Top cop meets priest

Airport,not a seaport

When state-of-the-art Terminal 3 at Indira Gandhi International Airport got flooded during the recent torrential rains,airport operator Delhi International Airport Ltd (DIAL) updated its status on social networking site Facebook and apologised for the inconvenience caused. It maintained they had taken note of all feedback and complaints,and that passengers should check with their respective airlines for delays or diversions. DIAL also said the waterlogging had “not affected passenger operations”. However,angry passengers reacted by saying “please start boat services during rains for better passenger service… This would also again lead the path to better passenger safety and comfort”. Another comment read: “Its an airport. Not a seaport”. Another comment said: “Delhi got a new ‘port’ of entry … T3 terminal”.

Not so special

The policemen on duty at the Saket court for the “security” of the IPL match-fixing accused were a harried lot this week when the chargesheet in the case was filed. With a huge rush of mediapersons,lawyers and casual observers around to see the proceedings,the police finally decided to make only the accused sit in the courtroom,and barred entry to everyone. In the ensuing confusion,not only the media,but some members of the Special Cell investigating team were also denied entry into the courtroom where the accused were seated. The cell officials had to be vouched for by the Special Cell ACP before the policemen on duty let them in.

Poll fever in DU

With elections in Delhi University round the corner,students’ and teachers’ organisations have seen a spurt in poll-related activities. While posters of students’ parties asking freshers to join their organisation are all over the campus,teachers’ organisations have taken a different route ? holding demonstrations to raise the issue of appointment of teachers.

Divided we stand

Congress and Samajwadi Party found themselves on the same side as far as the suspension of IAS officer Durga Shakti Nagpal is concerned. Both believe her suspension is justified. But even in unity,the two parties have found their differences. The Congress now says that it was an SP leader who inaugurated the disputed mosque and,at the time,had told villagers that they don’t need any permission from the state government.

Praise for Safdarjung

Safdarjung hospital had another tryst with global media attention this week with the admission of a JNU student who was brutally attacked by a fellow classmate. This was the second incident after the hospital battled to save the December 16 gangrape victim. With staff and faculty complaining for years about the step-motherly treatment meted to the hospital because of its proximity and inevitable comparison to AIIMS,people say the hospital may finally be coming out on its own. “Police officials,government dignitaries,everyone refrained from directing important or sensitive cases here. It was humiliating that despite having super specialty departments like trauma,neurosurgery and cardiac sciences,we essentially only got patients who were rejected by AIIMS,” a senior doctor,who has spent nearly two decades at the hospital,said. Now,with the “successful management” of sensitive cases,he said,the hospital was winning accolades not only from various wings of the government,but also the western media. “Like a correspondent from a very reputed paper in Washington complemented us on our alertness in monitoring the JNU student,which helped detect a giant clot in her brain and was removed in a late-night procedure,” he said.

Snazzy court complex

Many court employees feel that the court complex in Saket easily tops the other courts in Tis Hazari,Karkardooma,Rohini,Dwarka and Patiala in terms of infrastructure and location. “Being the newest kid on the block (the Saket court building was inaugurated in 2010),the complex is akin to the Delhi High Court and was built keeping the lacunae at other courts in mind,” a court staff at Tis Hazari said. But employees at Saket court scoff at such remarks. “What is the use of a fancy building,” a stenographer at Saket says,“if you don’t get easy access to tea and snacks in the midst of a busy day?” Tis Hazari,for Saket court staff,has its unbeatable charm with vendors selling water,juice,tea,sweets,freshly fried munchies along the court corridors.

Background music

As the speakers were discussing the loopholes and unanswered questions in the Batla House judgment during a recent press conference by the Jamia Teachers’ Solidarity Association at the Press Club of India,a band started playing outside the venue. JTSA members were clearly disturbed by the noise and some journalists jokingly said the band was sent by the Special Cell to disturb the gathering.