New Delhi, August 31
It was a rainy Sunday for Delhiites today as light to moderate showers lashed parts of the national Capital leading to a dip in mercury levels while the humidity levels saw a rise.

While the showers brought the much-awaited relief from the hot weather that the city has experienced this year due to deficit in rainfall, it also resulted in waterlogging in several areas and busy roads.

The downpour resulted in the temperature dropping to a pleasant 26° C from yesterday's around 34° C while the humidity reached 95 per cent up from yesterday's 90.

Going by the Indian Metrological Department officials data, the rain gauged in the city was recorded to be 35.8 mm at 2.30 pm at Safdarjung observatory, Palam (46.2 mm), Lodhi Road (34 mm), Ayanagar (38.8 mm) and Ridge observatory showed it to be 19.6 mm.

As per the traffic control room officials, drivers' complaints about waterlogging were received from many areas, including AIIMS, Lodhi Road, Wazirabad flyover, Barapullah, Adhchini, Lala Lajpat Rai Marg, IGNOU Road, Bhagwan Dass Road and Rajokri flyover.

For tomorrow, the Met department has predicted cloudy sky with rains and thundershowers in Delhi and parts of the National Capital Region and maximum temperature is expected to remain at 34° C.

New Delhi, August 31
Delhi BJP president Satish Upadhyay today announced that all the three Municipal Corporations of Delhi would run a fortnight-long campaign from September 6 as "No man land and back lane cleaning fortnight".

During this fortnight, the municipal corporations would undertake cleaning of all unoccupied land like vacant plots, area around rail tracks, under flyovers or near parks, etc., where garbage is often dumped, Upadhyay said while adding that stress would be on sanitation in unauthorised colonies and resettlement colonies.

The campaign would precede the already announced sanitation and health drive week to be observed from September 25 to October 2.

Upadhyay, who is also the South Delhi Municipal Corporation's Standing Committee chairman, said responsibilities of both the municipal officials and the leaders would be fixed in the campaign. All sanitary inspectors, superintendent, superintendent engineer and zonal deputy commissioners would have to carry out surprise checks on sanitary drives in their areas and ensure that at least two colonies are taken up every day during the drive.

All mayors, chairmen of standing committee, along with the three municipal commissioners, would carry out at least two surprise checks in their areas and order stern disciplinary action, including suspension, against the erring staff of the areas.

"We would not accept any shortcomings in the municipal services and work with full transparency," said Upadhyay.

New Delhi, August 31
For construction of the National War Museum at the Princess Park locality near India Gate, Defence Ministry Arun Jaitley will have to find a place to settle over 100 families living in that area.

The families are living in over 200 servant quarters built on 14 acre where the memorial is planned to be built and they have to be removed from there, Defence Ministry officials said.

People living there have been offered alternative land in Delhi Cantt and some other nearby areas for building their houses, they said.

Jaitley was also briefed by top Army officers,including Army Chief Gen Dalbir Singh Suhag, on the issue at the proposed construction site.

The servant quarters were built at Princes Park in the pre-Independence era and these families have been living there since then. The site is historical because the Indian national flag after Independence was first time raised there.

The Defence Ministry is preparing a Cabinet note for the construction of the National War Memorial at the India Gate complex and the National War Museum at the Princess Park at a cost of Rs 400 crore.

The need for removing the encroachments before commencing the construction will also be mentioned in the note, the officials said.

The museum and the memorial are planned to be connected through an underpass.—PTI

New Delhi, August 31
Having two Limca Book of Records to his credit, Raj Vadgama, the Marathon Man of Mumbai, was in the national Capital at Fortis Memorial Research Institute where doctors said that the man who has to cover over 70 cities, across the length and breadth of India, is fit and doing well.

Vadgama who kicked off his attempt to create a Guinness World Record for the fastest 10,000 km run from Mumbai-Gateway of India, has so far covered 1000 km, crossing seven major cities--Mumbai, Surat, Vadodara, Ahmedabad, Udaipur, Ajmer and Jaipur--in 17 days. He is running at an average of 83 km per day.

Encouraging sports enthusiasts to take up long distance running and promote a sustainable running culture across the country, the run is organised and promoted by a non-profit foundation called Run-India Sports Foundation. It will culminate in Mumbai on December 12.

Vadgama will pass through extreme terrains, climatic temperatures, covering unexplored stretches, making the run the ultimate test of human endurance and fitness. He will be accompanied by an experienced long distance runner from Run-India Sports Foundation along with a Fortis team of health professionals.

The team said, "We will identify young running talent in the age groups of 12 to 18. Our dream is to set up a running academy at Mumbai and bring the runners to the academy and train them with the latest techniques, nutrition and technology for free to compete at international levels."