Delhi underground

No entry
The Delhi Police seem to have taken strict note of the state administration’s recent instructions to ensure fool-proof security during the ongoing Hockey World Cup at the National Stadium. At the checking counters of the stadium,security personnel have been asked to frisk even senior policemen before they enter the premises. And caught without his accreditation card,a deputy commissioner of police was ordered off the premises immediately.

Dressing down
It turned out to be a bad day for a woman lawyer,who first failed to impress the Acting Chief Justice of the Delhi High Court with her petition and then her dress code was questioned. As the matter came up for hearing,the judge asked the lawyer — who was arguing for the relocation of over 40 washermen whose hutments were demolished by the DDA — why her petition sought relief only for 14 of them. As she remained adamant on her contention that she had filed the petition for all of them,the judge said,“Why cannot you read your petition and argue with us?” The judge further inquired if she was also one of the petitioners and was arguing in-person. When she answered in the affirmative,the judge was furious. “How can you wear the band and the robe if you are arguing as a petitioner in-person? You first falter in your petition and then in your dress code. Why is everything so wrong?” The lawyer apologised and said she would remove her band and robe right then. But the judge refused to accept her request and deferred the matter for another day.

Half done
In its efforts to speed up the execution of the Commonwealth Games projects,the NDMC is on an inauguration spree. In fact,some projects are being inaugurated even while far from complete. When the Talkatora Stadium was inaugurated last week,work on the parking lot was still going on and on Monday,when the Yusuf Zai Market gets inaugurated,work would not have started on the redevelopment of pavements in the area. The market’s building has been done up but the pavements are still a mess.

No plan for Yamuna
As several national and international firms approach the Delhi government with a proposal to clean the Yamuna,the government seems to be in a fix. The Chief Minister is learnt to have appeared positive during such meetings and has expressed her desire to see the river cleaned up. But the government says it cannot take a call on the issue now,even if it means that the river will not be cleaned before the Commonwealth Games commence in October.

Might is right
The ruling BJP and the opposition Congress at the Municipal Corporation of Delhi were at loggerheads again — this time over the use of a phrase. During a municipal meeting last week,an official,talking about the status of the implementation of the Masterplan 2021 guidelines,told MCD members that though the department was working,much was yet to be done as it does not have a “magic wand”. The Congress members immediately took offence to the term. The BJP members reminded the Congress that recently Chief Minister Sheila Dikshit too had used the words in the context of Delhi’s preparations for the Commonwealth Games,saying that she did not have a “magic wand”. The Congress,however,was not amused. It claimed that being the chief minister,Dikshit could say anything,but the official was an employee of the MCD and should have refrained from using such words. “The boss,after all,is always right,” said Leader of Opposition in MCD J K Sharma.

Officer on no duty
At the Commonwealth Games Organising Committee,it seems,rules are made on a daily basis. Chairman Suresh Kalmadi first gave marching orders to Officer on Special Duty,Finance,Sanijv Mittal. After a rebuke from Prime Minister’s Office and the Defence Ministry though,he had to reinstate Mittal. But Kalmadi is making sure that Mittal,perceived as a “spy” of the Union Sports ministry,is not given any responsibilities. Three days after Mittal was reinstated,he was taken off the evaluation committee for the biggest tender of the Organising Committee — the overlays tender.

Race begins for MCD polls
The last citadel for Delhi BJP —- the MCD — may also soon slip off its hands,as the Delhi Congress has begun aggressive positioning for the municipal polls in April. So much so,that Chandni Chowk MP and Union HRD minister Kapil Sibal used the platform of a government function — he was inaugurating a road project in Northwest Delhi — to ask for the voters’ support.

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