New Delhi [India], October 19 (ANI): To check air pollution, the Delhi Government has banned the sale and purchase of firecrackers in the national capital this year.

New Delhi [India], October 13 (ANI): A shop owner in Delhi was nabbed for stealing over a dozen decorative 'thali' hampers used in Karva Chauth, the religious festival where women fast for their husbands.

Bilaspur (Chhattisgarh) [India], October 7 (ANI): A clash broke out between two groups on Friday in the Sadar Bazar area of Bilaspur district in Chhattisgarh during Goddess Durga idol immersion.

New Delhi Jan 24 PTI Traders of the Sadar Bazar market on Monday submitted a memorandum to Lieutenant Governor Anil Baijal and urged him to lift weekend curfew and stop odd-even arrangement for opening of shops in markets across the city Traders said that the number of COVID-19 cases have considerably come down in the national capital so the Delhi Disaster Management Authority DDMA which is headed by the L-G should relax restrictions for traders In the memorandum given to the L-G Federation of Sadar Bazar Traders Associations Vice Chairman Paramjit Singh Pamma said that in last two years several restrictions including lockdowns were imposed in city markets which had adversely impacted the businessDue to weekend curfew and odd-even rule for shops the business in Delhi is going down People are heading to other NCR towns due to which traders of the city are facing losses he said Traders of Sadar Bazar Market also threatened to stage protest against odd-even arrangement for markets and weekend curfew if their demand is not met in 2-3 days The authorities should pay attention to our plight allow markets to function We are ready to follow all COVID-19 guidelines strictly but please allow us to open on all days If no relaxation is given then we will start protest Pamma said He added that due to odd-even rule and weekend curfew shops are opening only for 8-10 days in a month in markets How will we survive if our businesses do not last We cannot pay rent school fees bank EMIs due to poor business because of odd-even rule and weekend curfew We urge you to lift these restrictions and allow full time opening of shops Pamma said in the memorandum The L-G office has on Friday rejected the Delhi governments proposal to lift the weekend curfew and end the odd-even scheme for opening of shops in view of the improving COVID-19 situation But L-G Baijal directed that status quo be maintained on the restrictions till the situation is better in the national capital The LG office however approved the governments proposal to allow private offices to function with 50 per cent staff PTI AKM RCJ RCJ

New Delhi Jan 19 PTI The traders of Sadar Bazar Market here on Wednesday staged a protest over the DDMAs odd-even arrangement for opening of shops which was imposed due to a surge in Covid cases in the city The traders group had staged a similar protest on Tuesday as well pressing the same demands This time the traders came out on the streets of Qutub Road Chowk by beating plates as a mark of protest against the odd-even scheme and wore black armbands and displayed placards saying no odd-even and Delhi traders oppose odd-even They demanded from Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal to end the odd-even arrangement and also to put an end to the weekend curfew and allow the entire market to open Paramjit Singh Pamma Vice Chairman of the Federation of Sadar Bazar Traders Association said it is a matter of great sadness that due to this decision of government the traders have come into financial trouble The traders have not been able to cope with the two lockdowns already and with this decision has broken their backs he said The Delhi Disaster Management Authority DDMA had in December last year announced odd-even arrangement for markets after cases of Covid and its Omicron variant had started increasing On January 4 this year the DDMA imposed a weekend curfew in the cityHowever Delhi Health Minister Satyendar Jain had last week said that the city might see some relaxations once daily cases go below 15000 PTI AMP CK

New Delhi Jan 18 PTI Traders of Sadar Bazar Market on Tuesday staged a protest over the DDMAs odd-even arrangement for opening of shops which was imposed due to a surge in Covid cases in the cityThey wore black armbands and displayed placards saying no odd-even and Delhi traders oppose odd-even Traders have demanded to end this odd-even arrangementParamjit Singh Pamma Vice Chairman of the Federation of Sadar Bazar Traders Associations said the odd-even arrangement for markets on week days coupled with weekend curfew has limited their number of business days to as low as two per weekPamma said that with 8-10 business days a month it will be difficult for them to manage shop rent workers salary and other expensesWe request the government to allow opening of shops on all week days They can reduce our timing to 6 pm instead of 8 pm This odd-even rule should be lifted as we are unable to function and recover losses of previous lockdowns Our expenses have now surpassed our income Pamma told PTIHe added that traders in the market will keep protesting until the odd-even arrangement is liftedThe Delhi Disaster Management Authority DDMA had in December last year announced odd-even arrangement for markets after cases of Covid and its Omicron variant had started increasingOn January 4 this year the DDMA imposed a weekend curfew in the cityHowever Delhi Health Minister Satyendar Jain had last week said that the city might see some relaxations once daily cases go below 15000COVID-19 cases in Delhi has been reducing for last four-five daysAccording to data shared by the state health department Delhi reported 11684 fresh COVID-19 cases and 38 more deaths due to the viral disease on Tuesday while the positivity rate stood at 2247 percentPamma further said that these restrictions have no meaning when everything else is openMetro and buses are operating at full capacity and also there is no crackdown on street vendors which leads to crowding then there is no point in troubling shopkeepers These moves are to kill business Pamma lamentedKamla Market Traders Association President Nitin Gupta also echoed similar concerns and said that shopkeepers are following all Covid protocols but still they are being punishedCrowd in markets is due to illegal vendors who also often violate Covid guidelines but there is no crackdown against them If an odd number shop is closed then street vendors open their makeshift kiosk in front of that closed shop and they do the same when even number shop is shut So the entire exercise is not serving any purpose Gupta said PTI AKM TIR TIR

New Delhi Dec 28 PTI With the authorities imposing fresh COVID-19 restrictions in Delhi on Tuesday traders said it will be a death warrant for the fitness industry and make a big dent in their businesses They also requested the authorities to reconsider the decision to impose restrictions The Delhi Disaster Management Authority DDMA on Tuesday ordered the closure of schools colleges cinemas and gyms with immediate effect and put various restrictions on the functioning of shops and public transport as a yellow alert was sounded under the Graded Response Action Plan GRAP The yellow alert restrictions stipulate that shops and establishments of non-essential goods and services and malls will open based on odd-even formula from 10 AM to 8 PM Owners of gyms and spas across the city said that the move will prove to be a death warrant for the fitness industry which has been grappling for survival ever since the outbreak of the coronavirus pandemic Representatives of gyms and market associations said the government could have also considered two other indicators as well -- the number of fresh coronavirus cases and that of the oxygen beds occupied -- before announcing a yellow alert The Delhi Gym Association an umbrella body of gyms and fitness centres in the city condemned the DDMA decision to close gyms under the yellow alert of the GRAP This decision will completely destroy the Delhi fitness industry All the gym owners were already under the burden of debt due to rent fixed electrical charges fixed water charges etc but now with this decision we are left with no option but to go bankrupt This decision has come as a death warrant for gym owners Chirag Sethi Vice President Delhi Gym Association said He said that gyms and spas are always the first entity to get closed and always the last to reopen The association urged the DDMA to reconsider its decision The gym owners have already suffered a lot due to previous lockdowns Gym owners are on the verge of going bankrupt With absolutely no support from the government the industry will die We request the DDMA to reconsider the decision Sethi said There are around 5500 gymnasiums and fitness centres across the national capital Nishant Kharbanda owner of Annandam spa in GK-2 expressed similar concerns and said that a complete shutdown of spas doesnt make sense when saloons are open and markets can function on odd-even basis Saloons and parlours are open but spas will be shut which is very ironical We are yet to recover from the losses and now this move will further hit the industry hard The government should have allowed spas to function on odd-even basis akin to markets Kharbanda said Market associations across the city also said that the authorities should have considered the number of fresh cases and that of the oxygen beds occupied as well before announcing a yellow alert Sadar Bazar Market Association president Devraj Baweja said that traders were yet to recover from the impact of the lockdown during the second wave of COVID-19 earlier this year Baweja said the fresh restrictions will affect traders hard as the number of business days will be reduced in odd-even arrangement Earlier if a shop used to open six days a week now that will function only for three days Why always shopkeepers are punished when the actual crowd is due to the illegal vendors and lack of proper enforcement How will the government ensure odd-even operation of stalls of roadside vendors or illegal vendors in any market of the city Baweja asked Kamla Nagar Market Association president Nitin Gupta said it is the trader who is punished even for the laxity of authorities Odd-even arrangement in markets will hurt our businesses The business is already down and this move will further dissuade customers from coming to markets Gupta said He added that the authorities be it the government or the corporations hardly remove encroachments and illegal vendors from the market which are the big reason behind crowding Traders Association Lajpat Nagar general secretary Ashwani Marwah said while the move will affect their business it is a necessary preventive measure With this move less number of customer will come for shopping But on the other hand it is a necessary preventive measure taken at the right time to arrest the spread of the virus Marwah said He added that other than the administration the market associations have also deployed volunteers to make people aware about wearing masks There is no entry at shops without masks in Lajpat Nagar market Marwah said PTI AKM SMN SMN

New Delhi Dec 24 PTI A 39-year-old mentally unstable man who came to Ambala in Haryana from Bihar around eight years ago and later reached the national capital has been reunited with his family police said on Friday According to the police the man identified as Shravan Mandal was with a two-year-old boy claiming to be his child The DNA samples have been taken to prove his claims On December 1 the Delhi Police found a man along with a two-year-old boy at Sadar Bazar area in the northern part of the city The police suspected the man to be mentally unstable Later he was admitted to the Institute of Human Behaviour and Allied Sciences IHBAS and the boy was admitted to a childrens homeA senior police officer said We faced several difficulties as the man was not ready to talk For the police the child was more important and we wanted to know about the family members of the boy so that we can reunite them The police said the doctors at IHBAS hospital also cooperated with them and helped them in the investigation Later the man said his name is Shravan Mandal and that he is from Madhubani district in Bihar The police checked the voters list of Madhubani district on the Election Commissions website and three persons with similar names came to know following which the local police in Bihar was contacted the officer said The relatives of one Shravan Mandal who also went missing around four years ago from Bihar approached the police The police took them to IBHAS hospital but they refused to identify the man they said During further investigation a police team of assistant sub-inspector Vinod Walia and head constable Ashish Lakra contacted the BDOs of Phulparas Jhanjharpur Ghoghardiha and Nagar Panchayat Ghoghardiha who provided them local phone numbers Among them the number provided by the BDO Ghoghardiha belonged to Bathnaha village the officer said Mandals photograph was sent through WhatsApp and his family members identified him His brother Jai Prakash and brother-in-law Arun were called to IBHAS hospital Jai Prakash informed the police that Mandal has a wife and two daughters in the village Seven-eight years ago Mandal came to Ambala along with his brother to work in a factory However Mandal left Ambala after working for only one month the police said He reached Delhi and started living in the Madipur area He started working here after changing his name When his brother got to know about his location he came to the city to meet Mandal but he never met him they saidAccording to the police Jai Prakash also said that Mandal came in contact with a woman in Delhi and the woman later left him The boy most probably belongs to Mandal and that woman The police said that the boy is in a childrens home in Dhirpur and a DNA sample has been sent If the report is positive the child will be handed over to Mandal and his family members the officer said It is suspected that Mandal lost his mind after the woman left him and started wandering in the streets of Delhi the officer added PTI NIT SNE

New Delhi Dec 17 PTI Four unidentified robbers allegedly barged into a store in north Delhis Sadar Bazar area and took away Rs 26 lakh from the safe after tying up a shop worker and two others on Friday police said Police said the information regarding the robbery was received at Sadar Bazar police station at 115 pm Police reached the Jyoti Metal Store Nawab Road Sadar Bazar where complainant Pawan Pachauri 54 who works at the shop stated that around 1245 pm four unidentified people including one carrying a pistol entered the shop Deputy commissioner of Police North Sagar Singh Kalsi said They tied up Pachauri and two others present in the shop and robbed Rs 2601450 from the safe The suspects also hit Pachauri on the head with the butt of the pistol police saidA case under relevant sections has been registered and crime team called at the spot The CCTV footage of the area are being checked to get the clue about the accused and further investigation is underway police added PTI NIT CK

Mumbai Nov 24 PTI Police have collected a fine of Rs 200 from the driver of AIMIM chief Asaduddin Owaisis SUV in which the latter was brought to Solapur city in Maharashtra as the vehicle was found without a number plate an official said on Wednesday The incident took place on Tuesday when Owaisi who represents the Hyderabad Lok Sabha constituency in neighbouring Telangana state was in Solapur for an event he said The policeman who took the action against his vehicle was later given a cash reward of Rs 5000 by the local police authorities the official said All India Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen AIMIM party president Asaduddin Owaisis luxury SUV reached the government guest house located in Sadar Bazar area in Solapur following which the politician went to take rest However assistant police inspector Ramesh Chintankidi who was on duty there at that time noticed that the leaders car did not have a number plate on its front side he said Chintankidi then asked Owaisis driver to pay fine as the vehicle was without a number plate he said Following this a few supporters of the AIMIM chief gathered outside the guest house but soon senior police officials also reached the spot Traffic police inspector Chandrakant Wable then collected Rs 200 fine from the driver of the vehicle he said Solapur Police Commissioner Harish Baijal then honoured API Chintankidi by giving a cash reward of Rs 5000 for his action the official said PTI DC NP NP