Delhi underground

Privations at IGI
A pale-looking CISF constable was on guard at the departure gate of the domestic terminal at IGIA. He had been vomiting since the previous night but couldn’t visit the doctor — he didn’t have the Rs 300 needed for consultation fees. New rules for the Delhi airport have created the most basic problems for CISF personnel,responsible for securing the most sensitive premises in the NCT. While the CISF is mandated to get free medical aid at any organisation it is deployed with,the privatisation of the IGIA,they say,has also led to the privatisation of the airport medical unit. The new airport medical unit is run by a private hospital,and the basic consultation fee,even for security staff,is Rs 300,which staff members have to shell out from their own pockets. “It was free when the airport was run by the Airports Authority of India,” a CISF constable said.

Like a roasted chicken
Rajnath Singh,the national president of the Bharatiya Janta Party,might have won his seat from Ghaziabad but while campaigning in its narrow lanes he lost a “fair deal”,he says. In a personal conversation with activists who went with him to the villages of Ghaziabad,he said he had lost his “fair” complexion. “I am tanned and look like a roasted chicken,” Singh quipped when asked about his experience campaigning in the scorching heat.

‘Older’ and wiser
A judge,who was hearing arguments on the quantum of sentence to be handed down to Runu Ghosh,former deputy director general in the Telecom Ministry,said he was against delaying the matter on any pretext. While the statement was not unusual for the court,the reason behind it was. Referring to a media report that had identified the case as 23-year-old even though it has been in the courts for 13 years,the judge said the duration of the matter had already started increasing in the newspapers and hence,he must decide it before it becomes “older”.

Samosas & cold drinks
Elections are typically anxious times for both politicians and their supporters. The mood was,however,more along the lines of a leisurely wait at a counting centre in West Delhi. Samosas were being fried,cold drinks were being distributed,and people tried to fix a TV set and arrange for a cable wire here. It took almost five hours before counting sprung a surprise in the form of Mahabal Mishra — the “underdog” — emerging triumphant. All the people,including the leaders in the fray,were in the meantime seen wolfing down samosas and watching TV.

A ‘couple’ of judges
History of sorts was created in the Delhi High Court recently,with the swearing in of two judges,a husband and wife,on the same day. Anil Kumar Pathak,district judge at Karkardooma Court,and his wife Indermeet Kaur Kochhar,district judge at Tis Hazari Courts,were administered oath of office as additional judges of the High Court. The High Court had sworn in Justice N K Kaul recently; he joined his brother Justice S K Kaul. The court is hosting two brothers as judges after a gap of 43 years.