Delhi underground

Wanted dead or alive
Even though Commissioner of Police Y S Dadwal has announced a reward of Rs 5 lakh to anyone who gives information about Lashkar-e-Toiba (LeT) associate Abu Al-Qama,wanted for involvement in the blasts in Delhi last year,the department’s Special Cell is undoubtedly ignoring information provided by their counterparts in Jammu and Kashmir. While the Delhi Police has issued a reward,J&K Police insists that Al-Qama died in April last year. Quite obviously,this also absolves Al-Qama (in case he is dead) of any involvement in the Delhi blasts,which rocked the Capital in September last year. Now,who to believe?

Problem of plenty
It’s destination Delhi for all migrant workers,as both Uttar Pradesh and Haryana shy away from welcoming the migrants. A senior bureaucrat pointed this out,while accusing the Delhi government of making the state unreasonably attractive. According to the bureaucrat even though the migrants work in Noida and Gurgaon they bank on Delhi for sustenance. “Those who work in Noida and Ghaziabad live in East Delhi,while those working in Gurgaon live in the Najafgarh belt in West Delhi. These places are clearly overburdened in terms of housing as well as infrastructure,” he said.

All not welcome
Even though the Gay Pride March warmly embraced all members of the Lesbian,Gay,Bisexual,and Transgender community — both rich and poor — the celebrations that followed the High Court verdict seemed to have sidelined the poor and the transgenders. Those who flocked to Jantar Mantar and posed for the shutterbugs,shouting ‘Gay Ho’ were visibly the elite and the rich. Ashok Row Kavi,noted gay activist,said he had received complaints about the exclusion and it was “sad” that the moment had been hijacked by the rich and the elite. The celebrations were for all,he said. “This isn’t good.”

Punishing problems
Deprived of electricity and water,angry residents of Ghaziabad blocked the National Highway 58 and Dabur Chowk. The area has been going without electricity for over 15 hours a day. As the crisis deepens,leaders of various political parties have started the usual blame game. A leader of a national party is learnt to have told a few people that the UP government was punishing them.

Nice plan!
The gap between planning and implementation is evident as the Archaeological Survey of India (ASI) announces its various schemes for revenue generation and sprucing up the monuments. Unfortunately,even though plans are promising,the Delhi circle officials,who are responsible for implementation of the plan,remain out of the loop. Even senior officials of the Delhi circle,who technically need to be consulted for feasibility of proposals,claim they are unaware of several proposals and announcements made by ASI heads.

Missing or not
When it was first reported that the Municipal Corporation of Delhi was missing 45,000 employees,no official or leader was willing to comment. Even as statements about the “ghost employees” poured in,they all ended with the lets-wait-till-the-July 15-deadline caution. When the Standing Committee met on Thursday,the old meeting hall had more media persons than the members. All effort,however,came to naught as the committee adjourned after a lot of noise over the resignation of the state government. Outside,however,politicians kept the cameras happy,though no one commented for or against the ‘missing employees’ other than stating that the numbers don’t really add up.

Call clutter
After BSES got flak from Chief Minister Sheila Dikshit for the worst-ever power crisis in Delhi last month,senior officials in the CM’s office too had a sleepless night. When complaints surfaced that BSES call centres were either closed or shutdown and no one would receive the complaints of outages,personal numbers of senior officials were given to the public to register their grievances. The officials — including Special Secretary to CM Keshav Chandra and Additional Secretary to the CM Alka Dewan — did nothing but receive calls till four in the morning. The power crisis,however,took a backseat as people called in with every random problem.