The MCD House on Monday said that the contractor entrusted the toll tax collection task was charging rates which were nearly 20 per cent more than the actual rates. The issue was raised by the Leader of the Opposition in the MCD House, Jai Kishan Sharma, and was also supported by the councillors from the ruling BJP.

A city court convicted five men on charges of terrorism and waging war against the nation. The convicts include two brothers, who were found to be working with the banned Jaish-e-Mohammed (JeM). The quantum of punishment is likely to be announced on January 6.

The city continued to reel under biting cold following which the power demand shot up beyond the 3,500 MW mark. Delhi urban development minister A.K. Walia inspected the night shelters in the city and said that all the shelter-dwellers would be put through medical check up to ensure that they are healthy. He also announced that `2 crores have been earmarked for upgradation of permanent night shelters.

With the investigators failing to make any breakthrough in the teenager’s murder in Dwarka, the police has held three suspects from the national capital and two others from Uttar Pradesh along with some other friends of the deceased girl. The suspects and the girl’s friends are being investigated for their involvement in the case.

Delhi government is hopeful that onion prices would fall by about `10 in the city with the arrival of about 300 metric tonnes of the commodity. Delhi Cabinet in its meeting on Monday reviewed price of onions, which have been selling for about `45 a kg in the Mother Dairy outlets and at higher rates in retail markets.

It pays to have a railway minister from your state. If her predecessors provided sweeter deals from the railways for their home states, current railway minister and Trinamul Congress chief Mamata Banerjee has been busy doing the same for West Bengal. The bonanza for Bengal which began in 2009 shortly after Ms Banerjee took over the important railway portfolio picked up steam in the year just gone by, 2010.

The Central probe agencies, including the CBI, have raised serious objections over why the arrested former officials of the Commonwealth Games (CWG) Organising Committee, T.S. Darbari and Sanjay Mohindroo, were sent to London for the Queen’s Baton Relay (QBR) last year when the event did not fall under their operational ambit. The CBI has also decided to question OC chairman Suresh Kalmadi in this connection on Wednesday.

Days after suspension of Prasar Bharati CEO B.S. Lalli, the Prasar Bharati Board on Monday entrusted Rajiv Takru, additional secretary in the ministry of information and broadcasting, with powers of Prasar Bharati CEO.

The expert panel looking into the National Advisory Council’s recommendations on the proposed Food Security Bill has asked the agriculture and the food minister Sharad Pawar to increase production and procurement of grains.

Responding to the increasing threat of Naxal menace in central India, minister for environment and forests Jairam Ramesh is pushing for an early amendment of the Indian Forest Act 1927 to allow greater democratisation of forest management.