In briefs 8212; Delhi

Dec 18 declared Minorities Day December 18 will be observed nationwide as the Minorities Rights Day, according to the National Commission...

Dec 18 declared Minorities Day
December 18 will be observed nationwide as the Minorities Rights Day, according to the National Commission for Minorities NCM. The NCM proposes to organise several functions on that day. The main function will be held at Vigyan Bhavan to be chaired by former President Shanker Dayal Sharma. NCM chairman Tahir Mahmood, former Supreme Court justice H.R. Khanna, former chief justice A.M. Ahmadi and UN information centre director Feodor Starcevic are scheduled to address the meeting. The text of the UN declaration on minorities and two books will be released at the function.

Special Rajdhani to Madgaon.
To clear the extra rush of passengers, Northern Railway will run a special Rajdhani train between Hazrat Nizamuddin and Madgaon on December 24. The train will leave Hazrat Nizamuddin at 1650 hrs and arrive at Madgaon at 1910 hrs. The return special on December 28 will leave Madgaon at 1215 hrs and to arrive at Hazrat Nizamuddin at 1350 hrs. DDA engineers resist pay scalen A SECTION of the Delhi Development Authority DDA engineers have opposed the 8220;piecemeal8221; cadre review of junior engineers JEs and demanded that the DDA give all the engineers working for over 15 years, the rank of assistant engineer AEs. 8220;The JEs are anyway in the salary scale of AEs, so there will be little financial burden on the authority,8221; V.K. Vats, secretary of the DDA engineers welfare council said.

Prasad is new IGNOU pro-V-C
Prof V.S Prasad has taken over as one of the pro-vice-chancellors of Indira Gandhi National Open University IGNOU. Before joining IGNOU, he was rector and professor of public administration, Dr B.R. Ambedkar Open University BRAOU, Hyderabad. Prof Prasad has 32 years of experience in distance/formal education. He has held various key positions, including, director, Distance Education Council and director, Staff Training and Research Institute of Distance Education at IGNOU.

Water supply to be affected
Due to the annual flushing of the Rajinder Nagar reservoir, water will be available at low pressure from December 17 to December 18 in R-block Rajinder Nagar, Double Storey New Rajinder Nagar, NPL Complex and Pusa Institute complex. For similar reasons, the supply will be at low pressure on December 17 in B-2 Block Janakpuri, Shiv Nagar, Virender Nagar, Singh Nagar, Anand Parbat, Ramjas Society, Punjabi Basti, Pocket-F Dilshad Garden and Barwala village.

Nurses protest
Nurses of AIIMS who received housing quarters recently after a long wait are angrier with the management as the houses have not been given an electricity connection. The nurses union said that they would wear black badges on Thursday and go on a 24-hour hunger strike on Friday in protest.

Apollo strike off
The Three-month-old strike by employees of the Apollo Hospital has been called off. Around 252 employees had been agitating for the reinstatement of several workers who had been sacked by the management. A spokesman said the strike was called off unconditionally by the workers and all of them joined work on December 12.