BIOMETRIC CARDS TO BE GIVEN TO TAJ GUIDES | AGRA NEWS

18\06\2010 AGRA NEWS
Biometric cards will be issued to approved guides and photographers at the Taj mahal as they frequently move in and out of monument premises.Gearing up for the commonwealth Games,Additional Director General of police has mooted the idea of having fabricated huts at Tajganj police station,near the Taj after obtaining No Objection Certificate from the ASI.
Ramesh Sehgal, the Additional Director General of police was here at Taj Mahal on Thursday to assess the security arrangements ahead of the Commonwealth Games to be held in October.The ADG reached Taj Mahal around 10 a.m and visited various location at the world heritage monument to assess its security.
A meeting in this regard was also held and was attended by officials from various departments including those from the Central Industrial Security Force ( CISF ), Agra Development Authority, Provincial Armed Constabulary (PAC) Archeological Survey of india (ASI) beside the District Magistrate.Senior official of police including Inspector General (IG) Zone,Vijay Kumar and DIG Agra ,Deepash Juneja,were also present.
During the meeting, various issues related to the security of the taj and the handling of the high number of tourists likely to visit the monument during the commonwealth Games were discussed.
Another issue that was discussed was the streamlining of parking of visitors' vehicles along the western gate of the Taj Mahal .This becomes important since a large number of tourists are expected to visit the area during of vehicles being parked here will increase.

SUPER NANO - ITES IN AGRA | AGRA NEWS

18\06\2010 AGRA NEWS
'Super Drive' rally with three decorated Tata Nano cars reached agra on Thursday. Agraites welcomed this nationwide rally with some brand new Nano cars at Radha Swami temple,dayalbagh .
The rally started at 11.15 am. The brand new cars were showcased in red ,silver and purple colours.The rally reached Agra via Delhi with two more cars, which are meant for back up.
When three different models of  Tata Nano were lined up for public demonstration at Dayalbagh, HT City captured the scene .
After garnering accolades from the city residents, the rally moved forward to Sikandra monument. Super Drive rally reached thereat 1 pm and moved to Agra Fort for making this moment historic.
The organisers of the rally informed that this is a promotional rally from Tata motors and will cover 15,000 km distance all over the country.Out of 36 cities,the rally reached Agra in 26 days. Shoppers at TDI mall also enjoyed the event.
Organiser Jatendra pal Singh said," This nationwide rally was flagged off from Sanand, which is a new manufacturing plant for Nano car in Gujarat. After inauguration of the plant by CM Narendra Modi on june 2 the rally moved ahead.
Delhi based professionals Prateek Kumar ,Naresh ,Malkeet Singh,Yogendra and Ajay also took part in the rally.They joined the rally from Sanand.

ASI SET TO CRACK DOWN ON GRAFFITI WRITERS | AGRA NEWS

17\06\2010 AGRA NEWS |
With increase in incidents of graffiti writing on monuments, the Archaeological Survey of india (ASI) is now going to initiate steps to crack down on graffiti writers .
In tanden with the state Government, which will be directing the administration to work with ASI officials at monument sites, the ASI is now ensuring that these offenders are taken to task.
Talking to Hindustan Times on sunday ,ASI superintending archaeologist, Agra circle ,Dr Atiq siddiqui said , "Yes attempts are being made to take such offenders to task who deface walls and stones of his torical monuments . Although rules have been in place to take action in such cases, we are now going to implement them more stringently."
In the past,the ASI has tried to take the offenders to task but with little success.
Not only at protected monuments like Ermadullah, Sikandra , Fatehpur Sikri ,but even at the taj mahal ,monuments have not been able to escape vilification by these habitual offenders .
With graffiti ranging from lovers engraving their names on walls to anything else that comes to mind , there has been no dearth of defacing that has taken place at the monuments. Although the chemical depatment of the ASI has tried to rub off the blemishes ,the process of cleaning includes rubbing into the stone. This can harm the stone irreparably.
The punishment that would be meted out when reprobates are caught would depand on the level of the offense .
The offender would either be fined RS.3,000 or put behind bars for a month.
Siddiqui said although the Archaeological Monument and Archaeological Site Remains Act ( AM & ASR ) 1958 was already in place ,it was revised and amendments made in march 2010.
In the Act , the emphasis was mainly on three points.
It was stressed that encroachments within a 300 metre range of the monument had to be removed , all illegal constructions needed to be removed and that there would be no defacing of the walls of the protected monuments.
Siddiqui added that people needed to be sensitised towards their legacy and monuments and awareness about the same should be spread.
He said the ASI had been holding such awareness programmes at regular intervals to sensitise school children.

STUDENTS PLAY DOWN SUPERSTITIONS | AGRA NEWS

Students of various schools and colleges made an effort to attack on the superstitions prevalent in the society through a street play ' Pappu ban gaya a mahatma ' The play was organised at martyr's memorial ,Sanjay place on Tuesday evening . Preeto Upadhyay has written the play.
These students staged the play under the banner of 'Janchetna Natya Kala Kendra ',which is a group of city students ,The play was produced keeping those people in mind who want to be popular but do not work hard. It also made an effort to highlight those fraud people who make fool of public in the name of superstition and religion .
Students of Lalit kala Sansthan Sunil Shakya and Agam sinha ,Anil Vishwas from Shaha Kumbhari Inter College, Dayalbagh, Deepak Divakar from Ram Chandra public school, Sikandra.Jatin Sharma from Agra College (Law Fuculty ) and Shishir Mudgal from Gayatri public School took part in this play.
THEATRE WORKSHOP FOR ENTHUSIASTS.
Students who want to learn theatre techniques have a chance to do the same Lalit Kala Sansthan ,residential wing of Dr.BhimraoAmbedkar University is organising theatre workshop from June 16-26 starting at 3 Pm daily. Informing about workshop,head of acting department ,Alka Singh said,"Students above 10 years could participate in this workshop. Interested students can also contact me on my number '9368069750' for the same."Acting experts and institute's faculty will train participants during this 10-day workshop.

GREEN FUNDAS OF AGRAITES | AGRA NEWS

15\06\2010    AGRA NEWS 
Hot and humid summer months are uneasy for all they not only dehydrate your senses buy they also take a heavy toll on your mental state . A scenic panorama , colourful outburst of flowers ,green grass covers ,may provide a sense of serenity during hot months.C Tiwari a gardener shares," One plant which is found most frequently in the home gardens in Agra is Kochia . Kochia is highly adaptable it is very drought tolerant and is commonly found on saline soils,deserts ,and coasts .Another plant bougainvillea is probably the most wanted creeper for ornamentation in India .Able to grow fast in dry summer conditions bougainvillea can be grown from root cuttings and branch cuttings and they propagate easily too .They can be planted in sandy soils and do best in dry conditions. They need full sunlight ,warm weather and well drained soil to flower well."
Tiwari explains ,during summer time ,plants should be watered in evening so that the water does not dry out quickly and cow dung manure should be used to draw optimum results.

GRADING SYSTEM GETS CHEERS AND JEERS

AGRA 02\06\2010  Students and teachers gave a mixed reaction to the grading system in the a CENTRAL BOARD OF SECONDARY EDUCATION (CBSE) CLASS X ecaminations on 28\01\2010 .
They were trying to see if the cumulative grade point average (CGPA) would make any difference to their prospects. out of all students shrikrishna badhotia of gayatri public school ,bhavna singh of jawahar navodaya vidyalay ,priti singh of agra punlic school and mandeep singh jadaun ,vishal srivastav ,subham nirbhay and manassi arora of holy public school got Al grades under the CGPA system . According to the results,11 students of delhi public school (DPS), four students of holy public school and six students of gayatri public school got al grades .According to the press release of DPS ,170 out of 176 students passed the secondary exams with first class honours. DPS students like vibhanshu prasad, bhimesh singh chuhan., deepeika bajaj,devanshu mohania ,garima kaur ,hemanya tyagi ,karishma gupta ,lipika gupta ,nikhil taneja ,nishtha malhotra ,shruti agrawal ,sukanya malhrotra, prakhar agrawal ,shivangi gupta and shubhangi chaudhari performed their best with AL grades. Kalyani chaturvedi from gayatri public school said that it was nice to have a grading system .she said ," it is innovative idea and has succeeded in avoiding the rat race to the top. Another student shrikrishna who want to be an engineer ,differed ,"it's nothing new.CGPA has taken the place of marks but you will know your marks,if no one else does."

LOUD BARAATS FACE UPPCB MUSIC

AGRA 01\06\2010 The state pollution control boards is in no mood to allow loud music to be trumpeted by bands during 'baraat' processions this marriage season.
Uttar pradesh pollution control board (UPPCB) has finally taken nate of the repeated complaints made by residents from different localities ,compaining against loud music being played till late hours of the night . Notices are being issued to bands to keep the decibel level within permissible limits .The orchestra members , on their part, are passing the buck on to over enthusiastic baraatis ,who demand the volume to be pumped up .Regional pollution control officer BB Awasthi informed "Notices have been issued to 14 prominent band companies in city.They have been asked to get prior permission before using loudspeakers,and in any case,restricting sound levels to permissible limits " .Awasthi added that,"There are guidelines allowing music up to 45 decibel during the night in residential areas which can go up to 55 DB in the day. The use of loudspeakers requires prior permission from the district administration unfortunately ,in most cases,it is not being sought in any case, loudspeakers are banned after 10 pm at night".He reiterated that ,"No permission would be granted for such late night use of loudspeakers."

CORPORATOR NABS TWO PROXY ENUMERATORS

AGRA 01\06\2010 A corporator from lahamandi ward. Hemant prajapati caught two proxy enumerators on tuesday in pul chhinga modi locality.
They were collecting information for the census ,instead of the authority appointed by the agra nagar nigam .On being questioned ,they admitted that both of them were teachers in a public school at kheda panchgal village in barauli ahir. Vishnu (22) were offered RS.150 per day by official enumerator gajendra singh for completing the census work for him. Local corporator hemant prajapati caught on to them as they entered his house enumeration purpose .According to prajapati, the two were unable to give proper answers to his queris. Prajapati said,"when I asked them about the column in which 'present address ' is to be filled they could not tell me .It is column 12 in the census form". Corporator prajapati complained about the incident to the census officer and submuinicipal  commissioner RAM KUMAR SINGH. He also got the census material submitted in the office of the sub municipal commissioner According to municipal authorities no private body or person can take part in the census as per norms.

AFTER RESULTS,IT'S "MISSION" ADMISSION

AGRA 31\05\2010 It will be a tough task for the students to get admission in prominent collages for gruduation this year: Reason : Seats available in the collages count to half of the number of 10+2 students passed in 2010.
The rate of success in intermediate exams has been high in this academic season, resulting in the crisis of UG seats in colleges. The process for admissions in under graduate courses will start from june 25. There are a total of 35,916 intermediate and 10+2 classes pass out students while there are only 18,470 seats available in various colleges affiliated to the university .According to the statistics, around 17,446 students will not be able to get admission in UG courses .This gap will result in a hard competition for ug seats in colleges .According to the experts,the situation is not new. There was a gap in the availability and requirement of the ug seats in colleges last year also. To bring a solution to this problem,either university should increase seats or have some alternative arrangements like evening classes , According to the figures,there are 3,120 seats in seven granted colleges agra college ,raja balwant singh college , st john"s college and others .Apart from the granted colleges and 910 seats in Dayalbagh university . Besides the district has around 9,000 seats for various vocational courses.

18 KILLED IN ROAD MISHAPS

Eighteen persons including a six year old girl,were killed and 20 others seriously injured in separate road mishaps in the district during the past 24 hours.
As many as 192 persons were killed in road accidents in Aligarh in 2010 in last five months . besides ,356 people were killed in road mishaps in 2009. A deputy superintendent of police, an additional district judge B Tech students and a noted lawyer were crushed to death by a bus and trucks in the city. Even 10 years after aligarh becoming a corporation city, transport rules are yet to be implemented properly. Traffic signals have not bee installed at important crossings while there is no separate traffic wing in the police department in the district. As per traffic rules top priority has been given to pedestrians but regrettably the fact is just the opposite here. With 95 per cent of footpaths under illegal encroachments allegedly in connivance with officials of aligarh development authority and aligarh nagar nigam and cops the pedestrians have becomes part of the traffic moving on roads. despite the government ordering removal of illegal encroachments the corporation officials are yet to act against them.
Aligarh muslim university has constucted a cycle stand along the footpath on both sides near faiz gate in front of its administrate block. Not only this they have fenced the footpath while tin sheds have come up as well. Consequently, the footpath is encroached upon and is closed for pedestrians.

AGRAITES GIVE GREEN LIGHT TO SMALLER BUSES

AGRA 29\05\2010 Small size buses are receiving positive feedback from the people as compared to the tata marco palo ones the mulling increasing their numbers in agra due to lack of space and traffic on the roads.
both kinds of buses are being run in the city under jawahar lal nehru national urban renewable mission (JNNURM) for reforming the condition of public transport in the first phase, the executing agency, uttar pradesh state road transport corporation launched the marco polo buses.
These buses failed to get a good response on various routes like dayalbagh and inner routes of kamala nagar area. According to officials, marco polo was facing problems because of its size while negotiating turns in different localities .small sized buses don t have such problems as they can travel with ease even during peak traffic hours. In the first week of may UPSRTC decided to introduce small sized buses after eight months of bringing in marco polo buses . According to UPSRTC officials, there are around 200 buses proposed for the city under JNNURM . Out of these ,75 buses are small sized ones for routes where marco polo buses are run on compressed natural gas (CNG) based fuel. presently around 18 tata marco polo buses and 20 small sized buses are being run in agra. six buses are being run on a route from inter state buses terminal (ISBT) to balkeshwar and then from bijalighar viawater works crossing. they also go to rajpur chungi and agra cantonment railway station. this system is on the basis of ring road and buses would return on the same route. " while marco polo buses need space travelling on road smaller buses need just half of it. six buses travelled from foundry nagar depot on sunday in the first phase. the number of buses are being increased as staff is being deputed for running the remaining buses after a feedback from the people " said vijay kumar grover assistant regional manager (ARM) of UPSRTC . a resisdent of sanjay nagar (rajpur chungi) ajay kumar gupta said , "earlier no buses could reach my area but with these small sized buses things have changed as they travel daily to my locality".

DAYALBAGH TENSE AFTER LAND DISPUTE

AGRA 29\05\2010 violence erupted in daylbagh area here on thursday when a group of villagers and satsangis clashed over fencing a farm land in the area.
police reached the spot and nabbed about half a dozen satsangis .followings this, a group of satsangis blocked the way of the cops and got their faith mates released .they blamed the circle officer for evoking their tempers by calling them naxalities. police had to go on back foot amid heavy stone pelting many a vehicle, including a police jeep were damaged . there were heated arguments at the gate of prem nagar colony but police chose to let the night pass. all through friday , an uneasy calm prevailed in the area and locals were apprehensive about a repeat of such violent scenses. a meeting between officials of the district administration, superintendent of police, liby r kumar said "satsangais have assured us of handing over those who were taken into custody on thursday night". however, peace continues to elude daylbagh area, which is otherwise known as the hub of satsangis from the radhasoami sect. they have their agricultural fields where their followers work. the farmlands of satsangis are bordered by the lands owned by villagers of villag lalgarhi, sikandarpur among other village.

51YEARS ON ,VILLAGES HAVE VIVID MEMORIES OF PANDITJI

AGRA kela devi was caught in an awkward situation when. US president dwight eisenhower and pandit jawahar lal nehru asked her to remove her. "ghoonghat" kela devi ,then aged 20,was a newly wed "bahu" but now at the age of 70. she is all smile while she recollects the incident .The village laramada where she resides still remembers the first prime minister pandit jawahar lal nehru on his 46th death anniversary that was observed on thursday .
Twelve kilometres from agra city, village laramada at fatehpur sikri block of agra district still cherishes the memories of pandit jawahar lal nehru .who visited here on december 13,1959 along with US president eisenhower both were travelling in an open car and even went to houses of villages to feel a pulse of rural life. kela devi still remembers the visit of leaders to their house .they inaugurated a library and a panchayat ghar which still exists in the village laxman prasad master says. "A huge crowd gathered to listen to the leaders and the offiicials from the intelligence department were posted at the roof tops of the houses .It was not that tough to reach to the leaders then and we managed to meet pandit ji on dais. "Pradhan of village laramada mahaveer singh says,"We were not even born at that time but get to hear so much about the visit .

UDDHYANPURA VILLAGE BECOMES POLITICAL ARENA

AGRA 28\05\2010 After coming under the spotlight following the alleged police action against its locals on may 18 uddhyanpura village cntinues to be in focus,at least for political reasons .
Senior leader of the samajwadi party shivpal singh visited the village on Thursday , a day after the visit of BJP state president surya pratap shahi .shahi during his visit to the village demanded a judicial probe into the may 18 police action against the village folk .Shivpal singh yadav met the affected families and assured them of justice . The samajwadi party workers have already been holding a sit in at tehsil bah. shiv pal reached bah on thursday morning and his party workers encouraged by the presence of their leader held the sub divisional magistrate and the circle officer of bah hostage.The SP workers, who claimed that they have been assured that the station officer jaitpur would be suspended and cases would be registered against errant cops, later released the SDO and the CO.Leader of opposition for the SP in the state assembly ,shivpal singh yadav said,We have been assured that the station officer for jaitpur police station would be registered against the errant policemen. in case these assurances turn out to be hollow promises ,SP  would again resort to aggressive protest in the interest of villages "yadav said" The cops had no authority to enter into the houses when women were also inside .It was due to this misbehaviour that the villages held the police station officer hostage on MAY 17 .he was neither manhandled nor misbehaved with,yet the police chose to retaliate violently to get the SO released.

GIRLS REMAIN ON TOP

AGRA 27\05\2010  ECSTATIC pooja suryavanshi from radha vallabh inter college tops in agra with 89 PC marks .results for uttar pradesh board exams for class 12 were declared on thursday continuing trend ,girls fared better than boys this year as well .
POOJA SURYAVANSHI from AGRA RADHA VALLABH intermediate collage topped the city ,scoring 89 per cent marks for science stream.The pass percentage for class 12 exam for the district improved ,reaching 78.54 percent this year.In all .84,873 students appeared in the board exams in AGRA district. of them 19,679 were boys while 15,194 were girls,POOJA SURYAVANSHI scored 446 out of 500 with science while BHAVNA SHARMA from the same collage stood second in agra ,scoring 444 marks .the third position was shared by swati chahar from RADHA VALLABH intermediate collage and PANKAJ KUMAR from SANTA CLAUSS dhanoli in AGRA district . the district inspector of school office informed that 12,683 students scored first division while 13,190 had second division .around 1,155 students passed with HONOURS ,while 893 students received third division in the district .around 1159 students passed remained absent.

despite scorching hot, more tourists in Taj

Even as the city of taj sizzles unexpectedly in the scorching heat this summer with mercury hovering between 40 and 45 degrees celcious, the monument of love sparkles with another pleasant development.

The number of visitors,including both indian and foreigner, coming to see the Taj Mahalhas increased tremendously this summer. In contract to 33,532 foreigners and 173,847 indian tourists coming in April 2009 as many as 43,116 foreigner and 369013 Indian visited the Taj in april this year.

RAILWAYS GOING HI-TECH

The railway too is getting hi-tech now. LCD televisions are installed at the Agra Cantt station for displaying passenger information.

Three LCD television set have been installed but in coming days LCD will be installed at other stations too. Not only it will change the looks of platform but also it has made things easier for the passengers too. Information regarding the retiring rooms, vacant berth positions and current reservation status is displayed on these screens.

So, long queues outside the enquiry counter will be a thing of past at Agra cantt railway station.

ELECTRONIC TICKETING IN AGRA.

If all goes well, the paper tickets that are issued in Agra and Aligarh roadways buses will be replaced by electronic ticketing machines (ETMs). This system is expected to save time and energies, feel the roadways authorities who plan to put ETMs in place for cities like Agra, Aligarh, Mathura and few other adjoining areas.

Talking about the same, Atul Shrotiya, RM (finance), Agra Roadways says, “ The ETM system was launched for the entire UPSRTC area five months ago. As of now, it is functional in all.500 buses starting from Agra. It is a simple calculating machine provided to us by IT department. It replaces the old and traditional way of tearing off tickets with modern ticketing machine. ”
In these machines, the conductor just needs to feed the required code and a print in the form of a ticket is generated. Minimizing the paper work to a large extent, these ETMs have made the process simple both for conductor as well as passengers.

The authorities are training the conductors on a regular basis, acquainting them with the working of the machines.

NAVRATRA ARRIVING!!!

This nine days festival is popularly known as NAVARATRA. During this occasion devotees pay to Durga,Annapurna, Bhadra Kali , Amba sarvamangla,bhairavi, chandika, lalita, bhavani and mookambika

Theses nine goddesses have again come to life at Agra’s ‘Kamakhya Mandir’. It is the only temple in the region having all the nine goddesses under on roof. Situated at Hathi ghaat near the Yamuna River, the temple although small in size, just cannot be missed.

Of marble and stone architecture, the temple attracts devotees in hordes.

And now with navratra approaching, the temple is now cynosure of all eyes again. The temple is dedicated to the nine goddess besides Hanuman and Kamakhya Devi.

The temple is being cleaned for the occasion and priests are gearing up for festivities just a few hours away.