Delhi Underground: Delayed departure

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Too many doctors
Doctors back from Nepal said there were far too many specialists in the rescue teams and, often, too few people to treat. An AIIMS doctor, who was part of the Union health ministry team, said, “There were 32 of us from AIIMS and an equal number from other central government hospitals, like RML and Safdarjung. But there were not as many patients for us to manage. About 16 people were pulled out by our rescue teams who needed attention. Of these, six were airlifted to Delhi… so there seems to have been a bit of an overreaction in sending the medical teams.”

Reply all ‘revenge’
IP&TAFS officer Ashish Joshi, who was repatriated to his parent cadre amid a controversy, hit the ‘Reply all’ button on an email sent by an official of the Directorate of Information and Publicity (DIP) announcing voluntary vipassana programmes in schools. Joshi took the opportunity to inform the sender that he was repatriated in violation of DoPT orders of 2010. In his reply that landed in the inbox of hundreds of journalists who are on DIP’s mailing list, he appreciated the government’s initiative on vipassana, but added, “In view of the last few weeks’ incidents and the way I was repatriated, I strongly feel that there is a need for vipassana/anapana training for one and all in the Delhi government.”

Point, counter-point
During the hearing in a case on unauthorised construction on government land near Aruna Asaf Ali Road in south Delhi, the Delhi Development Authority (DDA)’s counsel argued that the Delhi Laws (special provisions) Act prevented demolition of unauthorised construction in the city. The court, however, said the protection did not extend to encroachments on government land. “If tomorrow someone starts building something at Rashtrapati Bhawan, will you say we can’t demolish it because of the Act?” the court said.
For Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia, the inauguration of a government-funded technical education institute did not quite go as planned. After addressing students on the need for them to participate and find solutions to Delhi’s problems, the session saw the BJP MP from south Delhi taking digs at the deputy CM on the party’s performance. “First, you said ‘Sir, we’ll make 300 schools’. Then your leader said that ‘if we can deliver 150, we will consider our task done…’ People voted for you because they thought you did what you said. But your actions clearly show that you are like all of us,” the MP said. On the deputy CM’s appeal to students to help him solve problems of the Patparganj slum area, Ramesh Bidhuri said, “Jo Patparganj se nahi nikal pa rahe, woh Dilli ko kya sambhalenge.”