Delhi underground

Powerful than power
Not everyone in the Delhi Secretariat is happy with the appointment of former Power Secretary Rajender Kumar as Health Secretary. The Health Secretary’s post is one of the most coveted in the government and is usually occupied by a senior IAS officer. But Kumar is 14 years junior to his predecessor J P Singh. Many had thought that Kumar was ousted from the Power department as a reprimand,but his new posting has only left them shocked.

Free magnanimity
Amity University,the official training partner for Commonwealth Games volunteers and workforce,are making sure everyone knows they are doing it for free. At a well-publicised event to mark the beginning of the training programme,Amity founder president Ashok K Chauhan “revealed” that he was spending Rs 15 crore for all this. Another Amity official took the free tag a tad too seriously and announced free transportation from the Metro station to the university for the trainees,along with free food. The finale,however,came from the Games Organising Committee’s special director general Sudhir Mittal,who dramatically requested Chauhan that the organisers be allowed to stay on campus from mid-August to mid-September. Mittal said the Delhi government too had offered its facilities,but Amity’s was far more impressive. Chauhan agreed,saying that he never says no.

Tough partnership
Another tale from the sponsors. Hero Honda,the official sponsors for the Commonwealth Games,and Tata Motors,the transport partners,locked horns before the launch of the Indian leg of the Queen’s Baton Relay at Wagah border. Hero Honda insisted that none of the Tata cars should carry the company logo as they are the official sponsors for the relay. However,Tata countered that they had every right to do so,being the transport partners. The Organising Committee had a tough time controlling the ‘partners’.

The eastern wait
Seven months after its inauguration,the Anand Vihar Railway Station in East Delhi has finally got six more regular trains,that too as part of the new zonal railway time-table. Railway officials maintained that the shifting is a lengthy process,though the terminal,which in itself was delayed by over two years,was originally planned to take over the heavy passenger load from the other stations,especially East-bound trains. At a time when well over 40 East-bound trains leave from New Delhi and Nizamuddin stations,looks like the wait is going to be longer.

Meeting expectations
The Delhi Development Authority has often been labelled incompetent when it comes to solving the city’s housing woes,or ensuring maintenance of its ill-built structures. But,if there is one department where the authority excels,it is at holding “meetings”. Take the example of the DDA Advisory Council,which met last week after a gap of nearly three years. A well-organised gathering,it resulted in little ‘advise’. The highlights of the meeting read more like a summary of every project undertaken by the DDA in the last three years.

Terminated work
Even though they are going to be transferred to an appropriate place soon as per the government policy,the 100-odd ITDC employees at the Indira Gandhi International Airport seem to be unhappy with the shutting down of Terminal 2. Not surprising,for the agency was till now the only caterer at T2,inaugurated by Jagdish Tytler in 1986. Apart from catering,it also runs a restaurant,two snack bars,the Ashoka Lounge,as well as Air India’s Maharaja Lounge at the terminal.

Head start
All the watering holes in the city were near full during the most anticipated clash of the FIFA World Cup,the Germany versus Argentina quarter final. But for those watching the match at home,the regular cable TV service had an advantage,for once. The relay by Set Top Boxes was a precious six seconds ahead of satellite television services. So during the match,some of those with Cable TV connections were on the phone “predicting” goals to the rest of the city.

Academic interest
The summer vacations are over and classrooms are again buzzing with activity. But the students,who after almost 45 days of summer vacations are feeling a bit lazy,have something to show for their break. While most of them joined various workshops and kept themselves busy during the holidays,others were busy Facebooking,creating groups denouncing schools,homework,assignments and anything academic. Groups like “I hate Parent Teacher Meeting” and “I hate summer assignments” have quite a fan following. Seems like Facebook is fast becoming an outlet for students to say what they cannot say on teachers’ faces.

Vacation court
This summer vacation surprisingly helped several staff of the Delhi High Court to get better acquainted with their judges. Several court employees who took their families to the hills found many judges also enjoying their holidays there. Often,many of them were staying in the same hotel. The conversation this time was more casual and the judges did not forget to offer their hospitality to the support staff of Delhi’s highest judicial set up. “It was overwhelming the way Judge Saab spoke to me and asked if I needed any help,” said a staffer who went to Mussoorie.