Ahead of the rainy season, the newly excavated trench at Purana Qila was closed last week and will be opened up before the G20 Summit to create a walkthrough for delegates. The G20 Leaders Summit will be held in September, and the plan is to create a walkthrough at the site, which is located in the vicinity of the main venue at Pragati Maidan Convention Centre, to offer visiting dignitaries a peek into 2,500 years of habitation in Delhi, said officials. The trenches have not been filled up but are covered with tin sheets and tarpaulin to protect the excavated remains from rain. “Immediately after the rains are over, we will remove the temporary cover and after minor scraping and brushing it can be showcased,” officials added.
“This year, we have taken up a new trench of 10×10 metre in a flat area in front of the site museum, near Kunti Temple,” said ASI Director Vasant Swarnkar, who is supervising the latest season of excavations. He added, “It is a belief that at the centre of the mound, one may get all cultural layers, especially the lowest cultural deposit or earliest settlement of the site.”
After several students of class 11 and 12 “ignored” warnings to cut their hair properly, a teacher at a private school in Noida decided to don the role of a barber instead — a move that has cost her her job.
On Thursday, parents of students studying at Shanti International School in Sector 168 complained to the school administration and staged a protest outside the campus, following which the teacher’s services were terminated.
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School chairman Harish Chauhan said the teacher was only trying to maintain discipline. “It was not her intention to hurt anybody’s feelings. As she was the ‘discipline in-charge’, she chopped the hair of some students of class 11 and 12 as a nominal punishment. But the parents did not take it well and they came to school in the morning… We apologised to all of them and have terminated (the services of) the teacher,” said Chauhan.
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A day after the firing inside Tis Hazari Court premises in Delhi, the Delhi Police arrested three lawyers - Aman Singh, Sachin Sangwan and Ravi Gupta.
The police said they recovered three country-made firearms and four live cartridges from their possession.
The accused were produced in court and sent to four days of police custody. Read here.
The Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD), after two floors of a building collapsed in Delhi's Ambedkar Nagar, in a statement, said that construction work was underway "on the third and the fourth floor of an old building, which was stopped but restarted. The roof of T-iron with stone slab collapsed."
"Action under DMC Act has already been taken... Till the last report, there has been no casualty," the statement read.
The Aam Aadmi Party is set to challenge the decision of Delhi Lieutenant Governor VK Saxena to terminate the services of over 400 people working as advisors, specialists, researchers and fellows engaged in different departments, minister Atishi said Thursday.
The orders were issued by Saxena Tuesday, saying that approvals to engage the private persons were not taken from his office and the appointments do not meet reservation guidelines set by the Centre. A day later, the Services Department wrote a letter stating that the salaries of those engaged will not be released henceforth and all such engagements will be stopped.
Speaking at a press conference Thursday, Atishi said, “BJP cannot digest the work done by the Arvind Kejriwal-led government and that is why they are removing high-quality research fellows, advisors and policy consultants, who graduated from IIT, IIM and some foreign universities, and were appointed in different departments. They are trying to stop the innovative work of the government by removing them. We will take this matter to the Supreme Court and we hope that it will strike down this illegal decision.”
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The Delhi Fire Services said that one person was still trapped under the debris after two floors of a building in Delhi's Ambedkar Nagar collapsed Thursday afternoon.
The teams are trying to remove the debris and rescue him/her. Earlier in the day, one person was rescued and sent to the hospital.
After two floors of a building in Delhi's Ambedkar Nagar collapsed Thursday afternoon, leaving 3-4 people trapped under debris, the Delhi Fire Services Chief Atul Garg said that one person has been rescued and sent to the hospital.
(Express Photos)
Two floors of a building in Delhi's Ambedkar Nagar collapsed Thursday afternoon, leaving 3-4 people trapped under debris, the police said.
Delhi Fire Services and the Delhi Police are present at the site of the incident.
Three people were killed and eight others were injured Thursday after a van they were travelling in allegedly hit a DTC bus in Northeast Delhi’s Jyoti Nagar area. According to the police, the driver of the Ecco van jumped the divider and rammed into the bus.
The police said the van, which was being used as a taxi, collided head-on with the bus around 12.30 pm. The bus was going from Bhajanpura to Nand Nagri.
The police said the deceased are being identified and that two of them are men aged around 25-30 and the third is a 55-year-old woman.
The tussle between Aam Aadmi Party (AAP)'s Delhi government and Raj Niwas over the appointment of private individuals to positions of fellows and associate fellows, among others, intensified on Thursday.
The Delhi Legislative Assembly, first, ordered the disengagement of 116 such personnel, and later, after intervention from the Speaker, decided to keep its order under abeyance.
Aam Aadmi Party leader Manish Sisodia Thursday moved the Supreme Court seeking bail in CBI and ED cases related to Delhi excise policy scam.
Light to moderate rain lashed parts of Delhi early on Thursday, leading to waterlogging in several areas, as the national capital's minimum temperature settled a notch below normal at 26.5 degrees Celsius.
The city recorded 5 mm rainfall in the 24 hours ended at 8.30 am, according to the India Meteorological Department.
The rain caused areas such as Lajpat Nagar, Neb Sarai, Mehrauli, Burari and Dwarka to go under water, leading to traffic jams.
The Met office has predicted more showers over the next few days in the national capital and its adjoining areas.
The maximum temperature is expected to hover around the 35-degree-Celsius mark on Thursday.
The monsoon showers led to 31 out of the Central Pollution Control Board's 36 monitoring stations recording the Air Quality Index (AQI) in the 'satisfactory' category at 12 pm.
An AQI between zero and 50 is considered 'good', 51 and 100 'satisfactory', 101 and 200 'moderate', 201 and 300 'poor', 301 and 400 'very poor', and 401 and 500 'severe'. (PTI)
Congress leader Rahul Gandhi will hold a press conference at the party headquarters in Delhi later today.
The Supreme Court on Thursday agreed to hear on July 10 a plea filed by the Delhi government challenging the constitutionality of the ordinance on control of services.
A bench comprising Chief Justice D Y Chandrachud and Justices P S Narasimha and Manoj Misra posted the matter for consideration after senior advocate Abhishek Singhvi mentioned the matter seeking urgent hearing.
"This is a plea challenging the ordinance in whole," Singhvi said.
The bench then said, "List on July 10, Monday." In its plea, the AAP government has said it is an "unconstitutional exercise of executive fiat" that attempts to "override" the top court and the basic structure of the Constitution. Besides quashing the ordinance, the Delhi government has also sought an interim stay on it. (PTI)
The Delhi Police Special Cell has arrested a contract killer following an encounter near Rohini Sector 29-30 area early Thursday morning. Police said the accused, Kamil, is involved in over 10-12 cases of murder and assault. He was asked to surrender but he fired at the police team, said the police.
The accused was hit in the leg during cross-firing and caught. A Turkey-made Zigana pistol has been recovered from his possession.
Following the Startup 20 Summit Gurgaon hosted on July 3 and 4, the Anti-Corruption Working Group of the G20, a conference pertaining to Crime and Security in the Age of NFTs, AI and Metaverse will be organised by the Ministry of Home Affairs on July 13 and 14 in Gurgaon. Home Minister Amit Shah will arrive at the conference on the first day.
Deputy Commissioner Nishant Kumar Yadav held a meeting of officers Wednesday regarding preparations for the upcoming meeting.
DC Yadav said that 800 delegates, including 250 foreign delegates, will participate in the upcoming meeting. Apart from this, chief secretaries and directors general of police of all the states of the country and heads of various security agencies of the country will participate in this meeting. (PTI)
Days after L-G VK Saxena issued directions to terminate 400 ‘private staff’ deployed in different departments of the Delhi government, the Services Department has directed that engagement of fellows, associate fellows, advisors etc who were appointed without the L-G’s approval be immediately stopped.
An order issued by the services department stated that the Delhi Transport Corporation has engaged 49 persons in various designations; Delhi Tourism and Transportation Development Corporation has 13 staff (6 consultants, 7 fellows); Delhi Agricultural Marketing Board has 1 legal researcher; the Environment Department has 28 staff; the Delhi Archives department has 15 staff; five are under the Women and Child Development department; 43 in SCERT; and the Delhi Legislative Assembly has engaged 140 persons, of which 90 are media fellows and the rest associate fellows.
“The situation continues to be far from satisfactory as far as water quality is concerned,” the National Green Tribunal (NGT) observed in an order issued Wednesday on the rejuvenation of the Yamuna river in Delhi.
The tribunal referred to a status report on the rejuvenation of the river submitted by the Delhi government Wednesday to note that the dissolved oxygen level “is nil at most locations”. It also noted, “Fecal coliform is very high. Parameters of pH, COD (chemical oxygen demand) and BOD (biochemical oxygen demand) are also exceeding except at Palla and Wazirabad upstream.”
Noting the overall situation is “extremely disappointing till large-scale pollution remains unchecked”, the tribunal said “discharge of pollution in river and failure to implement repeated directions for coercive (action) against violators, including officers responsible for failure to prevent pollution, is practically lack of governance with no remedy to the suffering citizens”.
Delhi woke up to rain lashing parts of the city on Thursday.
Thunderstorms with light to moderate intensity rain are expected over and adjoining areas of entire Delhi and isolated places of (Burari, Model Town, Karawal Nagar, Delhi University, Civil Lines, Kashmiri Gate, Seelampur), NCR (Loni Dehat) for the next few hours. Meanwhile, light to moderate intensity rain will occur over and adjoining areas of entire Delhi and isolated places of (Dilshad Garden, Seemapuri) over the next 2 hours.
The AAP on Wednesday, hit the streets against the Centre’s ordinance on control of services in Delhi, with people seen burning copies and symbolic effigies of the controversial order. In a statement issued earlier in the day, the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) said effigies and copies of the “black ordinance” will be burnt from July 6 to July 13 at various localities, streets and intersections across Delhi, serving as a powerful reminder of the people’s discontent, reported PTI.
The University of Delhi Wednesday announced the opening of registration process for admissions to its B.Tech. programmes for the academic session - 2023-24.
The University is offering three Bachelor of Technology (B.Tech.) programmes in the emerging areas of technology, namely Computer Science and Engineering, Electronics and Communication Engineering and Electrical Engineering. These three programmes will run under the Faculty of Technology.
For admissions to the programmes, the University will consider the All India Common Rank List (CRL) of the Joint Entrance Examination (Main) - 2023.
The Delhi High Court Wednesday passed interim directions in a batch of pleas moved by lessors of GoFirst seeking de-registration of their planes.
Justice Tara Vitasta Ganju, pronouncing the order, said, “There can also be no denial of the fact that the aircrafts of the petitioner are extremely valuable and highly sophisticated equipment and regular maintenance for their preservation. Therefore, with the view to alleviate any further losses, the following directions are being passed:
1. The petitioners, their employees…shall be permitted by the DGCA and the airport authorities to access the airports where the 30 aircrafts are parked to inspect their respective aircrafts within the next three days.
2. The petitioner… shall be permitted to carry out inspection and all interim maintenance tasks of the aircraft, its engine and other components of all 30 aircrafts atleast twice a month until the final disposal of the writ petitions.
3. Respondent GoAir directors and officers or the IRP or representatives as appointed by the NCLT are hereby restrained from removing replacing or taking out any parts, components, or any relevant documents, manuals except with the prior written approval of the lessor of such aircrafts.
4. The respondent DGCA will permit the responeldent resolution professional to carry out the mandatory engine runs of the aircraft until its deregistration.”
In the meantime, the HC directed the parties to complete the pleadings, and listed the main writ petitions on August 3.
The Delhi Metro Rail Corporation (DMRC) has removed the pillar of a foot over bridge, restoring normal traffic on a road adjoining Noida Sector 52, Wednesday. The pillar was obstructing the flow of traffic in the area, officials said.
According to official sources, the foot over bridge was constructed in March 2019, however, after an underpass was constructed below the bridge, one of the pillars stood on a significant part of the carriageway, causing traffic snarls.
The removal of the pillar was planned in stages. A new foundation had to be cast along with erecting new pillars and dismantling the old one to make sure the bridge remained stable.
Fire breaks out in a company in Phase-I police station area
A fire broke out in the ground floor of a sales office of a software company in Phase-I police station area. Chief Fire Officer said that fire brigade vehicles immediately reached the spot and doused the fire. He also said that the electrical panel caught fire due to a short circuit. No casualties were reported.
Thunderstorm with light to moderate intensity rain expected in many places of Delhi for next two hours
Thunderstorm with light to moderate intensity rain and gusty winds with speed of 30-40 Km/h expected over and adjoining areas of many places of Delhi ( Model Town, Azadpur, Pitampura, Delhi University, Mundaka, Pashchim Vihar, Punjabi Bagh, Kashmiri Gate, Rajauri Garden, Patel Nagar, Rajeev chauk, Dwarka, Delhi Cantt, India Gate, Palam, Safdarjung, Lodi Road, Vasant Vihar) and NCR ( Manesar, Ballabhgarh), Gannaur, Sonipat, Jhajjar, Farukhnagar (Haryana) during next 2 hours.
Firing reported at Tis Hazari court premises
An incident of firing was reported at Tis Hazari court premises in north Delhi. Police said an argument broke out between lawyers and there was firing near the chambers. No injuries were reported.
SS Kalsi, DCP (North) said " The incident took place around 1.35 pm. When the police team reached the spot, it was learned that two different groups of lawyers including office bearers had allegedly shot in the air. No one was injured. The situation is normal. Legal action is being initiated."
Road caves in Najafgarh
A portion of a road caved in Delhi's Najafgarh area Wednesday morning. Police said the road at Dichaun Enclave has been sealed and traffic police has been deplyed in the area. A road mower got trapped in it.
Light to intense spell over Delhi expected in next one to two hours
According to IMD, an eastward moving moderate squall line likely to cause moderate to intense spell over Noida, Ghaziabad and light to moderate spell over East Delhi during next 1-2 hours.