Bank pays for blacklisting, threatening customer

C Unnikrishnan | TNN

Mumbai: The next time a bank offers a free credit card, think twice before saying yes. An advocate learnt this the hard way when a bank recently went to the extent of notifying his name as a defaulter with the Credit Information Bureau of (India) Limited (Cibil) even though it was not his fault.

The move meant that the advocate, K P Sreejith, would have found it impossible to avail a bank loan. However, refusing to take things lying down, Sreejith sued the bank, which was then directed by the consumer dispute redressal forum to pay up Rs 25,000 towards ‘mental agony and loss of reputation’ and another Rs 5,000 towards cost of litigation.

In August 2007, Barclay Bank approached Sreejith and offered a free life-time credit card considering his “good payment track record”.

Sreejith, who was initially reluctant, accepted the offer. On October 7, 2007, he made a purchase of Rs 918 through the card. A month later, the bank informed Sreejith over phone that he had not made the payment due on November 17.

Sreejith claimed that he had not received the statement but promptly paid the amount in accordance with the bank’s instructions. But soon he got the statement, in which where he was charged Rs 300 towards delayed payment. After Sreejith failed to get through to the bank over the phone, he sent an e-mail explaining the situation and requested them waive off the late fee.

The bank reverted saying the m at t e r had been forwarded to the department concerned. Even as the dispute was on, the late fee amount accumulated to Rs 2,000 and the bank allegedly sent recovery agents, who threatened Sreejith with dire consequences if the amount was not paid.

On January 4, 2008, the bank sent a letter to Sreejith asking him to pay Rs 734 and suspended his card. In February, the bank wrote saying the card would be permanently withdrawn and details would be forwarded to Cibil. On March 3, the bank carried out its threat after which Sreejith approached the consumer forum.

The bank denied issuing any threats and said levying late fee was proper. The bank also said that Cibil is not a defaulters’ list but only a data base of customers’ credit history.

The bank filed an affidavit saying the charges were reversed and there was no outstanding, which was intimated to Cibil.
The forum comprising president S P Mahajan and members Jyoti Iyer and S S Patil observed the bank had no regards for RBI directives as complaints to the customer services head was not attended to.

“The act of the bank in employing recovery agents is highly deplorable and it appears that the bank has no respect for the rule of the law.’’ the forum added.

RTO Delhi:Get driving licence from any city RTO

Get driving licence from any city RTO

A positive step. It will be possible to go to an RTO nearer to you now.

However will it bring down the harassment at the RTO offices, play of touts or graft?

Megha Suri | TNN

New Delhi: In about 10 days’ time, you will be able to get a driving licence issued from any of the 13 regional transport offices (RTOs) in Delhi, irrespective of where you stay in the capital. To bring down levels of corruption, all RTOs and the transport department unit at Burari are being interlinked and all records transferred to a central server.

Work on the project is nearing completion, after which the transport department will start trial runs. Interlinked RTOs would free the applicants from the current restriction of having to go to only the transport office which serves their area of residence.

NEW LICENSING FACILITY IN 10 DAYS To check graft, records being transferred to central server
New Delhi: To bring down levels of corruption, all RTOs and the transport department unit at Burari are being interlinked and all records transferred to a central server.
Though licence-seekers will now be free to apply at any RTO, they will need to complete all formalities — like the driving test for learners licence, payment of fees, final road test for permanent licence and the printing of the smart card — at the same RTO.

The driving licence will subsequently be delivered by courier to the applicant’s permanent address. Details of new licences etc, will get uploaded onto the centralized database, real time.

The department is also in the process of creating a centralized pool of information so that all records of present licence holders can be accessed by officials from any RTO. To get the new facility rolling, the transport department is now in the final stages of linking the existing databases of all the 13 RTOs and the Burari unit.
Official said there was a problem at the Sarai Kale Khan RTO, where the linking was stuck due to technical difficulties.

But the matter has been sorted out and even this RTO will be connected to the central server in 2-3 days. The ongoing festive season has caused some delays, but the new facility is expected to be in place in 10 days.

‘‘The new centralized system is being put in place to bring about more transparency in the process. We are going to launch a massive public awareness campaign to tell people about it. This way, the government will ensure that it doesn’t get sabotaged. The dummy run will start in 10 days and the teething troubles will be sorted out at the earliest,’’ said R K Verma, transport commissioner.

Another major step being taken is the weeding out of touts at RTOs who stamp medical certificates mandatory for every application for a driving licence. A cabinet note has been sent by the department which proposes that such medical certificates will be issued only by government hospitals and dispensaries.

At present, any registered medical practitioner can certify whether an applicant is fit to drive or not. Recently, the government had also started online tracking of applications for driving licences, which has got a good response from applicants.

Silent Samaritans: Delhi:Home Cancer Care unit, RGCI

Amid fading hope, they bring cheer

Team Of 3 Docs Treats Terminally-Ill Cancer Patients, Counsels Their Kin

Shreya Roy Chowdhury | TNN

FIGHT TILL THE END: Home Cancer Care Unit of Rajiv Gandhi Cancer Institute visits patients every 15 days

New Delhi: Once every fortnight Swarn Kanta Kohli, terminally ill with abdominal cancer, wakes up early with a smile on her lips and cheer in her heart. It’s the day her friends drop by.

These are no ordinary friends but doctors from Home Cancer Care unit of Rajiv Gandhi Cancer Institute in Rohini. For the past three years, they have treated and counselled her — all for free — just as they have been doing with terminally-ill patients across Delhi.

Rajni Mutneja heads the three-member team, the others a psychologist and a nurse.

They can’t cure but make patients in their care comfortable. They visit the home of each patient at least once in 15 days, bearing nutritional powders, medicines, bandages and words of advice.

‘‘Their support is important. My mother looks to their visits,’’ says Vinod Kohli.

Team-head since 1999, Mutneja says that on an average, there are about 50 patients in their care at a time, two to three of them below the age of 20. Families are counselled against use of futile and frequently harmful alternative therapies; beds and wheelchairs left by deceased patients are circulated among others.

The fortnightly gesture of comfort is even more appreciated by families whose patient is bedridden and unresponsive. Vikrant Pande’s son Rahul was diagnosed with acute leukemia in 2001. He was just 10. In 2003, Rahul slipped into coma. When a 38-day stay at the hospital ended with no improvement, he was discharged. ‘‘It is difficult looking after a patient who can’t express his suffering.

We call the home care group whenever he has a cold or fever or his bedsores need dressing. It really boosts our morale to know someone from the hospital is helping our son,’’ says his father. On visits, lab coats are left behind — many families don’t want neighbours to know. Pande, for instance, is afraid that knowledge of his son’s condition can affect his 21-year-old daughter’s marriage prospects.

They do their best but can’t afford to get too involved. ‘‘Most live for a few weeks to a few months after registering,’’ says Mutneja, who gave up her career as a gynaecologist to tend to the dying. Only about 20% survive beyond two years. ‘‘Sometimes, we call a day before and find upon arriving that the patient passed away in the meantime,’’ she says. But association with the family doesn’t end with the patient’s demise. ‘‘We do at least one condolence visit,’’ says Anita, ‘‘but many of them stay in touch.’’

Much of their work is counselling the families. The team psychologist, Anita Kumari, relates the case of one 52-year-old patient they’re attending to. ‘‘Her husband was stressed and the attendant said he was popping sleeping pills,’’ she says. She got him to speak up while his wife slept, extending support.

The home care programme started a year after the hospital itself, in 1997. ‘‘It is based on the West’s hospice concept,’’ says medical director Dr AK Chaturvedi. Most patients are from RGCI, but about 15% are referred by other hospitals. Since 1997, the team has attended to 2,200 patients. And according to Chaturvedi, there are plans of adding another team.

‘‘We’ve seen so much death,’’ says Anita, who previously worked with an NGO helping school dropouts get back on track. But there’s no sense of despondence.

‘‘You can’t tell what’s in store even for a healthy person,’’ Mutneja reasons. ‘‘We feel satisfied when the patients feel better and their families bless us,’’ they agree.
(Some names have been changed to protect identity)

To curb power theft : Ludhiana / Pune show the way

‘Transmission Losses’ (official  term for pilfering or bijali chori) are as high as 40 % in Delhi.

Politicians and dadas and industries drawing power illegally are against any action to reduce power theft.

Novel way to curb power theft

TIMES NEWS NETWORK

Pune: The Maharashtra State Electricity Distribution Company Ltd (MSEDCL) has adopted a novel plan to curb power thefts and reduce interruptions in supply to city’s major slum pockets and Pimpri-Chinchwad township.

The method was first tried by the Punjab power utility in Ludhiana and is called the ‘Ludhiana Pattern’. The pattern uses aerial bunch conductors and the electricity meters of consumers are installed atop a tall pole to make them inaccessible. Even the MSEDCL staffers have to use a ladder to take the metre readings.

Aerial bunch conductors have a plastic coating which does not allow the current to pass if a hook is attached to the conductor to steal power. To tap electricity from a normal open conductor all one has to do is put a hook attached to a wire on the conductor.

In Pune, the pattern has been replicated in the Annabhau Sathenagar slum in Sangvi, Pimpri division of MSEDCL. R A Mulani, executive engineer of Pimpri division, said that 114 consumers in the Annabhau Sathe slum were given electricity connections and their metres were put atop a seven-metre-high pole.

“The metres have been fixed in a big box to protect them from thieves and elements of nature,” Mulani said, adding that an aerial bunch conductor was fitted at the point of supply instead of the usual conductor.

Mulani said that another 103 slumdwellers from the same locality have applied for power connections and they too will be given connections using the same method. “It cost us Rs 10 lakh for implementing this system,” he said. Besides preventing power thefts the experiment has also reduced instances of power interruption resulting from sudden increase in load when power is tapped illegally.

The Ludhiana Pattern was also replicated at Janatavasahat slum near Parvati, where 120 consumers were given electricity connections. Fifteen metres each were fitted in eight boxes, which in turn were put up on seven-metre-tall poles at a cost of Rs 2.50 lakh. Consumers in Dandekar bridge slum, too, were given electricity connections using the same technique.

“Since the arrangement makes illegal tapping of power impossible, one does not see the usual mesh of cables on the pole which is a common site in a slum,” explained an official of the MSEDCL.

The officials added that the MSEDCL planned to implement the pattern in other slum pockets in Pune zone.
The project was implemented under the supervision of executive director Uttam Zalte, chief engineer S P Nagtilak and superintending engineer D R Padalkar.

Raj Thackeray: Ration Cards should not be proof for ID

‘Ration cards can’t be used as ID proof’

Somit Sen & Sanjeev Shivadekar | TNN

Mumbai: MNS chief Raj Thackeray has demanded that ration cards should not be allowed as an identity proof for assembly elections. He has decided to take up the issue with the chief election commissioner (CEC) in Delhi.

Thackeray submitted a memorandum in this connection to Maharashtra’s chief electoral officer Debashish Chakrabarty on Wednesday. He said the party will bring to the notice of the EC practice of using of bogus ration cards on voting day. He added that ration cards in Maharashtra did not have photographs of family members.

“In other states, the cards bear photographs. In our state, they do not have photographs and should not be allowed as proof of identity.”

He asked the EC to allow politicians to use government guest houses/bungalows during campaigns in villages and demanded a single window clearance for permissions to hold rallies, meetings and campaign trails.

Police: A brave cop

Brave heart cop helps nab dacoit

Dragged For 200 Mtrs As He Held On To Steering Wheel Of Suspects’ Jeep

TIMES NEWS NETWORK

Pune: The daring act of a c o n s t abl e helped the Pune rural police nab a suspect belonging to a six-member gang that allegedly committed a dacoity at a f a r m e r ’s house at Ranjani village near Manchar — about 60 km from here — in the wee hours of Friday.
Police constable S N Swami held on to the steering wheel of a jeep in which the suspects were trying to flee. He was dragged for nearly 200 metres, after which the driver lost control of the vehicle and it crashed to a halt.

The gang of six dacoits had forced their way into farmer Laxman Nana Bhor’s house around 2 am on Friday. They threatened the Bhor family with sharp weapons; snatched Bhor’s gold ring, his wife Sunita’s gold chain, other silver ornaments and cash of Rs 8,000, and fled. The Bhors immediately informed the Manchar police about the incident.
Assistant police inspector Dyaneshwar Ganore of the Manchar police told TOI, “Our team immediately rushed to the spot. Bhor showed us the direction in which the suspects had fled.”

Members of the Gram Surksha Dal also gathered to help the police. “When we were heading towards Belhe road, we saw a jeep that looked suspicious. Seeing our police jeep, it started gathering speed, but we gave chase and blocked its path, bringing it to a halt. There were six persons in the jeep. The driver told us that they were coming from Bhimashankar,” Ganore said.

“Police constable S N Swami tried to remove the key from the ignition. However, the driver started the jeep and drove towards Nimgaon Sava village with constable Swami holding on to the steering wheel. Swami was dragged for about 200 metres and fell to the road, a few meters away from us,” Ganore said.

The driver, meanwhile, lost control of the jeep and it overturned. Gram Surksha Dal members, who were present, immediately pulled one of the suspects out of the vehicle and started thrashing him. “We ran towards the jeep and managed to rescue the man from the clutches of the Gram Surksha Dal members. However, the other suspects managed to escape,” Ganore said.

The police recovered sandalwood and weapons from the jeep. The suspect has been identified as Rajendra Sitaram Jadhav (25) of Pathardi in Ahmednagar district. “We have sent a team to Pathardi to look for the other suspects,” Ganore said.

Investigations have revealed that the gang was involved in many sandalwood thefts in the district, Ganore further said.
A close shave

Pune: “If I could have managed to remove the keys from the jeep, we would have been able to nab all the suspects,” said police constable S N Swami.

“As the driver told us they were coming from Bhimashankar, we became suspicious. I tried to remove the keys from the ignition, but the driver started the jeep and increased its speed. My hand was stuck in the steering wheel, while my body was suspended outside the jeep.

I somehow managed to hold on to the wheel,” he said.
“One of them hit my hand with a weapon and due to the impact, I fell on the road,” Swami added. TNN

S N Swami

Delhi HC orders compensation for bad roads

Court orders compensation for bad roads

July 7th, 2009 – 10:49 pm ICT by IANS

New Delhi, July 7 (IANS) Criticising authorities for not maintaining roads, Delhi High Court Tuesday directed the Delhi government to pay a compensation of Rs.6 lakh to a woman whose young son died after falling into a pit while riding a scooter.

“Loss of life because of negligence of state instrumentalities results in violation of right to life and liberty under Section 21 of the Indian constitution,” said Justice Sanjiv Khanna in the judgement.

“The authorities should be conscious and aware of their duty to maintain roads and ensure that the road surface does not have any pit so as to cause accidents, thus resulting in injuries and even loss of life,” the judge said.

Justice Khanna directed the government to pay Rs.628,000 within eight weeks to Madhu Kaur who filed a petition seeking compensation after her 24-year-old son Harpreet, a sales executive with a private company, died in a road accident May 4, 2006.

In the petition, she said that her son was riding a scooter with his brother on the pillion and the two-wheeler ran into a pit on the road near the Army Base Hospital at Naraina, resulting in fatal injuries.

She blamed the government and the Municipal Corporation of Delhi and sought compensation.

“It is the responsibility of road-owning agencies to ensure that the roads are maintained properly and repairs undertaken on time,” the court said.

“Even if they have entered into third-party contracts for maintenance, road users should not suffer injuries, fatal or otherwise, because of lack of maintenance, proper care and repairs,” it said.

RTI:The hungry ones get rations now in Fulzar vill, Gujarat

RTI fought off hunger for these BPL families

Vijaysinh Parmar | TNN

Farmer Laxman Chauhan

Rajkot: The written word can’t fight pangs of hunger, but a Right to Information (RTI) application can. If some of the poorest families of Fulzar village in Jasdan taluka of Rajkot are not living a desperate hand-tomouth existence today, it is largely because one among them filed an RTI application and exposed loopholes in the Public Distribution System.

Farmer Laxman Chauhan, 25, has ensured that his family, and others like him, don’t have to live a desperate hand-to-mouth existence any more by demanding to know his right under RTI.

In the last few months, the families have started receiving the ration entitled to them under the Central government’s Antyodaya Anna Yojana, a specific scheme for families who are the poorest of the poor even among those living below poverty line (BPL).

Chauhan filed the RTI application five months back to know the amount of ration entitled to BPL, above poverty line (APL) and Antyodaya families. He sought all details including the number of BPL, APL and Antyodaya families in his village, how much ration (wheat, rice, kerosene and sugar) was distributed in the village and how much ration should reach beneficiaries of the Antyodaya scheme.

“When we received the reply under RTI, we came to know that Antyodaya card holders are entitled to 16.5 kg wheat at Rs 2 price per kg every month. Also, each Antyodaya card holder is entitled to 16 kg rice at Rs 3 per kg every month from fair price shops. But the ground reality was Antyodaya families in our village barely got five kg rice and 5 kg wheat every month. After the RTI application, everyone gets the full ration,’’ says Chauhan.

“We accepted whatever was given under the scheme as we had no idea what was entitled to us. Now that we know and ask for it, we get it,” says Vallabha Sarviya, an Antyodaya card holder and casual laborer in Fulzar. “There are 318 ration card holders in our village.

Of them, 12 are Antyodaya card holders, 32 BPL card holders and the rest of holders are APL. A single RTI application has given them their right on their doorstep,” says Chauhan.

Farmer Laxman Chauhan files RTI application to know the amount of ration entitled to BPL, above poverty line (APL) and Antyodaya families

In the reply, he comes to know that Antyodaya families in his village barely got 5 kg rice and 5 kg wheat every month.

After the RTI application, everyone gets the full ration

Chennai Corporation seizes Artificially Ripend Fruits

Chennai Corporation has done a good deed.

Other States must follow suit.

7,000 kg of artificially-ripened fruits seized

TIMES NEWS NETWORK

Chennai: In an intensive drive on Friday, the Chennai Corporation’s health department seized 7,000 kg of artificially-ripened mangoes and papayas from various shops in the city. Two shops at the wholesale fruit market in Koyambedu that stored calcium carbide and ethrel — artificial ripening agents — were sealed.

The drive covered Tondiarpet High Road, Poondi Thangammal Street market, VOC Nagar market, Govindappa Naicken Street, Anna Pillai Street, Kothavalchavadi, Royapuram market, Lloyds Road market and CIT Colony First Cross Street. About 300 kg of calcium carbide, used to ripen fruits fast by being wrapped in clothes and kept in piles of fruits, was seized from these places.

On Friday, sanitary inspectors found that 11 of the 124 shops in the Koyambedu market stored chemical agents and two shops stocked more than 150 kg of calcium carbide. “A 500 ml bottle of ethrel, a chemical compound for colour development, was also seized.

To instill fear among the traders, we decided to seal the shops,” a health official said. In the last one month, seven inspections have been held in the wholesale market. Last month, a shop was sealed after an informal test on a ripened mango revealed traces of calcium carbide and the fruit was found unfit for consumption.

Calcium carbide, a hazardous chemical, is prohibited from being used for artificial ripening of fruits “Those eating fruits ripened with calcium carbide and ethrel could suffer from neurological disorders, headache, dizziness, memory-loss and mouth ulcers.

The corporation will take stern action against traders who use such chemicals,” said mayor M Subramanian.

Efforts Group & Axis Bank Hold MCD Tax Camp

Property Tax Camp held at St. Mary’s school Safdarjung Enclave.

S L Watwani
Ph. 9958046738 / 26171135

PRESS RELEASE

Prof. Kiran Walia, Health & Family Welfare Minister Delhi Govt inaugurated a Property Tax Collection Camp on 13th Jun 2009 at St. Mary’s School, Safdarjung Enclave.  Wing Cdr Mathew, Retd. & Chairman of St. Mary’s School Safdarjung Enclave welcomed Prof. Kiran Walia by presenting her a bouquet. Shri Pankaj Agarwal thanked Wg Cdr Mathew for his help & support in organiging social activities for the residents at the school.

About 465 property owners from Safdarjung Enclave and its adjoining areas visited this camp & deposited tax amounting to about Rs 15.90 Lakhs. Tax was collected by MCD and Axis Bank officials by issuing manual & electronic receipt respectively. Tax paying by electronic media proved advantageous for many since calculations were automatic & they got excess payments made already adjusted in this year’s tax amount. Many residents also visited camp for guidance & clarifications. Volunteers from Efforts Group helped residents in guiding & filing their return forms & for their tax related queries. Tax payments only by cheques were accepted at the camp.

Sr Citizen Tax Payers were very happy & expressed satisfaction for organising such a camp which has immensely helped them in submitting tax with out hassles near their houses.