Around town

Shram Shakti Bhavan fire
A fire broke out on the sixth floor of the Shram Shakti Bhavan,which houses a number of Central government ministries,on Monday evening. Seven fire tenders were rushed to the spot to douse the fire.

Burglaries at two houses
Cash and jewellery worth lakhs was stolen from houses in Seelampur area of Northeast Delhi on Sunday. According to the police,house of Narendra Jain and Naresh Kumar who are neighbours were looted when there was no one at their houses.

French honour for ex-Secy
The French government on Monday conferred its highest civilian award on Muthusamy Varadarajan,former Union Secretary (Culture) and president of Alliance Francaise de Delhi,for his contribution to Indo-French cooperation in the academic and cultural fields. French Ambassador to India Jerome Bonnafont presented the medal of ‘Chevalier de la Legion d’Honneur’ (Knight of the Legion of Honour) to Varadarajan at a function here.

Compensation awarded
Almost five years after Budh Pal Singh lost his wife and two minor children after an unauthorised wall crashed on them,a city court on Monday awarded him a compensation of Rs 10 lakh. Subhash Sharma and his wife Bimlesh,who had constructed the wall,have been asked to pay Rs 9 lakh and the MCD will have to pay Rs 1 lakh as fine for negligence.

Petrol dealers protest
With the Delhi government increasing the VAT on diesel to 20 per cent with effect from April 1,the Delhi Petrol Dealers are agitating against the increase saying that Delhi has become more expensive than neighbouring Haryana due the differential in VAT rates. “This has resulted in a difference of almost Rs 4 in the price of diesel between Delhi and Haryana. This will force the citizens of Delhi to buy diesel from the states of Haryana and Uttar Pradesh before they enter Delhi,” a protestor said.