Delhi underground

Roadmap for Games
For the Commonwealth Games,we are told that the Public Works Department,for which Delhi is an eternal work in progress,is revamping selected roads leading to the Games venue — around 40 kilometres,at a cost of Rs 150 crore. The New Delhi Municipal Council,on its part,is doing the same work on some 250 km of road in the entire area for approximately Rs 25 crore. Why the difference?

In trouble
The day a Delhi court spelt bad news for senior Congress leader Sajjan Kumar by issuing a non-bailable-warrant against him,confusion prevailed not only at the lower court,that kept waiting for a decision by the Delhi High Court on his plea but also at the High Court where the politician’s lawyers had to sweat it out while looking for a judge to hear his petition,as two judges were on leave. When the matter came up before the lower court,Kumar’s counsel sought time on the ground that the High Court was to take up his case. At the lower court,the magistrate then deferred the hearing twice on the same day. All this,however,failed to bring in any relief for the leader,as the High Court judge refused to grant a stay on his arrest. After the lower court was intimated of the High Court’s order,the magistrate issued a warrant against him,opening up the possibility of his arrest any time. 

Garbled message
One of the most conspicuous cars in the Capital — the white Ambassador with red or blue lights,that is used by VIPs in the city—has largely made a technological shift to better fuel emission standards. Many have switched to Bharat Stage III compliance. The same cannot be said about their ‘sartorial’ sense. An upgrade of the Amby some years ago led to a new power braking system and better engines. Justifiably proud,nearly every government-run Ambassador advertises the feature. If only they would get their spellings right. Instead of ‘power-brake’,the cars have bright red stickers saying ‘power break!’ ‘Keep distance!’,which also read like,‘power keep break distance!’ when the stickers are too close to each other.

Judges on the Net
With many grievances coming to the fore with the district court judges suddenly going on leave,the court administration has finally come up with a ‘tech-savvy’ way of minimising the number of complaints. The district court website now lists the names of the judges and the period during which they would be on leave,to ensure that litigants are not forced to run from pillar to post on the date of their hearing. The website mentions names of the judges and also the nature of their leaves. Significantly,the web release has come after a series of circulars were issued by the judge-in-charge,sternly asking all judges to give prior information about their leaves. 

Forgotten heritage
The Mangi Bridge,a centrally protected heritage structure which connects Red Fort with Salimgarh Fort,has not been repaired even after a year of the Archaeological Survey of India (ASI) promising to give it a facelift. Early last year the inner walls of the structure were found severely damaged and the ASI took note of it. Almost overnight,the ASI cleared the bricks that had fallen off the structure . Ever since,the heritage body has maintained it will repair the bridge soon,but in vain.

High-fliers
For the first time ever,four important persons travelled within the city in choppers. To attend the Raising Day reception in the New Police Lines area,Prime Minister Manmohan Singh,President Pratibha Patil,Union Home Minister P Chidambaram and Vice President Mohammed Hamid Ansari took the aerial route to reach the venue. Sources said the decision was taken at the last moment and keeping in mind unforeseen “risks”. Others say the decision was taken to avoid traffic jams on VIP routes.