Delhi underground

Who will pick the tab?
Art is integral to the décor of any hotel,and the newly-inaugurated Leela Kempinski in Gurgaon has some exquisite artworks credited to the likes of Raghu Rai,Shambhavi Singh and Samit Das. Unfortunately some artists are unhappy as they have not received payment for their work yet. “I still have to receive the full payment,” rues Bhupinder Singh. The Indore-based artist’s metal installation that depicts the two annual crops of the country — Rabi and Kharif — is placed under a staircase in the hotel. The Senior VP at The Leela,however,brushes off the delay adding that most of the payments have been made and that the rest will follow as soon as all the art work is procured.

Tap dance
If the water supply is running low at your home,the local political leader may be the reason behind it. The DJB has received several complaints about direct connections across the city being tapped by politicians. This means the local political leaders ‘tap’ the main water pipelines to provide their homes with direct water connections ensuring a 24-hour water supply,even as the rest of the city battles severe water shortage. A senior official at the DJB said the agency was working to check such direct connections by installing more underground reservoirs,which will help reduce such cases.  

Teacher,teacher
Some departments of the Delhi University are suffering from lack of teachers even as the university wraps up its admission process. At the Law Faculty,studies on ‘new laws’ have been introduced this year,but the department does not have any teachers with expertise on the subject. Meanwhile,the department of Germanic and Romance Studies had to stall their Romanian language course,as no teacher from Romania was willing to come to DU this year.

No rain,no gain
Rains may help the city beat the heat,but to fight the water woes citizens of the Capital should actually be praying for rainfall in the northern regions of the country. “The delay in rains certainly has an adverse effect on the recharge of groundwater. But since we get most of our water from the Yamuna and the Ganga,water situation will only improve if it rains in the upper reaches for the water to percolate down to Delhi,” an official said. If the rains don’t come soon,the situation will be worse next year,he said.