Delhi Underground

DU dilemma

At the DU open sessions,organised to give information about the four-year undergraduate programme,teachers and college students protesting the new format were seen distributing pamphlets and speaking to aspiring students about the problems with shift. One harried parent asked,“What is the advantage of the four-year course? Will it be equivalent to the five years of getting a Masters’ degree?” In response,a university official said,“It is not equivalent to a Master’s degree. And we are not forcing the student to study for four years.” When a student asked,“How can I get an Honours degree in three years?” An official offered: “Join another university.”

Light moment

During the December 16 gangrape trial,one of the defence counsels got angry while questioning a prosecution witness because the witness always looked at public prosecutors before giving answers. Even after the defence counsel pointing it out,the witness once against looked at the public prosecutor when a question was asked. This time,however,the counsel just hummed an old Bollywood song,“Aankho hi aankho main ishara hogaya,baithe baithe jeene ka sahara hogaya.” And of course,the entire courtroom burst out laughing.

Quick fix

After the Delhi Police arrested the three Rajasthan Royal players,including India pacer S Sreesanth,police held a press conference at the India Habitat Centre. The Stein auditorium is used by the Delhi Police only for their annual press conference. Police anticipated a large number of journalists to turn up for this press conference and realised that the conference hall at the police headquarters would not accommodate them all. So,just hours after the arrest,police hurriedly booked the Stein auditorium. Interestingly,they ‘managed’ to get the hall on the same day,which considered to be quite a task.

DCP’s commentary

At the press conference by Police Commissioner Neeraj Kumar,after arrests in the IPL spot fixing racket,two projectors were used to show the two overs bowled by the three bowlers in the case. The DCP was trying to explain how Ajit Chandila,one of the players arrested,had made “loose” deliveries in the second over,conceding 13 runs. While the video of Chandila’s first over was being played,the DCP said,“Yeh dekhiye kitni acchi,shandar bowl kiya hai is over mein (See how well he bowled in this over).” To this,some of the journalists started hooting “commentary”,after which everyone had a hearty laugh.

Complaining colleagues

A power struggle among senior police officers in Ghaziabad is being played out in Lucknow. Over the past week,when attempts were made to contact the two senior officers,it was revealed that they were both in Lucknow. Sources in the police said one officer had gone to complain about the other,who he believes is making concerted efforts to “usurp his authority”. The officer,who was the subject of the complaint,then rushed to Lucknow to the police state headquarters to defend himself. Ironically,both have to work together on a daily basis,and the administration does not want to make changes just a few months after transfers were made.

Well prepared

Administrators of the Safdurjang Hospital were prepared when resident doctors went on strike for the second time in less than a week. Sources at the hospital confirmed that a “contingency plan” had been prepared before negotiations between doctors and Health ministry officials had even begun. “We had the paper work ready to enforce the clauses of the Essential Services Maintenance Act (ESMA) in case the doctors chose to continue the strike. Last time,we were caught unaware since about 800 doctors went on a strike without giving us time to prepare,” a senior official said. Further,special orders had been issued to all faculty members to ensure that OPD and critical care services did not suffer. Reportedly,hospital administrators were also lauded by ministry officials for “efficiently resolving the problem” during the second strike.

Simple solution

With rising temperatures and growing power and water woes,the power distribution companies have made the process of registering “no supply” complaints easier. What used to be a long wait,has now been simplified as a one-time registration of the consumer’s mobile number. Once consumer’s mobile number gets registered by calling at 39999707 for BRPL and 39999808 for BYPL,all future complaints can be made on these numbers. Consumers just have to press 1 for ‘No Supply’ and choose option 2 for IVRS-based services and the system will auto-recognise customer details every time.