Delhi Underground

Seat-sharing politicos at Rahul function

The inaugural function of the Guru Teg Bahadur memorial by AICC General Secretary Rahul Gandhi near the Singhu border witnessed a good gesture by two VIPs. Women and Child Development Minister Kiran Walia and Delhi Commission of Women chairperson Barkha Singh both arrived at the penultimate minute,just before the function was to start. All seats in the front row were full,barring one seat in the extreme left. Instead of squabbling over the only chair available,the two women shared it throughout the hour-long ceremony.

Airport Metro stations await safety checks

Commencement of operations of the two pending Metro stations on the Airport Metro Express Line — Dhaula Kuan and Aerocity— seems to be jinxed. Despite being ready,the safety inspection of the stations has not been conducted for over three and a half months due to some reason or the other. With rail accidents taking up the time of the Commissioner for Metro Rail Safety (CMRS) R K Kardam,an inspection date could not be scheduled. After weeks of waiting,when the CMRS finally assigned an inspection date for July 26,he is now said to be down with fever,leading to another postponement in the inspection. The concessionaire,Reliance Infrastructure,continues to keep its fingers crossed,hoping for the inspection to be complete and a clearance accorded.

IIT graduate cops play memory game

The Delhi Police have been scouting for engineers in their force for an Ministry of Home Affairs backed project and managed to line up three of its officers who hold degrees from the Indian Institute of Technology. Names of Special Commissioner (Special Cell) P N Aggarwal,Joint CP Sandeep Goel and DCP (Outer) B S Jaiswal were sent as panel members to decide on the technicalities involved in the project. However,one of the officers remarked that after all these years of service in the police force,he hardly remembered what he was taught in the engineering school and was unsure how his depleted engineering skills would be of use for the project.

So far,but hopefully still near

Speaking at the farewell of Justice Rekha Sharma,Additional Solicitor General and Delhi High Court Bar Association’s President A S Chandhiok complained against the lack of recognition of the bar’s role in helping the court expeditiously dispose of cases. Intriguingly,he referred to the recent revamp of the Chief Justice’s courtroom in expressing his grievance. “The new courtroom is certainly big but it has also created a greater divide between the judges’ seat and the bar members’ place. I hope this is only for physical convenience and it does not mean more distance between the bar and the bench,” remarked Chandhiok.

Delhi Police realise ‘release’ error

Talk of co-ordination among police units. Two units of the Delhi Police,including the elite Special Cell,recently sent press releases to media about the arrest of a person who allegedly masterminded a robbery in Muthoot Finance two months ago. Soon after realising the error,the Delhi Police’s public relations officer dashed off a clarification explaining the mistake.