Delhi Underground

Beware of fakesLesson in civility

At IIT-Delhi’s Open House on Saturday,a visitor seemed lost amid the numerous exhibits of various departments. Those wearing volunteer badges did not look very helpful,being apparently busy playing cricket. “Are you an IIT student?” the visitor asked the nearest youngster. “Yes,” came the sheepish reply. “Is this Civil?” asked the visitor. The student seemed to take offence to the question. “We have been here since 6 am,sir,” he offered by way of explanation. “It’s okay. I was not questioning the civility of it. I was just asking you whether this was the Civil engineering department,” said the amused visitor.

Bound by law

The Delhi High Court witnessed an atypical proceeding last week when leaders of different workers’ unions entered into a verbal duel before a Bench headed by Chief Justice Dipak Misra. The court was hearing a PIL on the miserable working conditions and deprivation of benefits under the law with respect to Commonwealth Games workers. Five union leaders had to help with the workers’ registration. When Justice Misra enquired whether they had been working in harmony,one of them complained that the leaders of other unions treated him like a child due to his age,and never responded to his requests for a meeting. “They are seniors and undermine me because of my age. One of them even wrote to others saying that I was less educated and knew nothing about the workers,hence my calls should be ignored,” said Amjad Hasan,the youngest of the union leaders. Hasan’s accusations were met with denial from others. After a while,the court intervened and told the senior leaders to remember that they were working for a cause and their inter-union conflicts should not come in the way. “You all must work together and give due respect to each other,” said Justice Misra.

Action over words

New fissures in the Delhi unit of the Congress are being exposed with each passing week. After protesting against Chief Minister Sheila Dikshit’s decision to split the Municipal Corporation of Delhi into five smaller units,her detractors within the party,including Delhi unit president J P Aggarwal and former president Subhash Chopra,criticised her openly last week. This time,the venue was an interaction session at the Delhi unit’s headquarters with AICC general secretary and in-charge for Delhi Chaudhary Virender Singh. It is learnt that Dikshit was upset that the meeting,organised by J P Aggarwal,appeared to have been deliberately turned into a platform for her detractors to vent their anger before a senior Congress leader. All her detractors,including senior Congress legislator Mukesh Sharma and the party’s Leader of Opposition in the MCD Jai Kishan,got an opportunity to criticise Dikshit. The Chief Minister has now intensified her move to fast-track the MCD division proposal. She even met her Cabinet colleagues informally soon after the meeting to finalise the government’s plan of action,it is learnt.

Feeling the pinch

Representatives from the Congress’ office located in Lutyens’ Delhi visited the New Delhi Municipal Council (NDMC) this week,complaining about the inflated electricity bill and requesting the civic body for a waiver. The bill amounted to

Rs 32,000 for two months,which the representatives said was way above what they normally pay.

Double draw

The recently concluded Youth Panchayat organised by the Congress,in which AICC general secretary Rahul Gandhi made an appearance,was like a picnic for some of the attendees. There was a mad rush for the packets of poori-sabzi. In fact,a fight broke out between two persons over a food packet,in which local police had to intervene. Said one of the attendees,“We were given transportation and food,so we thought,’Why not go and see Rahul in person?’”. Wonder how many in the crowd actually knew the agenda of the meeting.