News Digest: Security tightened, flyers asked to take off shoes, belts at Delhi airport

Here are some important reports from the biggest newspapers of India.

1. Security tightened, flyers asked to take off shoes, belts at Delhi airport

The next time you go to IGI airport to catch a flight, try and reach an hour early. Security at the terminal has been tightened and passengers are being asked to take off their shoes, belts and jackets before getting frisked by CISF personnel.

Detailed scanning of passengers is resulting in long queues at the terminal during peak hours, reported the Times of India.

The decision was taken on the directions of Bureau of Civil Aviation Security (BCAS) after a spate of hoax calls and a pistol being found in a youth's baggage recently. Senior CISF officials said hat issuing of passes to visi ors has also been stopped for an indefinite period.

2. Converting diesel engines to CNG too expensive, say Gurgaon cab operators

Despite the Supreme Court on Thursday giving a month's extension to diesel commercial vehicles in Delhi/NCR to convert to CNG, city-based cab operators said converting diesel engines into CNG is an expensive process and, hence, not feasible, reported the Indian Express daily.

Three months ago, the apex court had issued the order to convert diesel taxis to CNG and to halt registration of diesel cars over the capacity of 2000 cc by March 31. As a result, there are as many as 24,000 diesel taxis and 12,000 auto-rickshaws in Gurgaon that need to convert to CNG as a result of the order.

Gorav of Rainbow Travels in Gurgaon, who runs a fleet of luxury cabs for corporate houses, said, "We started converting to diesel 15 years ago as it was cost-effective. Now, switching to CNG would mean changing the entire engine. How will cars such as Innova, Xylo run on CNG?"

3. From domestic help to construction workers, meet the women e-rickshaw drivers in Delhi

Dressed in a bright green sari with pink flowers, and with her three-year-old son in tow, Pushpa walks hurriedly towards Sanjay Jheel in east Delhi.

"My husband doesn't like me going out much, but I convinced him to let me come out and learn this," she says, while putting her foot on the brake of the e-rickshaw to avoid a sharp turn. Pushpa is one of the 151 women who are learning to drive the battery-operated vehicle and become an e-rickshaw driver, reported the Indian Express.

Pushpa and the other women are eagerly waiting for their own vehicle, which will be given to them by Prime Minister Narendra Modi under a loan scheme announced by the government.

4. Top cop wants big bungalow, but housing pool limited

Urban development ministry is struggling to meet the requirement of big bungalows by Delhi's top administrators because of huge shortage of such accommodation.

While the New Delhi police commissioner Alok Verma has sought allotment of a type-VIII bungalow (biggest category), Delhi Lokayukta Reva Khetrapal wants allotment of a spacious bungalow at 11, Teen Murti Lane, which has been vacated by Farooq Abdullah.

In a Times of India report, Verma, who was posted as director general of Tihar jail till recently, is staying in a government flat in Bapa Nagar. Khetrapal is staying in a smaller bungalow on Mathura Road.

"Because of Verma's security needs the commissioner needs to get an independent bungalow. Deployment of security personnel around his present residence may also be causing inconvenience to other residents," said an urban development ministry official.

5. Government health mission records dramatic surge in surgeries

There has been a dramatic rise, in some states almost ten-fold, in the number of surgeries under the National Health Mission across India between 2009-10 and 2014-15, reported the Indian Express.

Part of this surge is explained by better surgical intervention in the health care system but experts caution that there may also be the possibility of "inappropriate" surgeries being performed under existing insurance and incentive-based schemes like Rashtriya Swasthya Bima Yojana (RSBY) and Janani Shishu Suraksha Karyakram (JSSK).

In the five years after 2009, "major surgeries" jumped manifold: 979% in Maharashtra, 470% in Karnataka, 400% in Bihar and 258% in Jammu and Kashmir.

6. Road rage victim dragged on bonnet for 500 metres

Road rage attacks aren't uncommon in NCR but the kind that a man fell victim to earlier this week on a Gurgaon road showed another shocking side to the aggression motorists in this part of the world regularly display .

On March 28 afternoon, a man driving a Honda City hit a Swift Dzire near the Sector 12 telephone exchange. When the Dzire's driver, Prateek, got off to confront him, he hit him with the car too.

Prateek landed on his car's bonnet but the man at the City's wheel accelerated ahead on the crowded street, carrying Prateek for nearly 500 metres and hit several stationary bikes and scooters on the way, reported the Times of India.

7. Dogs get graveyard in east Delhi

Dogs in the city will now have a final resting place. The East Delhi municipal corporation will set up the city's first government-run graveyard in Ghazipur.

Civic agencies have been relying on private contractors and NGOs to dispose of dead dogs, which is expensive and often painful for dog owners, said a report in the Hindustan Times daily.

"Pet owners have suffered a lot, not knowing what to do when their pets pass away. It's a great service to offer," said Geeta Seshamani, co-founder of Friendicoes SECA.

The facility, which will come up on one acre at the Ghazipur landfill, will also house a sterilization and veterinary centre that will help control canine population in the city that reports a dog bite every six minutes.

8. Suicide attempts on the rise at Metro stations across Delhi

There she was standing on the platform, waiting for the Dwarka line. There was nothing unusual about her. Nothing ominous. But as soon as the display screen flashed, 'one minute for Dwarka line', she jumped on the tracks. The incoming train crushed her.

In 2015, 80 suicide attempts were reported across all metro stations. Out of these, 17 people died, while 63 survived. In 2014, 45 such attempts were made.

In a Hindustan Times report, most suicide attempts were re por ted on the blue line (Noida City Centre/VaishaliDwarka, Sector 21), and the yellow line (Huda City Centre Samaypur Badli).

CISF officials, who secure the metro stations, said there had been a rise in the number of suicide attempts. They said they had now adopted new measures to prevent it.

9. "Harassed" ex sends legal notice to get back his BMW

Claims she made promises of marriage to pressure him into funding her lavish lifestyle; also demands repayment of R 4.2- lakh loans and Rs 10 lakh as compensation for mental stress, reported Mid-Day daily.

A creative and business strategy consultant has sent a legal notice to his former girlfriend, demanding that she return the BMW car he gifted her and Rs 4.20 lakh he lent her over two years as well as a compensation of Rs 10 lakh.

The notice, sent by advocate Swapnil Ambure, states that Aman Khan, a resident of Worli, met the woman, an interior designer from Andheri, in 2004 through a mutual friend and the two began dating soon after. Khan alleged that she made promises of marriage, pressured him into funding her lavish lifestyle and picked quarrels with him when he failed to do so.

10. Steps ordered by SC helped clean air in city

Stringent measures ordered by the Supreme Court to curb rising pollution levels in the Capital had a positive impact on Delhi's air quality.

Environment Pollution (Prevention and Control) Committee – an SC-appointed panel to monitor environment related issues–on Thursday submitted a report that showed a decline in concentration of PM 2.5 of during winter nights as compared to 2015.

Particulate matter of 2.5 micrometers in diameter such as dust, dirt, soot, smoke, and liquid droplets found in the air are referred to as PM 2.5.