New Delhi, March 16
The Jawaharlal Nehru University Teachers' Association (JNUTA) has extended support to the Delhi University Teachers' Association (DUTA) which has opposed the recent changes to the DU statutes and ordinances.

According to the JNUTA, the changes being set in motion will have long-term adverse implications on DU and change its fundamental character and ethos as an institution promoting critical thinking.

One of the changes pushed for long by the DU administration was to allow the Vice-Chancellor (VC) to seek a second term which, it said "will only be detrimental to teachers as the current VC has, on several occasions, allegedly targeted teachers opposing his so-called reforms agenda."

"It has come to light that at the Delhi University Executive Council meeting of March 6, major changes to the statutes and ordinances have been approved. The change regarding the second term of the VC should not take place when the term of his post is about to end and he still presides over the Executive Council. This is especially important since the current VC has been acting in an undemocratic manner and contrary to the spirit of functioning of a university wherein he should be accountable to the university community. He has constantly worked to curtail the autonomy of the academic bodies of Delhi University. Thus, he has been responsible for vitiating the atmosphere in Delhi University," said a member of the JNUTA.

Further, teachers said that the reported approval of proposal to impose a code of conduct on teachers militates against the spirit of democracy and liberalism which are essential for the smooth functioning of a university. "It appears to be a part of a move to impose the UGC's Code of Professional Ethics that would enable the VC to unilaterally target dissenting academics," said teachers under the JNUTA headed by Prof Arun Kumar.

According to them, the idea of vesting all authority for initiating action against teachers found guilty of 'misconduct', with the VC could lead to victimisation of teachers who express their dissent against the administration's decisions. Given the past conduct of the present VC, this will only reinforce authoritarian trends in Delhi University and lead to curtailment of autonomy by instilling a sense of fear in the academic community of the university.

"We also hear that threats were held out to teachers who wanted to record their dissent with these proposals in the Executive Council. We believe that dissent is the essence of higher learning. We deplore this attempt to curtail the democratic functioning of a body like the Executive Council," they asserted.

The JNUTA also urged all sections of the academic community in the country to stand up in support of the democratic struggle of Delhi University community lest such changes begin to be initiated in other institutions of higher learning in India.

New Delhi, March 16
The BJP has fielded its candidates in Delhi, keeping in view caste and regional factors.

The Delhi BJP president Dr Harsh Vardhan who has been fielded from Chandni Chowk belongs to the trader community. He was born and brought up at Fatak Teliyan, Turkman Gate in the walled city. He did his schooling and pre-medical from Zakir Hussain College. Vardhan's background may help him in the elections. He also has many Muslim friends.

Famous Bhojpuri artist, Manoj Tewari, who is contesting from Northeast Delhi, is the Poorvanchali face of the party. The constituency has a large number of Poorvanchali votes. Seelampur, Jafrabad, Ghonda, Mustafaba, Bhajanpura, Gokalpur, Nand Nagari and Wazirabad are some of the unauthorised colonies and the residents of these colonies hail from East Uttar Pradesh and Bihar.

The BJP has fielded Mahesh Giri from East Delhi. Giri is director in one of the NGOs of Shri Shri Ravi Shankar. He has met the Shahi Imam of Fatehpuri and got his posters stuck in the Muslim areas.

In South Delhi, the party has fielded Ramesh Bidhuri, four-time MLA from Tughlakabad. He contested parliamentary elections last time but lost. He is the Gujjar face of the party. He has good networking in villages and unauthorised colonies.

In West Delhi, the Jat face of the party and MLA from Mehrauli, Parvesh Verma, is contesting the elections. He is son of the late Chief Minister Sahib Singh Verma who had given a tough fight to the Congress leader Sajjan Kumar. One of the suspects in 1984 anti-Sikh riots, Sajjan could not contest the elections in 2009.

Dr Udit Raj who has recently joined the party is its Dalit face. He also worked with the Revenue Department and is the right person to 'expose' AAP leader Arvind Kejriwal who was also a revenue officer. Udit Raj has been active in politics for the last many years and raising the issues of Dalits.

National spokesperson Meenakshi Lekhi is a representative of the Punjabi community that has its hold in South and West Delhi. She is daughter-in-law of famous advocate P.N. Lekhi and a lawyer in the Supreme Court. According to Lekhi, the women of Delhi have decided to vote for the BJP this time.

New Delhi, March 16
The Airport Express Line has gone places! The Delhi Metro Rail Corporation's (DMRC) took over the controversial line about eight months ago and its ridership has now increased by around one lakh, making things look rosy on the most significant train.

The performance chart of the Airport Express Line has shown an upward trend in the last eight months as a result of the series of steps taken by the corporation.

The ridership on the line reached 11,721 per day in January this year in comparison to the figure of 10,069 commuters in July last year when the DMRC started managing the operations. In February, the ridership increased to 12,961 commuters on a single day indicating the increasing popularity of the train.

The DMRC took over operations of Airport Express Line from July with an operations and maintenance team of 100 officials after the earlier operator, Delhi Airport Metro Express Private Limited (DAMEPL), informed the corporation that it could not operate the service.

Explaining the measures taken for bringing back the benchmark quality of Airport Line and making it commuters' choice, senior DMRC officials said that the frequency of the trains was increased along with the operating hours.

"The first thing we did was to increase the operating hours of the Airport Metro for the convenience of passengers of the Shatabdi Express trains departing from New Delhi railway station early in the morning," said an official. Similarly, the passengers arriving by the train at New Delhi late at night, with the intention of going to the airport were able to take the last Airport link service from New Delhi.

To manage peak hours, the DMRC increased the frequency of the trains, from 15 minute to ten minute and 30 seconds. Though during non-peak hours, it remained 15 minutes. While for the early morning commuters, the first train was pushed into service at 4.45 am instead of 5.30 am from both New Delhi station and Dwarka Sector 21.

The speed of the train was also increased from 70 kmph to 80 kmph.

"This reduced the time of travel between New Delhi-Airport to 19 minutes and New Delhi-Dwarka Sector-21 to 24 minutes. Likewise, the time from Dwarka Sector21 to Airport came down to five minutes and from Dwarka to New Delhi to 24 minutes," the official said. Special attention was given to provide a parking space at the Metro stations. Parking was started at Delhi Aerocity Airport Line Station and feeder service from Delhi Aerocity to T1 was also made available at a frequency of 15 minute.

"We enlarged the existing parking at Dwarka Sector-21 to accommodate more vehicles. The parking area is now 6964.5 sq. mt.," the official said.

Apart from taking all these operational measures, community awareness was required to draw more passengers to the Airport Line.

"We have been writing to many Resident Welfare Associations of Dwarka and nearby areas to increase awareness of Airport Line. We are also making efforts to sell Airport Line tickets through IRCTC portals and several other tour operators," the official added.

New Delhi, March 16
Keeping in mind the last year's surge in influx of patients on Holi festival, AIIMS Trauma Centre has extended the emergency reception area and deployed more staff.

Last year, the trauma centre witnessed more than two-fold jump in the number of patients coming to AIIMS with various injuries.

"On an average, AIIMS Trauma Centre gets 125 patients every day which increased to 400 patients during the Holi last year," said Dr Amit Gupta, additional professor, Department of Surgery, AIIMS Trauma Centre.

Dr Gupta said that the centre receives many patients with injuries of eyes and skin due to the effects of colour.

"Then there are road traffic injury cases due to heavy intake of alcohol. Alcohol intake also leads to an increase in the number of assault cases. We also get many stabbing cases," said Dr Gupta.

As part of its preparedness, the whole emergency has been divided into three priority areas —red, yellow and green.

Majority of the patients who are walking wounded and mostly brought by police are taken to the green zone.

Critically injured and patients with life threatening injuries are transferred to the red zone and those with significant injuries needing admission but not life threatening are shifted to yellow zone, said Dr Gupta.

Apart from that more staff have been deployed in the morning and evening shifts to handle the surge. — PTI

New Delhi, March 16
A 46-year-old nurse working at AIIMS today allegedly committed suicide by hanging herself from a ceiling fan at her residence in Ashram area of southeast Delhi.

According to the police, the nurse, Moily Siddi, was apparently depressed over her transfer to another department.

She lived with her family in Ashram area and worked as a nurse in AIIMS. According to AIIMS sources, she was brought to the hospital's emergency between 9.30 AM and 10 AM today wherein she was declared dead on arrival.

According to sources, she had gone to the church in the morning with her husband and two children.

"However she left early saying she was not feeling well. When the husband along with the two children returned home at around 9.30 AM, they found her hanging from the ceiling fan," said a doctor.

Police have recovered a suicide note from the spot.

"The suicide note states she was very upset with her transfer. Prima facie, it appears that she was depressed over her transfer to another department following which she took such an extreme step," said a senior police official said.

Police were also interrogating her husband and neighbours in this regard.

The body was sent for a postmortem and further investigation is on, the official said. — PTI