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Year after CWG, DTC back to plying old buses
DTC buses collide, 20 hurt
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CM defending discoms on power tariff hike: RWAs
Trader dupes 250 of lakhs of rupees
Denied liquor, man slashes daughter
Camps held for senior citizens in 24 hospitals
Building collapse: Down painful memory lane
Gandhi Mela at Pragati Maidan
Delhi-Meerut eway: Land acquisition begins
Hot weekend in Delhi
Mahila chaupals
Lid off 8 robberies
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Year after CWG, DTC back to plying old buses
New Delhi, October 1 The official line was that the old buses -- poorly maintained, unsafe and ill-fitted -- would be completely discarded by the time the October 3-14 Games ended. However, they are far from being phased out. The DTC puts the blame on the delay in the introduction of private cluster buses. The DTC fleet carries a load of around 4.5 million people every day. According to Delhi transport minister Arvinder Singh, the DTC has a fleet of around 6,500 buses. Out of this, 3,775 are low-floor buses while the remaining are the old ones. "We mostly travel in the old type of DTC buses. Some of them are in a very bad condition, not at all worth travelling in," said Archana Kaul, an employee of Indian Railways who commutes daily from Sarojini Nagar in south Delhi. Commoners, including children, are bearing the brunt. "Most of the schools that hire DTC buses for ferrying students are given the old buses. This is bad because the old buses are not so safe. They don't have automatic door-closing facility automatically and some even have metal pieces jutting out," said Rajiv Shankar, a resident of east Delhi. Vijay Kumar Dev, the corporation's chairman and managing director, said DTC was forced to ply the old buses as the new privately operated cluster buses were still not plying in sufficient numbers. "We are compelled to ply the old worn-out buses which are eight to 10 years old. They are in a bad shape and not commutable," admitted Dev. During the Games last year, Delhi's roads were totally rid of the old DTC buses as well as the private Blueline buses. However, after the Games, the old DTC buses still ply in large numbers along with the new low-floor buses. "In order to present a good picture during the CWG, the city was plying only new buses. However, those were only 3,000 in number. After the CWG, we had to include the old buses to meet the demand," Dev said. He said according to the orders of the Delhi High Court, nearly 11,000 buses were needed in Delhi. "There should be 6,600 cluster buses, and 4,400 DTC buses. But only 100 cluster buses are plying as of now. Hence we are forced to use old DTC buses, even though they are not economical and safe any more," he admitted. Moreover, as with the old buses, some grouchy drivers and conductors too are back. The DTC had held a special training drive for its drivers and conductors during the Games, but some of the crew are back to their gruff ways. "The DTC is conducting a drive to check on adherence to the time schedule, violation of traffic rules by drivers, behaviour of the crew, frequency of the buses and cleanliness," minister Arvinder Singh said at a meeting of the Delhi cabinet. Maintenance of the buses is also a major complaint. "In many buses, the windowpanes are broken, they are not clean and they don't have first-aid boxes," admitted Dev. However, he said Delhiites too needed to be more responsible. "Ticketless travelling is a problem. It is seen mostly on the outskirts of Delhi like Bawana where conductors and drivers are thrashed if they ask passengers to buy tickets," he said. But he added that the DTC, which runs the world's largest fleet of environment-friendly CNG buses, was still a highly popular mode of transportation. "The DTC is highly popular and we are not in competition with the Metro. The DTC passenger load has increased in three years, from 30 lakh to 45 lakh," he said.
— IANS |
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DTC buses collide, 20 hurt
New Delhi, October 1 The accident was reported around 10 am from the Outer Ring Road. The injured were rushed to DDU Hospital. They were discharged after treatment. "The accident took place near a gurdwara at Raja Garden. Both the buses were heading towards Nehru Place. The bus on route 568 hit the bus on 442 from behind. About 20 passengers aboard the buses were injured, none of them seriously," said a police official. Joginder (33), the driver of bus number 568, said to avoid collision with a car, he made a sudden right turn and accidentally hit the AC bus. A case has been registered. |
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CM defending discoms on power tariff hike: RWAs
New Delhi, October 1 Members of the United RWA Joint Action (URJA), a body of RWAs, today met Chief Minister Sheila Dikshit and handed over a memorandum, demanding the deference of the tariff hike until the CAG completes its audit and the withdrawal of the stay on the inclusion of the discoms in the RTI ambit. A CIC order had recently brought the discoms under the purview of RTI, but the discoms moved the court and got a stay over it. "The Delhi government, being a 49 per cent stakeholder, should pressurise its partner discoms to withdraw the plea that has stayed their inclusion in the RTI ambit," said AK Datta, an URJA member. "During the meeting, Dikshit was constantly defending the discoms. We said that the tariff hike should be done only after the accounts of the discoms are audited by the CAG," said Ashok Prabhakar of the south Delhi RWA group. The members said that the CM gave an impression that she was unaware of the situation on the ground. "The members raised the concern that the increase in the revenue following a reduction in power theft was being transferred to the coffers of the discoms. Questions were also raised on the actual capital expenditure shown by discoms and the actual verification of assets on the ground," he said. "The NDMC rates are subsidized, but it is still showing profits, whereas the rates of the discoms are higher, but they still show losses, though they get electricity from the same source" said Preeti Singh, joint secretary, Vasant Kunj RWA. |
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Trader dupes 250 of lakhs of rupees
New Delhi, October 1 The incident was reported from the Geeta Colony area of east Delhi this morning where the people, who were promised the delivery of goods, came to find the shop locked. A case in this regard was registered at the Geeta Colony police station. According to the police, about a month back an electronic goods shop, Arputha Electronics, opened at 42, Old Geeta Colony market. The shopkeeper promised the people to give goods like TVs, refrigerators, LCDs at half the price of the market and even delivered to some people. However, with hundreds coming to the shop, the shopkeeper started booking the items and promised delivery after 15 days. "Some people were to get delivery today but when they came here they found the shop locked and the trader missing. After waiting for hours, about 250 persons realised that they had been cheated. When they broke open the lock of the shop, they found that the shop was almost empty," said a police official. According to preliminary investigation, the trader had taken several lakhs of rupees from the gullible people who fell in to his trap. "The estimate of cheating would be known only after some time as many people who have booked their goods are yet to approach us. They may not know about their losses yet. The money ranged from Rs 5,000 to Rs 15, 000 per person," said the official. |
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Denied liquor, man slashes daughter
New Delhi, October 1 The accused, Muharram Ali, managed to flee after injuring his minor daughter with a knife at that time but was arrested this morning. "Muharram Ali is an alcoholic and often beat up his wife after drinking. About 20 days ago, he asked his wife to give him money for drinking, but when she refused, Muharram picked up a knife and slashed his two-year-old daughter and fled the house," said a police official, adding that the critically injured daughter was saved by timely treatment. The Nizamuddin police station got information this morning about Muharram's movement near the railway station and he was arrested soon after. |
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Camps held for senior citizens in 24 hospitals
New Delhi, October 1 "International Day of Senior Citizens is an occasion to acknowledge the contribution, dignity and needs of senior citizens. Therefore, they are being provided preferential treatment in government hospitals and dispensaries," said health minister AK Walia. The population of persons over the age of 60 years has tripled in the last five decades in India. In Delhi, there were about 8 lakh senior citizens in 2001. Their number has increased to 14 lakh. "There are separate registration counters for senior citizens in hospitals. Help desk for them has also been set up in many hospitals. A nodal officer in each government hospital in Delhi has been designated to address the problems of senior citizens. Besides, a clinic exclusively for senior citizens is operational on Sundays in 24 government hospitals," he said. Senior citizens suffer from multiple chronic diseases like hypertension, cataract, osteoarthritis, heart diseases, diabetes, neural deafness and mental disorder. It has been reported that 8 per cent of them are confined to their homes. "The government has constituted an Arogaya Nidhi Kosh to help needy patients. We will soon provide dialysis services at a large number of centres and free ambulance services under Janani Shishu Suraksha Yojna," said Walia. |
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Building collapse: Down painful memory lane
Municipal officials, however, aver that the cell doesn't have the requisite manpower. More than 20 houses have collapsed in this monsoon season at places like Jamia Nagar, Old Delhi, Dabri, Paharganj and Janakpuri. Stores shy of
selling ‘kuttu’
For the second consecutive year, none of the major grocery stores in the Capital is ready to sell "kuttu and singhare ka atta", the flour used for making rotis during the fasting season of Navratras. Due to some adulterated supply from Uttar Pradesh last year, many people on fast were hospitalised and a few even lost their lives. The authorities had then allowed the shop owners to dispose of their existing stock, but barred them from piling up fresh stock. This year, even big retail chains are sending back customers. One can savour the 'fast' delicacies only at some food joints which have a separate menu on all the nine days. A doctor’s
dilemma
Following a disaster, be it a bomb blast or a building collapse, the emergencies of hospitals become the centre of attention of both the media and the political brass. Ministers throng the hospitals to offer sympathies. This week, when Delhi Chief Minister Sheila Dikshit met the victims injured in the building collapse at Lok Nayak Jai Prakash Hospital and told the doctors to provide them proper treatment, there were other patients, away from the media glare, who felt neglected. Seeing the Chief Minister, a woman started sobbing, but a senior doctor took Dikshit to another injured person, stating that the woman was not a victim of the Old Delhi incident and that she was suffering from cancer. Nevertheless, the doctor clarified later that "all the patients are the same for them whether they come after a blast or other
problems". (Contributed by Himani Chandel, Jyoti Rai, Ananya Panda) |
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Gandhi Mela at Pragati Maidan
New Delhi, October 1 Delhi Mayor Rajni Abbi said that the major attractions of the mela would be heavy discount on khadi products, Charkha Yagna, cultural and folk programmes, puppet and magic show, stalls of various departments of MCD, Delhi government, Central government and Gandhian organizations, free health check-up, etc. About 50 non-governmental Gandhian organizations and other institutions, including Delhi Jal Board, Delhi Fire Service, DTDC, Punjabi Academy, Hindi Academy, Sanskrit Academy, Delhi State Aids Control Society, Songs and Drama Division, Sahitya Kala Academy, will put up their pavilions at the mela. "The sanitation, horticulture and disaster management equipment will also be displayed at the mela. The system of Panchkarma treatment is getting popular with the citizens. The various aspects of this system will be on show," said Abbi. |
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Delhi-Meerut eway: Land acquisition begins
Ghaziabad, October 1 The road will link Dasna town in the district with the national highway-24 leading to
Meerut. The cost of the project, which is Rs 350 crore, will be borne by the National Highway Authority of India, he said. Singh added that 20,000 acre of land in Ghaziabad and Meerut districts would be needed for the road which would be completed by the end of
2013. — PTI |
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Hot weekend in Delhi
New Delhi, October 1 The maximum temperature on Saturday was 34.5 degree Celsius, a notch above the average, while the minimum was recorded at 23.4 degree Celsius, normal for this time of the season, an official of the IMD said. The maximum and minimum humidity was 73 and 45 per cent, respectively. Sunday will be a hot day too with the IMD forecasting a clear sky. The maximum and minimum temperatures are expected to hover around 34 and 23 degree Celsius.
— IANS |
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Mahila chaupals
New Delhi, October 1 While the chaupal for the Christian section has been built at cost of Rs 45.90 lakh, the Ambedkar Bhawan chaupal incurred an expenditure of Rs 74.09 lakh. The mahila chaupal at Neb Sarai has come up at a cost of Rs 48.12 lakh. |
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Lid off 8 robberies
New Delhi, October 1 Two sophisticated pistols with four live cartridges, five mobile phones and three motor cycles used in the crime were seized from them. |
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The recent building collapse near Jama Masjid has revived memories of the ghastly Lalita Park incident that killed more than 60 people last year. Ironically, there is a cell in the Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD) whose job is to identify the 'dangerous' buildings in the city. The department apparently exists on paper only as the civic body turns a blind eye to illegal constructions.