Delhi Underground

A shower of luck
The unprecedented rainfall is playing spoilsport and hampering the progress of many CWG projects,giving nightmares to the agencies concerned. But the Environment department is happy about the impact of rains. The rainfall has washed away the dust and pollution,caused by months of hectic construction work,over Delhi. And the Yamuna,which is a mere drain throughout the year,has got a new lease of life. Delhi Environment Secretary Dharmendra said the rain has washed away all of his department’s major troubles.

In good faith
A day after the soft opening of the Commonwealth Games Village,a press release from Lieutenant-Governor Tejendra Khanna’s office read: “The soft launch of the Village saw the age-old tradition of ‘Sarv Dharma Sambhaav’ on Thursday with the efforts of our enlightened L-G Tejendra Khanna who had the brilliant idea of holding the all-faith prayer meeting”. While Suresh Kalmadi wanted to wrap up the event with a low-key puja,Khanna insisted that it should involve all religions. So his office lined up Rasayani Baba Ram Dasji from Yog Maya Shaktipeeth,Maulana Nawabuddin Naqsbandi from Safdarjang mosque,Gyani Harnam Singhji from Gurdwara Bangla Sahib,Delhi Archbishop Vincent Concessao,Jain priest Acharya Dr Sadhna,Buddhist priest Lobsang Dhamchoe and Won Buddhist priest Ajita Kyounim.

Bar code
Lawyers in the Shahdara Bar Association didn’t seem to be bothered much by the “Code of Conduct” during the election on Saturday for choosing office-bearers. While a few candidates,probably very confident of winning,were seen distributing sweets in the Karkardooma court complex,others were seen arranging packets of snacks to be given to the Bar members. Amid this,there was a different kind of clamour,as many lawyers claimed their names had been deliberately removed from the voters’ list and threw papers in the air,like the election rules.

Missing concern
During a monthly meeting of the BJP executive members,an envelope with Rs 3,000 in it that was kept on Delhi unit president Vijender Gupta’s table,went missing. The room was overcrowded,as not just the executive members had turned up for the meeting. Gupta lost his cool when he discovered the money was missing. Soon,all workers employed at the 14 Pandit Pant Marg office were called for questioning. Gupta even called the Parliament Street SHO demanding a probe. Wonder why such alarm was not raised when Rs 2.5 crore went missing from BJP’s national headquarters.

Tormented ‘mentors’
When the CBSE launched its mentoring and monitoring scheme to implement the new evaluation scheme of the Continuous and Comprehensive Evaluation (CCE),it was met with resistance from certain schools. As per the scheme,a school is made the mentor school for implementing the CCE in upto 10 nearby schools. Last year,a few schools had wriggled out of the responsibility,saying it was a “burden” on the mentor school. But this year,the CBSE is not taking no for an answer. But the schools are in no mood to relent either. “There is so much paperwork involved. We have to visit the schools under us and check whether they are using CCE in the right spirit or not. It is just too much for a school,” said a principal. The cash prize for the best mentor school doesn’t seem to be incentive enough.

Feeling left out
Following the panic after the firing at tourists near Jama Masjid,Health Minister Kiran Walia was miffed to find herself out of the loop,with the Medical Superintendent (MS) of Lok Nayak Hospital informing Chief Minister Sheila Dikshit of the victims’ medical condition before Walia got an update. While the MS maintained he could not get in touch with Walia as her phone was unreachable and managed to speak to the Chief Minister before that,Walia pulled up the MS,complaining that she had to be informed of the victims’ condition by Dikshit,despite being Health Minister.