Delhi Underground

Soothing frayed tempers

For the past few weeks,Chief Minister Sheila Dikshit has been on a sticky wicket over allegations of corruption during the Commonwealth Games,and opposition from her own party over the decision to split the Municipal Corporation of Delhi. It now seems she is going all out to woo her detractors. For one,she is taking Barkha Singh,a dissident MLA,with her to Sao Paulo,Brazil,for a conference. AICC functionary Manish Chatrath,who had been trying for sometime to get a political posting in Delhi,has finally been awarded the chairmanship of the Delhi Tourism and Transportation Development Corporation. Also,after a gap of 12 years,she has finally cleared the appointment of 10 aldermen in the MCD.

Making hay

While candidates in the forthcoming Gurgaon municipal body elections are running from locality to locality to campaign for votes,a particular section of the society are minting money in the process — the drummers,hoarding markers and flower-sellers. While most hoarding-markers are having a tough time meeting deadline,some have even ‘outsourced’ their orders to others for commission. Same is the case with drummers,who are now doing double shifts.

Jargon jigsaw

Some unidentified ‘CDs’ created a flutter in the courtroom last week during a hearing for the Commonwealth Games scam,after the CBI prosecutor stated that the case drew heavily from the material the ‘CDs’ contained. Though no details emerged,some media reports even referred to “crucial CDs” that were key to the case. This week,the ‘CDs’ surfaced yet again during the agency’s arguments,leaving all wondering. As scribes tried to get more information on these CDs,it emerged that the prosecutor was talking about case diaries.

Missing the point

At Deen Dayal Upadhyay Hospital,newly installed CCTV cameras are now capturing video grabs for the medical superintendent’s office,in keeping with the prevalent mood of “clean governance”. Hospital sources,however,point out that the administration has overlooked crucial areas like the pharmacy stores,wards and operation theatre,which may prove to be hotspots for thefts or unlawful activities.

Bumpy road ahead

Even as the Transport department rolled out the first batch of private cluster buses for South Delhi routes,the two major shareholders of Star Bus Private Limited — the cluster operator — has gotten into a serious wrangle over propriety issues. While the Transport department and Delhi government officials have washed their hands of the matter,a shareholder has threatened to move court for launching the buses without his knowledge. With the wrangle going out of hand,sources say the bus service is likely to be hit in the coming days. Delayed by well over a month,around 231 buses were slated to be on the roads,of which only 50 have arrived. Though Transport Minister Arvinder Singh Lovely has promised the remaining will be launched over the next two months,sources say troubled lies ahead.

Sporting solution

The Lieutenant Governor has a novel solution on how to fruitfully channel the “energy of idle youth”. In a recent meeting with the Delhi Development Authority,the L-G revealed that he had directed the Delhi Police Commissioner “to identify vacant land in densely populated areas for development of sports facilities,so that the energy of the idle youth can be diverted towards healthy activities”.

Dig and refill

The Ministry of Environment and Forests found a new way to recycle. With its new office coming up in Jorbagh,the MoEF has,instead of wasting the earth dug out,sent all of it to the Delhi Zoo,where authorities are raising the ground level. The Delhi Zoo would have,otherwise,had to spend lakhs of rupees to buy mud from the market.