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Power scene may improve soon
Annual fitness test of all
cars soon
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ISBT renovation: Officials
throw a spanner in the works
Some workers at the Kashmere Gate ISBT. Tribune photo: Manas Ranjan Bhui
Work on longest Metro stretch to begin soon
DU applicants giving Punjabi the go-by
Portal for kids catching on
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Power scene may improve soon
New Delhi, June 24 Due to the shortage of gas, it was generating just 200 MW power. Last week, the plant was completely closed as there no gas at all. An official of the Delhi government said, "Reliance Industries Ltd has agreed to supply gas to the plant. The nitty-gritty of the agreement on the purchase of gas is being finalized." The city government and the RIL last year had reached an agreement on the supply of gas to the plant. But RIL did not stick to its word. Later, the Chief Minister of Delhi, Sheila Dikshit sought intervention of the Centre. She met Union Power Minister Sushil Kumar Shinde and Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee who heads an Empowered Group of Ministers (EGoM) on gas allocation. The EGoM in its meeting on February 24, heeding to the Delhi government's request, had allocated 0.836 mmscmd (million metric standard cubic metres per day) gas to the plant. Three turbines of the plant with a production capacity of 750 MW were synchronized in April last year and they started producing around 200 MW after ONGC started supplying 1.564 mmscmd gas. The production capacity at the plant will go up to 1,500 MW within three months when three other turbines are synchronized, the official said. Once the power is generated from the Bawana plant, the government will feel much relieved as the city has been reeling from severe power cuts due to the demand-supply gap. The situation has worsened after the state-run NHPC cut 200 mega watt of supply to Reliance Infrastructure-backed discom BSES for non-payment of dues.
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Annual fitness test of all
cars soon
New Delhi, June 24 The government had first come out with the proposal in 2010 to discourage the plying of old and polluting vehicles . Senior Delhi government officials said that the government is keen to implement the proposal and a decision on the issue will be taken by the Delhi Cabinet soon. Punitive measures like hefty fine and even impounding of vehicles may be put in place to check the violators, senior government officials said. The government is considering allowing authorised service stations and automobile workshops to carry out fitness test of the vehicles and issue certificates on payment of a prescribed fee. |
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No free rides, pay fare or fine: DTC tells Delhi policemen
Shaurya Karanbir Gurung Tribune News Service
New Delhi, June 24 The present strength of the Delhi police force is 80,000 and nearly half of them are serving in lower ranks and a majority of them utilise public transport. During a special drive by the DTC last month, a total of 28 policemen were found travelling without tickets. They were made to pay a fine of Rs 200 each, DTC said. The move is part of an effort by the corporation to increase its revenue and cut losses. Delhi police officials are certainly not amused at this newfound zeal of DTC and cite orders issued by the former Delhi Chief Minister Sahib Singh Verma that allows police personnel to travel free of charge on public transport buses. Justifying the action being taken by the organisation, DTC spokesperson Sharat Kumar told The Tribune, "We have to increase our revenue and one of our efforts to do this is by charging the fare from the police personnel. In the past years, the personnel travelled free. The government has now given us AC and non-AC buses. We need to improve our efficiency and raise our revenue," he added. Quoting the latest report by the Comptroller and Auditor General, he said that the transport body had incurred a loss amounting to Rs 2,042.73 crore during 2010-11. "The losses of the PSUs are mainly attributable to deficiencies in planning, implementation of projects and financial management," mentioned the report. Last month, the DTC management wrote to the Delhi government about the issue of Delhi police personnel travelling on its buses without tickets. "It is pointed out that the police personnel are getting transport allowance. Therefore, if the Delhi police authorities agree to reimburse the cost of all-route monthly pass of Rs 800 per person, the DTC will allow the police personnel to travel without making spot payments," the DTC suggested as a way to sort out the issue. Delhi police officials feel that the DTC should make sure that the order issued during the tenure of Sahib Singh Verma is either cancelled or reviewed before it starts collecting fines from its personnel. A note from the police headquarters, giving a brief of a meeting held earlier this year, says: "The Lieutenant-Governor reiterated the need to allow police officials on duty and in uniform to travel in public transport without payment as they by their presence ensure safety and security to other passengers." Police personnel working at lower ranks, especially the constabulary, feel that since their job requires a lot of travelling within the city, they should be allowed to do so without paying the DTC. While the argument could be valid, the question that needs to be addressed is: whether travelling by off-duty police personnel should also be paid by the State.
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ISBT renovation: Officials
throw a spanner in the works
New Delhi, June 24 Senior officials of Delhi Integrated Multi-Modal Transit System Ltd (DIMTS), the management consultant of the project, said they would have to leave some work unfinished because the government offices in the building were not shifted to other places even after being sent more than two dozens notices. "We could not take the work as a whole as the occupants of the main building have simply refused to vacate the space. It is impossible to work like this," said a senior DIMTS official, who didn't want to be named. The ISBT complex has two buildings. The main building has six floors and houses some important government offices like that of the Delhi police crime branch, Delhi pollution control committee, Delhi commission for protection of child rights and a gas agency. The building also has an office of private transporters and Delhi's 'khoya mandi'. The overhaul of the terminal, being done at a cost of Rs 75 crore, is now hanging in limbo after all talks to cajole the top officials of these offices to shift to some other place have gone in vain. "We have held at least four to five meetings with senior officials and issued them directions to leave the office. We even gave them alternative options, but they are not ready," said the senior official. Meanwhile, in the renovation work, DIMTS has decided to focus on the operation area of the buses and passenger-related facilities like food court, waiting area, landscaping, entry and exit points, platforms, signage and washrooms. It has claimed to renovate the terminal on a par with the airport. "We have decided to concentrate on the facilities for the commuters and tried to make them more advanced that those at the airport," he said. The terminal operates buses to six neighbouring states-- Punjab, Haryana, Himachal Pradesh, Uttar Pradesh, Rajasthan and Uttaranchal-- and is used by thousands of commuters daily. Though bus services to Uttar Pradesh, Rajasthan and Uttaranchal have been temporarily shifted to the Anand Vihar Bus Terminal in view of the renovation work, the buses to Punjab, Haryana and Himachal continue to run from the Kashmere Gate ISBT. |
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Work on longest Metro stretch to begin soon
New Delhi, June 24 This will be the longest corridor of Delhi Metro with 35 stations and a record length of 56 km after the Huda City Centre-Jehangir Puri Line. The DMRC is already done with awarding of tenders for the corridor to three different contracts, including Larson and Tubro, FEMC-Pratibha JV and CEC-CICI JV. The DMRC will award more tenders within the next one month. According to a Metro spokesperson, the contract for the stretch from Moti Bagh to Delhi Cantt was awarded to L&T which has already started the preliminary work on the corridor. The corridor is set to become an instant hit among the commuters as it would connect the existing stations like Azadpur, Netaji Subhash Place, Rajouri Garden, INA, Lajpat Nagar, Mayur Vihar, Anand Vihar, Karkarduma and Welcome. "Work on this corridor (which will be Delhi Metro's Line 7) will begin in a month. The first stretch where the work would begin is from Moti Bagh to Delhi Cantonment as widening of roads in the area has already started," the spokesperson said. The contract for building the corridor from Bhikaiji Cama Place to South Extension has been awarded to FEMC-Pratibha JV and tenders for the corridor from Delhi Cantt to Naraina will be awarded this month. It will also connect areas like Delhi University, GT Karnal Road, Wazirpur Industrial Area, South Extension market, Netaji Subhash Place district centre and Yamuna Vihar, the spokesperson said. "Tenders of all other stretches falling within Ring Road have been floated and work is expected to commence on the entire Ring Road within the next six months," the spokesperson said. |
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DU applicants giving Punjabi the go-by
New Delhi, June 24 "There are no takers of regional languages. And Punjabi, the 10th most-spoken language in the world, is not an exception. The department of Punjabi was culled out of the department of modern Indian languages in 1985, with a faculty that included world-renowned scholars like Harbhajan Singh, Attar Singh, Tarlok Singh Kanwar, Atamjit Singh and SS Noor," said Manjit Singh, head of the Punjabi department at DU. "Though Punjabi songs and culture being depicted in films these days is appreciated by youngsters, the interest in the language is diminishing. At DU, we notice that even Punjabi students do not prefer to study the language any longer. Interestingly, students from non-Punjabi backgrounds, including Muslims, are more inclined towards the language," Singh said. At present, three DU colleges-- Sri Guru Tej Bahadur Singh Khalsa, Guru Nanak Dev Khalsa and Mata Sundari -- offer BA (honours) in Punjabi. The department also offers a full-time certificate course, a PG diploma, an MPhil and Phd courses in the language. In all, nearly 300 to 400 students are associated with the regular courses of the language. Students at most other colleges have the option of opting for Punjabi as a language in BCom and BA programmes. However, faculty members at the department feel that even the few students who opt for Punjabi do it not for the love of the language but as a secondary option. "Very few students studying Punjabi pursue the language at the research level. A considerable number of students from Punjab, Haryana and Chandigarh who come to DU study Punjabi for civil services exams. Also, with the boom in the Punjabi media, many students study the language to get into journalism," Singh added. "It's good that more career options are springing up for the students of Punjabi, but the deeper understanding of the language and the will to learn it is slowly dying. We are optimistic that with more efforts, the language can regain its hold among the young generation. But for that, interest in the Punjabi culture has to begin at a primary level. At our department, our efforts are focused on helping the students get closer to the Punjabi heritage through seminars, readings, events and other cultural events," said Kuljit Singh, another professor at the Punjabi department.
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Portal for kids catching on
New Delhi, June 24 With reliable help at hand from this vertical e-commerce portal focused on services for children up to the age of 14, more than 1,50,000 relieved parents from Delhi NCR have become regular visitors of the website. Premier activity clubs such as Mozartsy (music classes for 0-4 years), Vocaboom (interactive vocabulary building classes), Club Yoyo (creative arts classes along with activities for mothers), Bhaichung Bhutia club (football club), Jovo Golf (golf lessons), Isakte (ice skaing), Mama Mia (dance classes) and many more activities can be found, researched upon and booked on this portal, that is turning into an all-time guide for the city parents. Mycity4kids.com boasts of elaborate listings, reviews and easy pay options. |
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Strange as it may seem, but the law-enforcing police in Delhi is facing a peculiar problem while travelling on the city buses--accused of travelling without a ticket.
The renovation of the Kashmere Gate Inter State Bus Terminus (ISBT) has hit a roadblock due to alleged non-cooperation by officials of various government offices situated in the main building who have refused to vacate the space. This has led to an extension of the deadline for the project that was due to end this month.
