Fire fighting operations at the cycle market in Central Delhi's Jhandewalan. (Express photo)Delhi News Highlights: A massive fire broke out at the Jhandewalan cycle market in central Delhi on Friday afternoon, officials said. The information about the blaze was reported at 2.05 pm following which 27 fire tenders were rushed to the spot, they said, adding that the flames were brought under control by 4.30 pm. No casualty has been reported so far.
The Ministry of Home Affairs Friday issued a notification declaring IAS officer Ashwani Kumar of AGMUT cadre, 1992 batch, as the special officer of the unified Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD) that will come into force from Sunday. The present South MCD Commissioner Gyanesh Bharti has been appointed as the commissioner of the unified MCD.
The Delhi High Court has set the next bail hearing of Umar Khalid, accused in the larger conspiracy of Northeast Delhi riots, for Monday. During the hearing Friday, Justice Siddharth Mridul questioned the use of words ‘inquilab’ and ‘krantikari’ in his speeches.” It’s not a crime to use the word ‘inquilab’. I used it in the context of people standing against a discriminatory law”, Senior Advocate Trideep Pais, representing Khalid, informed the court. Justice Mirdul also stated, “The revolution by itself is never bloodless. When he uses the word, it necessarily does not mean bloodless. We want to know in what context he used it.”
The Delhi Police has told the Delhi High Court that a tweet made by fact-checker and AltNews co-founder Mohammad Zubair “does not constitute any cognizable offence”. The police in August 2020 had registered a case against him in connection with the tweet on the complaint made by NCPCR chairperson Priyank Kanoongo.
Stating that further investigation in the case is being conducted on priority, the police has told the court one of the followers of Zubair on Twitter had posted “offensive remarks” on his tweet while addressing another person. Zubair has told the court that he has more than 4 Lakh followers on Twitter and does not know most of them including the user who has made the alleged offensive tweet.
Zubair has also told the police that he has lost the mobile phone which was used to post the tweet in question and that he has lodged a complaint in this regard with police in Karnataka. Read More
In a bid to make it safer for firefighters, and reach congested and narrow lanes easily, the Delhi government has procured automatic remote-controlled fire fighting robots to douse massive fires in the city.
According to government officials, this is a first-of-its-kind technique and machine procured by any city or state in the country for fire safety. With a capacity to cover a distance of upto 100 meters, the automatic robots will be able to douse fires in narrow streets, basements, chemical tanks, factories, and climb stairs and break glasses.
“Our government has procured remote-controlled fire fighting machines. Our brave firemen can now fight fires from a safe distance of upto 100 meters. This will help reduce collateral damage and save precious lives,” said Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal. Read More
Stating that it is the only government to pay the highest minimum wages to unskilled workers in the country, the Aam Aadmi Party(AAP) government Friday hiked their salary by around 3 per cent.
After the hike in dearness allowance(DA), the monthly wages of unskilled labourers have been increased from Rs 16,064 to Rs 16,506 per month. Similarly, the wages for semi-skilled labourers have been increased by Rs 494 and will be Rs 18,187 per month.
“Minimum wages in Delhi are the highest in comparison to any other state. The Delhi government is revising DA every six months, to provide respite to all workers of Delhi from inflation, said Deputy CM Manish Sisodia. Read More
Parts of the city recorded rainfall and strong winds on Friday evening, even as some areas recorded heatwave conditions.
A thunderstorm or dust storm along with light to moderate rainfall and strong winds of about 30 to 40 kmph would occur over parts of west, northwest, northeast, southwest, central, east Delhi and the NCR, including Bahadurgarh, Ghaziabad, Indirapuram, Noida and Gurgaon, over the next two hours, the IMD said in an update a little after 6.30 pm.
The maximum temperature recorded at the Safdarjung weather observatory on Friday was 44.4 degrees Celsius, four degrees above the normal for this time of the year. Mungeshpur in northwest Delhi recorded a maximum temperature of 47.1 degrees Celsius, while Najafgarh in Southwest Delhi recorded a maximum temperature of 47.5 degrees Celsius, the highest for the day at any weather station in the city. Read More
Delhi Health minister Satyendar Jain termed the fire incident as 'unfortunate'.
The Ministry of Home Affairs Friday issued a notification declaring IAS officer Ashwani Kumar of AGMUT cadre, 1992 batch, as the special officer of the unified Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD) that will come into force from Sunday. The present South MCD Commissioner Gyanesh Bharti has been appointed as the commissioner of the unified MCD.
The Delhi High Court has set the next bail hearing of Umar Khalid, accused in the larger conspiracy of Northeast Delhi riots, for Monday.
"From Monday onwards, we'll hear this case in post-lunch session. Before we break for summer vacation, we would like to conclude this matter," Justice Siddharth Mridul presiding over the case said.
The Ministry of Home Affairs issued a notification Friday declaring, IAS officer Ashwani Kumar of AGMUT cadre, 1992 batch as the special officer of the unified MCD that will come into force from Sunday. The present South MCD Commissioner Gyanesh Bharti has been appointed as the commissioner of unified MCD.
In a bail hearing for Umar Khalid in the larger conspiracy of Northeast Delhi riots, Justice Siddharth Mridul questioned the use of words ‘inquilab’ and ‘krantikari’ in his speeches.” It’s not a crime to use the word ‘inquilab’. I used it in the context of people standing against a discriminatory law”, Senior Advocate Trideep Pais, representing Khalid, informed the court.
Khalid had mentioned, “inquilabli salam” and “krantikari istiqbal” at the beginning of his speech. The court asked what "krantikari istiqbal" means and suggested the use of rekhta to know its meaning. Justice Mirdul stated, “The revolution by itself is never bloodless. When he uses the word, it necessarily does not mean bloodless. We want to know in what context he used it.”
A major fire broke out at a cycle market in Central Delhi's Jhandewalan on Friday. Twenty-seven fire tenders have been rushed to the spot.
The Supreme Court has vacated its interim order by which it had stayed the Delhi High Court order on feeding stray dogs in the national capital. A three-judge bench presided by Justice U U Lalit vacated the stay after being informed that the parties before the high court had settled the matter. It also noted that the NGO on whose plea it had stayed the high court order on March 4 was not party to the proceedings before the high court and hence lacks the locus standi to seek its permission to appeal against the high court order. Read more
Congress MP Karti Chidambaram Friday, moved an anticipatory bail application in a Delhi court, in connection with alleged visa scam.
Friday is likely to be another warm day for Delhi with the maximum temperature set to be around 44 degrees Celsius, going by the India Meteorological Department (IMD) forecast for the national capital. The possibility of thunder and lightning, and strong winds of around 20-30 kmph, are also on the forecast for the day, with a western disturbance lying over Afghanistan and the surrounding area.
Offering a respite from the soaring heat, the maximum temperature could dip over the next six days, the forecast indicates. With cloudy skies and light rainfall on the forecast from May 22 to 24, the maximum temperature could fall below 40 degrees Celsius, settling at around 37 to 39 degrees on these dates. Read more
Police personnel rescued a 28-year-old woman and her children, aged two and four, after a fire allegedly broke out in a residential building in southwest Delhi’s Sadh Nagar in Palam Colony, officers said. The police said that at around 4 pm on Wednesday, a PCR call was received at Palam village police station about the fire, following which officers rushed to the spot. The police also called the fire services and ambulance, and cordoned off the area to manage the crowd, officers said. Read more
The Delhi High Court on Friday sought response from the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) on the bail plea by former managing director and chief executive officer of the National Stock Exchange (NSE) Chitra Ramkrishna in connection with the co-location case.
Justice Sudhir Kumar Jain issued notice on the bail application and listed the case for further hearing on May 31. The trial court had dismissed the bail plea of the former NSE boss on May 12 and said that no ground for bail was made out at this stage.
The CBI is probing the alleged improper dissemination of information from the computer servers of the market exchanges to stock brokers. An FIR in this case was registered in May 2018, amid fresh revelations about irregularities at the country's largest stock exchange. The CBI had arrested Ramkrishna on March 6, a day after her anticipatory bail application was dismissed by the court.
She was remanded to judicial custody on March 14 by the trial court after the expiry of her 7-day CBI custody. While denying her bail, the trial court had cited Nobel Laureate Bob Dylan as well as Frankenstein monster, and said the financial world, including the FIIs (Foreign Institutional Investors), are waiting with bated breath for the NSE to redeem itself, "so that they can fly to this country for investment in droves, which is at present, a brilliant destination for investment". (PTI)
To provide better first- and last-mile connectivity at the upcoming Delhi-Meerut Rapid Rail Transit System (RRTS) corridor, the National Capital Regional Transport Corporation (NCRTC) has invited various leading mobility players across the region to join the corporation to provide various feeder modes at RRTS stations. According to senior officials, the NCRTC is also analysing and studying the global parameters of the distance of last-mile connectivity travelled by commuters and the modes of transport used by them.
“For instance, the distance up to 500 m is often walkable and the distance up to 1 km falls in the cycling zone. While, where the distance is 3 km, commuters look for electric rickshaw, shared auto-rickshaw, bike taxis or scooter rentals and car, (they look for) cabs, autorickshaw and shuttle services for more than 3 km. NCRTC, after deliberation over the same, has extended an invite to the mass providers of these various modes of transportation,” said an NCRTC official. Read more
As the Delhi University (DU) has decided to give a chance to its former students to complete their degrees as part of its centenary celebrations, as many as 1,560 people have already registered in the first 19 days. According to data shared by DU’s exam branch, of the 1,560 registrations, 1,030 students have filled the form and 720 have paid their fees. The oldest student to have registered so far is from the 1977-1980 batch of ARSD College, who has applied for B Com. The university did not share further details.
DU said that maximum students were applying for the BA Programme courses. Read more
In a bid to prevent accidents, especially in service lanes on National Highway 48, and to streamline traffic movement, the Gurgaon traffic police will start a three-day trial at Kherki Daula toll plaza. During the trial, medians on service lanes will be extended to stop access to an existing U-turn on the Gurgaon side of the highway, traffic police officials said. The U-turn, which is a few metres before the toll, led to wrong-side driving since the next exit is at a distance of over 6 km on the highway, officials said.
“Currently, commuters take exits before the toll to cross from one service lane to another. Due to this wrong-side driving and ‘zig-zag’ movement towards Haldiram side and other areas, especially in service lanes, the chances of accidents and congestion are high,” DCP Traffic Ravinder Tomar said. Read more
The main accused in the Nithari killings, Surinder Koli, was awarded the death penalty by a special CBI court in Ghaziabad. The court announced the death sentence in connection with murder charges against the accused. The judge also awarded seven years’ imprisonment to his employer Moninder Singh Pandher in the case, besides a fine of Rs 62,000 on Koli and Rs 4,000 on Pandher, officials said. The sensational killings came to light after the Noida police found human remains in a drain behind the accused’s house sixteen years ago. Accused Koli and Pandher are currently incarcerated for rape and murder of multiple persons.