crores. The AMC spent Rs 70 lakh on the lake in Baug-e-Firdaus. The construction will be over soon.

The lake in Lambha will be built for Rs 30 lakh. The Saijpur lake in the planning stage. It will be constructed on 41,700 sq metre and the estimated expenditure is Rs 12.12 crore.

Lakes under JNNURM

Meanwhile, the AMC and the Ahmedabad Urban Development Authority (AUDA) will develop 29 lakes under JNNURM. They will build lakes in Gota, Ambli, Prahladnagar, Makarba, Motera, Chandkheda, Chharodi , Chenpur, Ognaj, Hebatpur, Shilaj, Mohmadpura, Okaf, Sarkhej, Tragad, Jagatpur, Nikol, Vastral, Ramol, Hanspur and TP no 63 61/2 . Two lakes will come up in Sola, Thaltej, Bodakdev and Khoraj.

Name	Area in sq m	Name	Area in sq m
Gota	50,771	Chenpur	24,083
Sola	41 11,187	Ognaj	56,262
Sola	43 69,375	Hebatpur	36,630
Thaltej	22,745	Shilaj	1,81,806
(Swastik School)
Thaltej	144/2 44,137	Mohmadpura	10,345
Bodakdev 26	9,479	Okaf	51,327
Bodakdev-FP- 202	20,906	Sarkhej	27,297
Ambli	20,835	Tragad	34,195
Prahladnagar	23,099	Khoraj (highway)	45,080
Makarba	1,04,099	Jagatpur	52,355
Motera	20,746	TP63 61/2	66,416
Chandkheda	45,055	Nikol-103	30,192
Khoraj village	69,051	Vastral	53,709
Chharodi	42,439	Ramol	99,897
Hanspur	11,619

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Woman forgives ex-colleague who defamed her on Orkut

24-year-old withdraws complaint against man who created her fake profile on Orkut and posted an obscene note along with her landline number

A 25-year-old man, who was arrested on Tuesday for defaming his former colleague by creating a fake profile of her on a social networking site, was released after the woman withdrew her complaint in court.

Vejalpur police had arrested Chinmay Dalal on Tuesday night after the 24-year-old woman filed an application of harassment against him with the Crime Branch.

Dalal was presented in the metropolitan court on Wednesday. As soon as the court convened, the woman filed a pursis (stating she doesn’t want to pursue the matter further). Following which, urgent Metropolitan Magistrate B A Dave gave bail to the accused.


Past comes to haunt

The woman, an M Com degree holder, in her application to the Crime Branch stated that in 2008-09, as a marketing executive with Planman Marketing Pvt Ltd in Satellite she was a frequent visitor to social networking sites such as Orkut and Facebook. She regularly kept in touch with friends through these sites and shared pictures. Life was hunky-dory.

However, things changed one fine morning of December 2009, when she started getting obscene calls on her landline. Troubled by the calls, she went into depression.

It was during this time, a friend, Viren, told her that somebody had put up her fake profile on both these sites, with her actual photo and landline number. The profile stated, “I’m not chilly, call me to taste on.”

The girl immediately checked the sites and was aghast. It was then that she remembered sharing her pictures with a former colleague, Chinmay Dalal.

She subsequently filed a complaint with the cyber cell of Crime Branch suspecting Dalal of misdemeanour.

Vejalpur police arrested him on Tuesday. Dalal’s interrogation revealed he had created the woman’s profile on June 11, 2009. When asked, why he did it, Dalal said, the woman had rebuffed his marriage proposal. This angered him and he decided to avenge it.

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