Delhi Underground

Eye on the ground
The ‘reputation’ of municipal bodies in the Capital seems to have made them infamous even among the Indian Air Force,as the latter seems to trust no one but itself when it comes to the maintenance and cleanliness of the city. For the upcoming Republic Day,when the Air Force is set to showcase its defence warplanes,the force has appealed to the citizens of Delhi to inform IAF in case any carcass is found lying around. The reason,they say,is that apart from the fog,birds in the air are “chief enemies” of the planes. To keep the flights safe from bird attacks,they have appealed to people to keep their neighbourhood clean and report to the nearest Air Force unit or police station if they find a carcass.

Flu break
After seven months of gruelling work,the state nodal officer for H1N1 influenza was delirious with joy — last Friday,not a single person in the Capital tested positive for H1N1. With no reports to collect,no charts to prepare,and no tables to make,the state nodal officer spent the evening texting everyone that she would distribute sweets for the ‘wonderful break’.

Father of the groom
Delhi Police Commissioner Y S Dadwal’s son Pranay Dadwal,who was in the news recently for spotting Manu Sharma,convicted in the Jessica Lal murder case,at a Chanakyapuri bar,will get married next month. That,of course,is keeping his father extra busy with preparations going on for the Republic Day,the Commonwealth Games and now his son’s wedding.

Call for revenge
Since the ‘mysterious escape’ of the three militants a fortnight ago from the Capital,the Delhi Police has received about a dozen calls at its Police Control Room,purportedly informing about the trio’s whereabouts. None of the calls,however,turned out to be genuine — the police said all such calls were made to take “personal revenge”. The most recent call,received last Monday,said the three militants would come to the trans-Yamuna area at a certain time to receive a consignment of narcotics. As soon as the call was received,a police team from the Special Cell was constituted and a trap was laid. But after interrogating occupants of the house,nothing concrete was found and the cops returned empty-handed. Later,the police informed that the last call,too,was made for the same reason — “personal revenge” — as the caller had planned to take revenge on the person whose address had been flashed in the call.

Caught straying
Aggrieved after his cow and calf were impounded by the Municipal Corporation of Delhi,a man approached the Delhi High Court alleging that the MCD unlawfully took away the cattle from his house. The MCD representative,however,told the court that the animals were found loitering on the streets and were confiscated in accordance with the laws. The court had a simple test to examine who was speaking the truth: it noted that the petitioner lived in Brahmpuri area in East Delhi,which is so thickly populated that it is “impossible to believe” that the bovines could find space to stay with the human population. Moreover,there was no grazing ground near the locality and hence the animals must have been wandering in the streets. The petition was then dismissed with the observation that the MCD had acted in accordance with its policy to keep the strays off the roads.

Lessons in charity
During a recent session of interaction with parents,an NCR school asked the parents to be generous and contribute to a fund for the economically deprived that it had set up.

One man instantly pledged Rs 2 lakh,setting the bar so high for others that they said they felt strange pitching in with Rs 5,000,the minimum contribution required,which as per the school standards was a “pittance”. According to some parents,the school authorities said a decent amount would be somewhere around Rs 10,000 and though parents were told contributing to this fund was not mandatory,those who took the school’s word for it and went to submit the fees were asked to get a written note from the headmistress that they were not contributing to the “poor fund”.