With just a week to go before Delhi University reopens and physical classes begin, colleges said students have reached out to them expressing apprehensions about returning to campus even as several of them also seem excited for the same.
One of the main concerns is from first-year students, for whom exams begin in the second week of March. There is no clarity yet if these will now be held offline with campus reopening or in the online mode as was originally planned. Dean Examinations D S Rawat said a meeting will be held by officials Friday to take a decision: “We will hold a meeting tomorrow evening; until then I cannot comment on what should happen.”
READ | Delhi University: Colleges field anxious queries on exams, returning to campus
The deputy commissioner (DC) of Gurgaon, Nishant Kumar Yadav, who formally took charge Thursday, said disciplinary action would be taken against revenue department officials, including tehsildars, naib tehsildars, patwaris and registry clerks, for alleged violation of rules in the registration of land deals in the district.
“All the DCs in their respective districts were asked to conduct independent enquiries to find out how many registries had been done without getting the requisite NOCs [no objection certificates] and clearances from the department of town and country planning and in violation of laws and to enquire the officers responsible for lapses,” said the DC.
READ | On new Gurgaon DC’s agenda, action against revenue officials for irregularities in land deal registrations
The Delhi High Court Thursday asked the Centre to respond to a Delhi Waqf Board petition challenging the transfer of a graveyard to the India Tibetan Border Police (ITBP) and also asked the Centre to apprise it about the proceedings of the committees constituted to decide on 123 properties – including the Qadeemi Qabristan, South Inderpat, Mathura road – which were denotified by the government in 2014.
The Students' Federation of India (SFI) on Friday protested outside the Karnataka Bhawan here to express solidarity with the Muslim students amid the ongoing hijab controversy.
In a statement, the SFI said the protest was called against the alleged continued attacks on girls' education in the country.
monthly limit of free stories.
with an Express account.
Dozens of students who took part in the protest were detained by Delhi Police.
SFI secretary Yashita Singh said she, along with several other activists, was detained during the protest.
"We were carrying out a peaceful protest but were detained by police. Several others were picked on their way to the protest site," Singh said. (PTI)
Delhi logged 977 fresh Covid-19 cases and 12 deaths on Friday. With the city's positivity rate dropping down to 1.73 per cent, the total number of Covid-19 cases were reported to be 18,49,596 and the death toll climbed to 26,047.
The Delhi High Court Friday said it will resume complete physical functioning from March 2 onwards while allowing hybrid or virtual hearing in exceptional circumstances on a case-to-case basis.
The high, in an administrative order, advised all stakeholders to get themselves vaccinated at the earliest and stated that in the meantime, only a suitable number of benches will hold physical courts.
In a separate administrative order, the high court informed that the district courts in the city will also witness a similar graded physical opening from next week with complete resumption from March 2 onwards. (PTI)
he North Delhi Municipal Corporation (NDMC) on Friday finalised its annual budget in the House, proposing no property tax hike and focussing on environment-friendly measures, including setting up of e-vehicle charging stations at over 140 locations. The Leader of the House, Chhail Bihari Goswami of the BJP-ruled NDMC, finalised the budget, making several proposals, including no increase in property tax.
This year's budget has given a special emphasis on promoting e-vehicles. In his speech, Goswami announced a policy for the operation of e-bikes and e-cycles for the pollution-free transport system.
Goswami also announced the development of an AYUSH college in Haiderpur Hospital. (PTI)
Sixteen hours after a chunk of the sixth floor collapsed all the way down to the first floor at Chintels Paradiso society in Gurgaon’s Sector 109, rescue workers managed to pull out bureaucrat Arun Srivastava who was stuck under the rubble inside his flat. His wife, Sunita, died under the debris.
On Thursday evening, the drawing room of an apartment on the sixth floor of Tower D caved and fell through the fifth, fourth, third and second floors, before crashing to the first-floor apartment which belonged to the couple. Srivastava, an Indian Railway Service of Engineers officer, and his wife were in their drawing room at the time. Srivastava was conscious, and his leg (below the knee) was caught under the rubble. Rescue teams took him out alive, with his leg intact.
The rescue operation included personnel from the police, district administration, fire brigade, health department, the state disaster response force and 115 personnel from the National Disaster Response Force. (Read full Sukrita Baruah's story here)
Delhi University (DU) Friday said it would shift to the physical mode of examinations only in May and that all exams to be held in the month of March, including for first-year students, will be held in online open book examination (OBE) format.
DU had shifted to an OBE format during the pandemic. All examinations since 2020 have been held in this format, for which the university had initially faced a lot of flak.
Principals had told The Indian Express Thursday that they had received communication, especially from first-year students, expressing apprehension over returning to campus, when it re-opens on February 17, as their exams will begin shortly after that and it would take them time to settle.
Read More
Directing the authorities to not take any action on basis of the lookout circular issued against him, the Delhi High Court Friday allowed businessman Navneet Kalra, who is facing a money laundering probe in connection with purchase of oxygen concentrators by his company last year, to travel to Dubai and Milan next week and in April respectively.
Directing the authorities to not take any action on basis of the lookout circular issued against him, the Delhi High Court Friday allowed businessman Navneet Kalra, who is facing a money laundering probe in connection with purchase of oxygen concentrators by his company last year, to travel to Dubai and Milan next week and in April respectively.
Read More
The Delhi government has decided to translocate an elephant, which was taken away by authorities from a private individual in 2017 on account of unsuitable standards for its care and upkeep, to a facility in Gujarat, the Delhi High Court was told Friday.
A government counsel before the bench of Justice Najmi Waziri submitted, “Chief Wildlife Warden has in principle taken the decision to transfer the animal and the file has been approved from various channels. It is now with the Honourable Lieutenant Governor. We are expecting that within a few days the formal orders will be received.”
Read More
Odd semester examinations in Delhi University to be held in the month of March, including for first-year students, will be held in the online open book exam mode. The university will shift to the physical mode for exams to be held in May and onwards.
The Delhi High Court Friday directed the appointment of an administrator to run the Table Tennis Federation of India, saying that its faith was shaken in view of the sports body's “sorry state of affairs”.
Justice Rekha Palli, who was dealing with the petition filed by the Commonwealth Games gold medallist and Khel Ratna awardee Manika Batra, said that the report of the three-member committee, constituted by it to look into the allegations of match-fixing levelled by the paddler, showed that TTFI “safeguarded the interests of its officials” and that “instead of promoting players, TTFI is dictating terms.” The judge said that this country takes pride in its sportsperson and people who don't understand how players are to be treated “should be out”.
The name of the administrator along with other relevant details concerning his appointment will be given in the court order. (PTI)
"Two persons are trapped under the debris now. One of them, a nine-year-old, is likely to be dead as an entire wall fell on her. Rescue teams are trying to look for her and another woman," said Brijendra Yadav, DCP Outernorth.
A portion of a residential building collapsed in Outer Delhi's Narela Friday afternoon. Two women have been rescued from the debris while 3-4 persons are suspected to be trapped. The Delhi Police said teams have been deployed to rescue the other persons. The building comes under Rajiv Ratan Awas Yojana.
Three members of gang, who used to rob bank ATMs, were arrested on Friday morning after a brief exchange of fire in north Delhi's Badli area, police said.
The accused have been identified as Sahib (22) and Shakil (20), both residents of Mewat district in Haryana, and Abid (20), a resident of Bharatpur district in Rajasthan, they said.
After receiving information that the accused would come to the Badli police station area to steal an ATM, the police laid a trap. The accused fired at the police. The police also fired back in retaliation. A bullet hit Sahib's leg, police officials said, adding that all the three accused were nabbed.
During interrogation, it was revealed that the accused had come to conduct a recce of an ATM. The gang had carried out similar incidents of robbery in the past as well, a senior police officer said. (PTI)
The Delhi Police has arrested a 27-year-old law student over an alleged hit-and-run incident in South Delhi’s Greater Kailash-1 area. His father, a retired IAS officer, was also held for allegedly harbouring his son.
The errant driver, identified Raj Sunderam, is a law student of a leading private university. The police have found the CCTV footage of the incident which shows Sunderam driving his newly purchased Volkswagen at very high speeds and dragging the victim on the bonnet for nearly 200 metres before fleeing the spot. Read more
Observing that the case was a financial napalm, which may have eaten up the entire life savings of the sick and poor, a Delhi court denied bail to nine men accused of defrauding over five crore investors across the country with a Ponzi scheme.
The court was hearing proceedings for a case registered by the CBI in 2014 which was investigated following orders from the Supreme court. The Promoters and Directors of M/s. PGF Limited and M/s. PACL Limited were accused of operating “investment schemes to induce the investors to part with their funds with a view to cheat them”. Read more
Delhi University’s Executive Council (EC) will today give its final stamp to the implementation of the Undergraduate Curriculum Framework (UGCF) from the academic session 2022-23 when the university shifts to a four-year undergraduate programme (FYUP).
The Academic Council (AC) had already passed the UGCF on February 9 with as many as 11 members dissenting. They argued that in the new curriculum framework, there is a substantial increase in the number of papers students will have to study per semester, of which, however, most have been assigned fewer credits. They argued that “despite the overload, the depth will be sacrificed”. Read more
A Delhi court has acquitted a Lt Commander serving in the Indian Navy who was accused of raping a woman. The court, while announcing the judgment, stated that in the case, the victim had not made any efforts to save herself and the incident could not have happened without her consent.
The incident took place in 2015 when the woman alleged that the officer established sexual relations with her after telling her that they would get married. When the marriage did not take place, she alleged that she had been raped. Read more
The Delhi High Court on Thursday asked the Centre and the National Medical Commission (NMC) to respond to a petition, filed by Indian students of medicine enrolled in a Chinese university, seeking directions to allow them to undertake practical training in India as they are unable to return to China due to pandemic travel restrictions. The division bench of Chief Justice D N Patel and Justice Jyoti Singh listed the case for hearing on March 21.
The petition was filed by a total of 147 Indian students enrolled in Ningbo University in China. They had returned to India in early 2020, and have not been able to travel back to China since then. Read more
Gulshan Kalra, Deputy Drector, Fire Department, Friday confirmed that bureacurat Arun Srivastava, who was trapped under the rubble after a chunk of the sixth floor collapsed in the Chintel Paradiso society in Gurgaon, along with his wife, was rescued. His wife, however, has been declared dead. This takes the total death toll to 2 and one person was rescued.
Admissions to 31 Schools of Specialized Excellence (SOSEs), including an Armed Forces Preparatory School, for the 2022-2023 session will start from March 15. Last year, the first batch of students had been admitted to 20 of the Delhi government’s new SOSEs, each specializing either in STEM, Humanities, High End 21st Century Skills, or Performing and Visual Arts.
This year, 10 new SOSEs are being introduced — 4 STEM, 2 Humanities, 2 High End 21st Century Skills and 2 Performing & Visual Arts. One Armed Forces Preparatory School will also be made operational in Jharoda Kalan. Read more
The air quality in Delhi has improved with strong winds dispersing pollutants, and is in the ‘moderate’ category. On Thursday, the AQI was 172, which falls in the ‘moderate’ category. The air quality had remained in the ‘poor’ category for five consecutive days from February 5 onwards. An update from the Air Quality Early Warning System on Thursday said that strong winds and better ventilation conditions could prevail till February 12. Read more
The builder of Chintel Paradiso society in Gurgaon’s Sector 109 was booked on Friday, a day after a chunk of the sixth floor collapsed all the way down to the first floor, killing at least one resident. More than 15 hours after the incident, rescue operations are underway to pull out two residents, a bureaucrat and his wife, from the rubble. The deceased was identified as Ekta Bhardwaj, 31, who was staying on the second floor of Tower D.
On the complaint of her husband, Rajesh Bhardwaj, the police has booked Ashok Solomon, MD of Chintels, under Section 304-A (Causing death by negligence) and 34 (Common intention) of the Indian Penal Code. Read more
Protests were held in several areas of the national capital Thursday against the hijab curbs in Karnataka, with police registering an FIR against five protesters over a march held at Delhi University’s Chhatra Marg.
“At 4.10 pm, around 25 protesters of Bhagat Singh Chaatra Ekta Manch/SIO and other student organisations came to the barricades outside gate number 3 of Delhi University at Chhatra Marg. They started shouting slogans and were immediately removed from the premises and peace was maintained. They did not have any permission and legal action under IPC Section 188 has been lodged at Maurice Nagar police station against five students,” a senior police officer said. Read more
The Delhi government’s draft policy for aggregators and delivery firms, which makes it mandatory for them to induct electric vehicles while procuring a new fleet, has been put up in the public domain, inviting suggestions and objections of the general public within a period of 60 days. It was first notified on January 14.
Aggregators and delivery services will have to ensure that 50% of all new two-wheelers and 25% of all new four-wheelers are electric by March 2023. They will also have to ensure that 10% of all new two-wheelers and 5% of all new four-wheelers are electric in the next three months. Read more
Delhi recorded 1,104 fresh Covid-19 cases and 12 deaths on Thursday, Delhi’s positivity rate is now at 2.09 per cent, according to data shared by the city health department. With this, the coronavirus case count of Delhi increased to 18,48,619 and the death toll climbed to 26,035.
With just a week to go before Delhi University reopens and physical classes begin, colleges said students have reached out to them expressing apprehensions about returning to campus even as several of them also seem excited for the same.
One of the main concerns is from first-year students, for whom exams begin in the second week of March. There is no clarity yet if these will now be held offline with campus reopening or in the online mode as was originally planned. Dean Examinations D S Rawat said a meeting will be held by officials Friday to take a decision: “We will hold a meeting tomorrow evening; until then I cannot comment on what should happen.” Read more
A 37-year-old businessman was severely injured after a car hit him in Greater Kailash-I. The driver, a law student in his twenties, managed to escape and hasn’t been arrested yet. The family of the victim, identified as Anand Vijay Mandelia, said he sustained multiple injuries on his head and is on ventilator support at Max Hospital, Saket. Read more
A bureaucrat and his wife were trapped underneath rubble until late Thursday night after a chunk of the sixth floor collapsed all the way down to the first floor, at Chintels Paradiso society in Gurgaon’s Sector 109. At least one person, staying on the second floor, also died in the collapse. Until late night, rescue efforts were being undertaken by teams of the NDRF, SDRF, police and fire departments.
Hello and welcome to our Delhi blog. A bureaucrat and his wife were trapped underneath rubble until late Thursday night after a chunk of the sixth floor collapsed all the way down to the first floor, at Chintels Paradiso society in Gurgaon’s Sector 109. Also, Delhi recorded 1,104 fresh Covid-19 cases and 12 deaths on Thursday.
Follow all the latest updates from Delhi here!
Police, fire department teams on the spot to evacuate those stuck inside.
Meanwhile, Delhi on Thursday recorded 1,104 Covid-19 cases taking the positivity rate to 2.09%.
The district administration officials said the sixth floor of the apartment in Tower D of society collapsed and fell on its first floor.
The roof of an apartment on sixth floor of Tower D in Chintels Paradiso Society in Sector 109, Gurugram, collapsed on Thursday evening, the district administration officials said. The NDRF and SDRF personnel are on the spot carrying out rescue operations.
The India Meteorological Department (IMD) predicted clear skies and a maximum temperature of 22 degrees Celsius for Delhi Thursday.
The minimum temperature recorded early on Thursday was 9.1 degrees Celsius, while the maximum temperature recorded on Wednesday was 21.8 degrees Celsius. The Palam weather station recorded dense fog Thursday morning with visibility at 150 metre around 5 am.
The Faridabad police on Wednesday said they had busted an alleged sex racket operating from a hotel in Faridabad and arrested 34 people, including 14 women and the hotel owner. They were produced in the district court on Wednesday and sent to judicial custody, said the police.
After nearly touching one lakh doses for two consecutive days, the Covid-19 vaccination in Delhi slowed down again Wednesday as only 79,013 doses were administered for the day. Of these, 44.6 per cent of doses were given to children between the ages of 15 to 18 years and second doses accounted for almost 75 per cent of vaccination, according to the data from the government’s CoWIN portal.
The Deputy Conservator of Forest (West Division) has imposed a fine to the tune of over Rs 38 lakh on the Public Works Department (PWD) for failing to remove concrete enclosures around trees in Vasant Vihar.
According to a recent order issued by the DCF, there are 387 trees in the PWD area of Vasant Vihar which are still surrounded by concrete enclosures. The order imposes a fine of Rs 10,000 per tree, totalling to Rs 38,70,000 for 387 trees. The order was issued after a hearing held by the DCF, who is also the Tree Officer.
A 42-year-old woman was allegedly beaten up by a man after she objected to him smoking in a shared autorickshaw in Gurgaon on Monday. The woman suffered a fractured nose but her condition is stable, said the police and added that the accused was arrested and later released on bail.
The victim has been identified as Suman Lata, a resident of Wazirabad in Gurgaon who works as general duty assistant at a private hospital. The accused has been identified as Vasu, a resident of Faridabad who worked in a private bank.
800 metres. That’s roughly the distance between a park in Dwarka where a 19-year-old was allegedly raped by a man claiming to be a police officer, and the police station where she filed her complaint. Ten days after the incident, during which her friend was also assaulted, police are yet to make an arrest.
As reported by The Indian Express, the incident took place around 7.30 pm January 28, when the woman and her friend were at the park. She alleged they were approached by a man in khaki uniform who claimed they were indulging in obscenity and threatened to file a complaint against them. The man proceeded to intimidate the two, assault her friend, and rape her after forcing him to leave.
Delhi University’s Academic Council passed the draft Undergraduate Curriculum Framework (UGCF) to be implemented in 2022-2023, with 11 elected members dissenting against the resolution. The UGCF provides the curriculum framework that will be adopted in the 2022-23 academic session when DU shifts to a four-year undergraduate programme (FYUP).
Hello and welcome to our Delhi blog. Delhi University (DU) will reopen for students on February 17, with offline classes for all undergraduate and postgraduate courses set to resume for the first time since the outbreak of the pandemic. Follow all the latest updates here!