Delhi Underground

No leak,no news
With every new stadium in the city being attacked for ceilings that leak with every shower,Jamia Millia Islamia was happy to unveil a leakage-free stadium last week. For a change,the new rugby field and adjoining sports building was also fully complete at the time of inauguration. This made Vice-Chancellor Najeeb Jung joke about how his stadium would get considerably less coverage. “There is nothing to report here. No leakage anywhere,so no news,” he quipped.

Complaint counter
The Chief Minister is playing agony aunt to several harassed officers,who are feeling the heat in the media frenzy over the Commonwealth Games. Six senior PWD engineers met Sheila Dikshit recently,almost in tears,complaining about how they have hardly been able to see their families for the past three years,given the work in the city over the build-up to the Games. The officers complained that the media was now tarnishing their reputation without real proof. The CM heard them out and urged them to carry on,but it is unclear if they could be assuaged.

Blame the others
The overcast skies might make you smile,but there is an office full of babus in Town Hall dreading the post-monsoon outbreak of dengue. The blame game has already begun between the Delhi government’s Health department and the MCD’s Health Committee. Last week,the MCD’s Health Committee chairman proposed a meeting with the Health minister to discuss the “impending dengue outbreak”. After being snubbed twice by the minister,the MCD officials went all out blaming the government,Commonwealth Games Organising Committee and even the vector’s epidemiology.

Foot in mouth
Even while it was being framed as a code of conduct for Kanwarias,senior officials were well aware that this one code was meant to be flouted. The code,which required that no loudspeakers be used,and noise pollution be checked,has had little effect. As the Kanwarias continue their loud revelry,the police have been reduced to mute spectators. The Kanwarias have also been found coolly playing music loudly outside the office of the very official who drew up and drafted the code.

Guest appearance
Haryana Chief Minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda’s visit to Baghnaki village on Friday afternoon brought out more resentment among locals than smiles. The CM was there to pay condolences to the bereaved families of the 20 Kanwarias who died in a road accident near Uttarkashi. Though scheduled to arrive at the village at noon,Hooda was almost an hour-and-a-half late. Even after reaching late,the CM spent barely 15 minutes with the villagers and made random announcements of a sports stadium to be built in the memory of the deceased. As soon as the CM left,the disgruntled villagers organised a panchayat and lambasted the CM for not having made his visit “worthwhile”.

Out of tune
The recent hearing in the Delhi High Court on the condition of the Commonwealth Games workers witnessed some drama when a member of a labour union entered the scene from nowhere and kept interfering in the proceedings. After snubbing him for not taking permission to speak,Chief Justice Dipak Misra asked him to stand at the designated place for litigants. When the union member started speaking,he,interestingly,disputed almost everything the government counsel and the petitioner’s counsel had been arguing in the court for the last 25 minutes. He also flatly rejected what the member of a workers’ welfare board had vehemently contended. Justice Misra took no time to realise that this “difference of opinion” between the two could be because they belonged to two different unions. He then took a dig at the new entrant,“It is clear from your statements that you two union members don’t get along well. But please keep your issues aside and let us talk about workers,” said the judge.