New Delhi Apr 23 PTI A Delhi court has granted bail to Chander Bhushan Dhillon one of the directors of Pearls Group in connection with a Rs 60000 crore ponzi scam allegedly run by the groupSpecial judge Sanjeev Aggarwal granted the relief on a personal bond of Rs one lakh and one surety of like amount The court directed Dhillon not to leave the country without its prior permission and not to temper with the evidence or influence the witnessesThe CBI recently filed a supplementary charge sheet against 24 people and three companies - Pearls Infrastructure Projects Ltd ARSS Infrastructure Projects Ltd and Jain Infraprojects LtdIt claimed that Pearls Group companies allegedly collected around Rs 60000 crore approx from around 55 crore investors all across the country by illegally operating different investment schemes without any statutory approval and with a motive to dupe the investors It also claimed that the companies collected funds from crores of investors from across the country under the garb of sale and purchase of agricultural land and promise of high returns PTI UK ZMN

New Delhi Mar 28 PTI Delhi will soon get 211 forest guards with the forest department on Monday releasing the results of an online test conducted a year agoBased on their performance in the computer-based test 253 candidates have been provisionally shortlisted for physical endurance and physical standard tests a notice issued by the department saidThe coronavirus pandemic and procedural delays in the payment of exam fees amounting to around Rs 50 crore had impeded the recruitment of forest guards by the severely short-staffed forest department according to officialsHearing a plea moved by lawyer Aditya Prasad the National Green Tribunal NGT had in July 2019 ordered the department to fill up vacant posts at the earliest In November that year the NGT again directed the authorities to complete the recruitment process within four monthsAccording to the officials the Delhi government outsourced the online testing and assessment services to EdCIL India Limited in November 2019 taking them out of the purview of the Delhi Subordinate Services Selection Board and issued an advertisement in December to fill up 226 vacant sanctioned posts four forest rangers 211forestguardsand 11 wildlife guardsEdCIL a Miniratna public sector enterprise under the Ministry of Human Resource Development conducted the exam for forest rangers and wildlife guards in March 2020 The final results were declared in January 2021The computer-based test for the recruitment of forest guards was conducted between March 1 and March 7 2021It can take a few months to complete the remaining process an official saidThe officials have acknowledged that it is difficult to ensure the enforcement of forest laws on the ground due to the debilitating shortage of staff PTI GVS IJT

New Delhi Mar 28 PTI Delhi recorded a minimum temperature of 222 degrees Celsius on Monday four notches above the seasons average the India Meteorological Department IMD said The relative humidity at 830 am was recorded at 56 per cent The national capital is expected to witness clear skies throughout the day The maximum temperature will settle around 37 degrees Celsius the IMD said Delhi had on Sunday recorded the maximum temperature of 368 degrees Celsius five notches above the seasons average The minimum temperature settled at 204 degrees Celsius two notches above the seasons average the IMD said PTI SLB CJ CJ

New Delhi Mar 27 PTI Delhi recorded a minimum temperature of 204 degrees Celsius on Sunday two notches above the seasons average the India Meteorological Department saidThe humidity was 46 per cent at 830 amTh citys air quality was recorded in the poor category in the morning with the AQI clocking 205 at 9 am the Central Pollution Control Board CPCB data showedAn air quality index AQI between zero and 50 is considered good 51 and 100 satisfactory 101 and 200 moderate 201 and 300 poor 301 and 400 very poor and 401 and 500 severeThe national capital is expected to see strong surface winds during day time and the maximum temperature may reach up to 36 degrees Celsius the weather department saidPTI NIT SRY

New Delhi Mar 26 PTI Delhi will soon have its first government-run veterinary college for the treatment of all types of animals Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia said on SaturdayHe made the announcement during his budget speech in the AssemblyVeterinary science is a great need of this era as it not only protects the health of cattle and domestic animals but also protects human health by screening and controlling zoonotic diseases Delhi has a large number of pets that require healthcare To meet this need I propose a new scheme in the budget for the establishment of the citys first government veterinary college for better treatment of all types of animals he saidSisodia presented the Rozgar Budget in the Assembly on Saturday with an outlay of Rs 75800 crore for the financial year 2022-23 focussing on creating 20 lakh jobs in five years by setting up an electronic city and promoting night economy retail and wholesale markets in the national capitalThe budget size for the next financial year is 986 per cent higher than that of the previous year -- Rs 69000 crore -- the deputy chief minister said adding that Delhis economy is gradually recovering from the impact of COVID-19 PTI SLB RC

New Delhi Mar 26 PTI Delhi recorded a minimum temperature of 201 degrees Celsius three notches above the seasons average on Saturday the India Meteorological Department IMD saidThe humidity level was at 56 per cent at 830 am it saidThe citys air quality was recorded in the moderate category AQI 195 at 9 am Central Pollution Control Board CPCB data showedAn AQI between zero and 50 is considered good 51 and 100 satisfactory 101 and 200 moderate 201 and 300 poor 301 and 400 very poor and 401 and 500 severeThe city is expected to see strong surface winds during the day and the maximum temperature may reach up to 35 degrees Celsius the weather department said PTI NIT IJT

New Delhi Mar 25 PTI The Delhi governments power department met the peak demand of 7323 MW from April to December last year according to the Outcome Survey status report 2021-22It stated that out of 52 indicators for assessment 83 per cent are on trackThe survey said 1160 rooftop solar photovoltaic plants were installed in government buildings till December 2021 as against the target of 1150 Also 4519 such plants were installed in private buildings against a target of 4500 it notedDelhi met the peak demand of 7323 MW successfully during April-December 2021 the survey mentionedIt said the power department has subsidized 100 of the energy charges for domestic consumers consuming up to 200 units per month and provided subsidies up to Rs 800 per month for consuming between 201 to 400 units monthlyThis has benefitted 4693 lakh domestic consumers out of the 5420 lakh consumers 8660 per cent approx till December 2021 the Outcome Survey status report 2021-22 statedDelhi has installed 897601 MW capacity of solar power against the target of 1825 MW till December 2021 These plants have generated 692049 Mega Units till December 2021 against a yearly target of 750 mega units it mentioned PTI SLB NSD NSD

New Delhi Mar 24 PTI The Delhi government has invited applications for four posts including that of archaeological officer and conservation assistant on purely contract basis according to an advertisement on the official website of the art and culture departmentServices for these posts can be terminated at any time if the performance of personnel is not found satisfactory it saidApplications are invited on purely contract basis for the following posts for a period of one year and can be extended further on consolidated amount per month in the Department of Archaeology it saidTwo vacancies have been announced for the post of archaeological officerThe educational qualification required for this post is post-graduate diploma in archaeology from the Institute of Archaeology Government of India Also it is desirable to have a certification in Microsoft Office and SanskritPaliPrakritPersianArabic from a recognised institute the advertisement statedTwo vacancies have been announced for the post of assistant archaeologist one for conservation assistant and two for a foreman works it saidFor the post of conservation assistant the required educational qualification is masters in conservation preservation and heritage management or masters in architectural conservation from a recognised universityinstitution or its equivalent It will be desirable to have a certification in Microsoft Office from a recognised institute the advertisement statedThe services can be terminated at any time if the performance is not found satisfactory Shortlisted candidates will be called for interview it saidCandidates can send in their applications at deptotarchaeologygmallcom within 30 days from the date of publication of the advertisement it said PTI KND DIV DIV

New Delhi Mar 23 PTI Delhi reported 132 COVID-19 cases with a positivity rate of 040 per cent while no death due to the infection was reported data from the health department on Wednesday revealedThe total number of COVID-19 cases reported in the city has increased to 1864135 The death toll remained unchanged at 26148 the bulletin statedDelhi on Tuesday reported 104 Covid cases with a positivity rate of 037 per cent while there was one fatality due to the infection The day before the city had logged 108 infections while the positivity rate stood at 049 per centThe national capital had on Sunday reported 97 COVID-19 cases with a positivity rate of 041 per cent and one death SO Saturday the city saw 61 cases with a positivity rate of 068 per cent and one deathOn March 5 6 10 11 13 and 14 also the city did not record any death due to the viral diseaseThe number of daily cases in Delhi has been on the decline after touching the record high of 28867 on January 13 The city had recorded a positivity rate of 306 per cent on January 14 the highest during the third wave of the pandemicThe surge in COVID-19 cases in Delhi during the third wave was largely due to the highly transmissible Omicron variant of the virusAmid the decline in daily cases the number of patients under home isolation in Delhi has also fallen significantlyThere are 3065 containment zones in Delhi the bulletin stated adding that of the 10225 beds earmarked for COVID-19 patients in Delhi hospitals 75 073 per cent are occupied PTI SLB NSD NSD

New Delhi Mar 22 PTI Delhi Water Minister Satyendar Jain Tuesday said the Yamuna river in the national capital will be completely cleaned and made fit for bathing and propagation of fish by December 2023 All the wastewater in Delhi will be tapped in the next six months and all areas will be linked to the sewer network in the next 15 months he said at a virtual session organised by Assocham We will clean the Yamuna by December 2023 and not 2025 All the drains will be completely cleaned I am confident We will invite you all to take a dip in any stretch of the river in Delhi he said The Yamuna and all the drains in Delhi will be so clean that you will find fish in the water Jain added The minister also said that in the next five to 10 years Delhis groundwater table will be as good as it was 50 years ago We conducted an experiment on 25 acres of land at Palla on the northern outskirts of the capital city near the Delhi-Haryana border It proved successful and we are replicating it now he said The Palla project was a part of the Delhi governments endeavour to augment the citys water supply The three-year pilot project which started in 2019 involved retaining excess Yamuna water in shallow reservoirs on the floodplains during the monsoon season The government had created a 25-acre pond on the floodplains of the Yamuna to retain floodwater and installed 33 piezometers to ascertain the rise in groundwater levels PTI GVS RCJ RCJ