Page 16 - Delhi

Aldermen can vote in Delhi mayoral polls, says MCD presiding officer

The municipal House witnessed an uproar on Monday after Presiding Officer Satya Sharma announced that the nominated members will also be allowed to vote in the elections for mayor, deputy mayor and Standing Committee members. Soon after the Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD) House assembled around 11:30 am, after a delay of half an hour, she announced that elections to the posts of mayor, deputy mayor and Standing Committee members would be held simultaneously. "Aldermen will be allowed to vote in the elections for mayor, deputy mayor and Standing Committee members," Sharma said. The announcement drew protests from AAP councillors. Party leader Mukesh Goel said aldermen can't vote. To this, Sharma said, "People have sent you here to serve them, let the election be held." Following this, the House was adjourned briefly. This is the third session of the House after the December 4 municipal polls. The first two sessions -- held on January 6 and January 24 -- were adjourned by the

G20 Summit: Delhi LG reviews city makeover, orders setting of food street

Delhi LG VK Saxena has directed officials to develop a food Street around the Salimgarh Fort and to connect the Qutub Minar with Mehrauli Archeological Park to convert the area into a heritage walk, officials said on Sunday. Saxena had on Saturday visited several locations in the national capital to review the repair and revamp work underway for the G20 summit, scheduled to be held here in September. The LG directed the land and road owning agencies to ensure that the green spaces on the Outer Ring Road along Yamuna are spruced up and made encroachment-free. On February 2, Saxena had chaired a high level committee meeting to take stock of the ongoing works. Saxena began his inspection visits from ISBT, Hanuman Mandir, Salimgarh Fort, Red Fort, Outer Ring Road along Yamuna and the Samadhi stretch, and proceeded to south Delhi. Walking on foot, he instructed the officials to have areas around Hanuman Mandir and under the Hanuman Setu flyover cleaned and decongested, officials said.

After 2 failed attempts to elect Delhi mayor, House to convene Monday

The Delhi municipal House is set to convene on Monday to elect a mayor for the city after failing to complete the poll in two previous attempts. As per the DMC Act 1957, the mayor and the deputy mayor are to elected in the very first House that convenes after the civic polls. However, it's been two months since the municipal elections were held, and Delhi is still to get a mayor. The first two sessions -- held on January 6 and January 24 -- were adjourned by the presiding pfficer without electing a mayor following a ruckus and acrimonious exchanges among the members of the BJP and the AAP. While the first session of the 250-member House after the December 4 poll went fully in vain, in the second session, the nominated members followed by elected members took oath. After the oath-taking exercise, the second municipal House was adjourned till the next date by Presiding Officer and BJP councillor Satya Sharma. While BJP members had walked out of chamber shouting anti-AAP and anti-Arv

Delhi excise scam: BJP stage protest at AAP office, asks Kejriwal to resign

Delhi BJP leaders and workers on Saturday staged a protest at the AAP office here demanding the resignation of Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal after the ED named him in a charge sheet in the excise scam case. The Enforcement Directorate (ED) has named Kejriwal in its charge sheet related to the liquor scam of the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) government and he should resign from the post of chief minister of Delhi, state BJP president Virendra Sachdeva said. No immediate reaction was available from the AAP to the allegations. The BJP will keep on exposing the "corruption" of the Kejriwal government which is weakening Delhi like a "termite", Sachdeva alleged during the protest. "If he has any morality left in him, Kejriwal should resign now," he said. Leader of Opposition in the Delhi Assembly, Ramvir Singh Bidhuri, said the BJP has been saying that the liquor scam was done under the protection of Kejriwal and it has now been proven by the ED charge sheet. The ED has claimed in its ...

Kejriwal again asks LG to allow Finland visit of Delhi school teachers

Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal on Saturday made a fresh plea to Delhi Lieutenant Governor (LG) V K Saxena to allow teachers of city government-run schools to visit Finland for a training programme. He made the request in a tweet in Hindi, issued soon after Punjab Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann flagged off the first batch of 36 state government school principals for a visit to Singapore for professional training. "A batch of 36 principals have left today for Singapore for training. This is for the better future of children of Punjab. I request the LG to allow Delhi teachers to go to Finland for training. Why do you hate teachers and children of Delhi?" tweeted Kejriwal, whose Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) is also in power in Punjab. Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia on January 12 had alleged that the LG had barred the school teachers from travelling to Finland for their training, adding a new flashpoint in the ongoing tussle between the Delhi government and Saxena. Sisodia, who also holds

Sunny morning in Delhi, minimum temperature settles at 9.5 degrees Celsius

The national capital is likely to witness a mainly clear sky on Friday, with the maximum temperature expected to settle at 24 degrees Celsius. The minimum temperature was recorded at 9.5 degrees Celsius, which is one notch above normal, the India Meteorological Department (IMD) noted. The relative humidity at 8:30 am was 83 per cent. The air quality index (AQI) was recorded at 198 at 9 am, which is in the moderate category. An AQI between 201 and 300 is considered poor, 301 and 400 very poor, and 401 and 500 severe. Northwest India is expected to witness normal rainfall in February while cold wave days in the region are less likely, the IMD said.

Delhi mayor election to be held 1st during municipal House on Feb 6: Report

The mayoral election is the first item on the agenda for the municipal House slated to be held on February 6 in Delhi, sources said on Thursday. It will be followed by the election of the deputy mayor and six members of the standing committee of the Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD), they said. Lt Governor V K Saxena has approved convening of an MCD House to elect the mayor on February 6, Raj Niwas officials said on Wednesday. The date had been proposed by the Delhi government, an official has said. "The agenda for the House says that the election to pick the mayor of Delhi will be held first, followed by that of the deputy mayor and six members of the standing committee," a source said. Two sessions held so far -- January 6 and January 24 -- since the civic polls have failed to elect a mayor due to ruckus among the AAP and BJP members.

Delhi records minimum temperature of 8.6 degrees Celsius, AQI of 156

Delhiites woke up to a windy Wednesday morning with the minimum temperature settling at 8.6 degrees Celsius, normal for this time of the year. The air quality index (AQI) was recorded at 156, which is in the moderate category. The relative humidity at 8.30 am was recorded at 100 per cent. The weatherman has forecast strong surface winds during day time with the maximum temperature likely to settle around 20 degrees Celsius.

Delhi govt to redevelop roads ahead of G-20 convention, approves Rs 17.5 cr

Deputy Chief Minister of Delhi Manish Sisodia has instructed the PWD officials to complete all the work related to the project by March

Free Wi-Fi service down in Delhi since December as contract expires: Report

There were around 11,000 hotspots in Delhi and they provided 15 GB of free data to each user

Arvind Kejriwal launches mechanism to track realtime pollution sources

Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal on Monday launched a study to gather realtime information on sources of pollution and help the government launch a targeted response. He said the reason for pollution changes on an hourly basis and until "we calculate the source of the pollution on a realtime basis, we cannot have an effective policy on the issue". Kejriwal inaugurated the 'realtime source apportionment supersite' at Rouse Avenue here along with an air quality monitoring van. "Today launched one such van, but once this stabilises and the data from this van comes in, we will launch several other such vans that can provide us data from the different wards of Delhi. "We will also use these vans to study the source of pollution in hotspot areas and once the data comes in, it will tell us about the main source of pollution and then we will take action on the data. "There will be a super site on the second floor of this building, there will also be a mobile air quality monitoring sys

1,675 EWS flats in Delhi's Jailorwala Bagh to be completed by March: DDA

The Delhi Development Authority is constructing 1,675 EWS flats for Jailorwala Bagh JJ cluster in the national capital, and the work is expected to be completed by March, officials said on Monday. This is part of an in-situ rehabilitation project at Jailorwala Bagh in Ashok Vihar area. A senior DDA official said 1,675 flats for Economically Weaker Sections (EWS) are being constructed for this JJ cluster and the work is likely to be completed by March. A similar project, the Bhoomiheen Camp, is underway in Kalkaji. It is the first large scale in-situ rehabilitation project in Delhi, helmed by the Delhi Development Authority (DDA). In November, Prime Minister Narendra Modi had inaugurated 3,024 newly constructed EWS flats in Delhi as part of the rehabilitation project.

Amid VIP movement at Rajghat, heavy traffic chokes routes to central Delhi

Commuters travelling towards central Delhi from the eastern parts of the national capital and Noida faced heavy traffic due to VIP movement towards and away from Rajghat on Monday. President Droupadi Murmu and Prime Minister Narendra Modi offered floral tributes to the Father of the Nation at his memorial in Rajghat. According to police, those commuting via ITO, Pragati Maidan and Barapulla will face heavy traffic as these routes are completely choked. Taking to Twitter, the Delhi Traffic Police alerted commuters to avoid certain stretches. "Traffic is heavy on Vikas Marg, Ring Road near Rajghat due to special traffic arrangements. Kindly avoid the stretch," it tweeted. Vice President Jagdeep Dhankhar, Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla, Defence Minister Rajnath Singh, Housing and Urban Affairs Minister Hardeep Singh Puri also paid homage to the Mahatma at Rajghat.

13 trains run late owing to rain, low visibility in Delhi: Railways

According to a weather alert earlier, the approaching fresh cloud patches over Delhi was likely trigger a light to moderate spells of rainfall over the city

Rains in Delhi, maximum temperature dips to 5 degrees below normal: IMD

Light showers in the national capital further intensified cold conditions on Sunday taking the maximum temperature to 17.2 degrees Celsius, five notches below the average for the season, the India Meteorological Department (IMD) said. Meanwhile, the minimum temperature in the city settled at 6.4 degrees Celsius, three notches below the average for the season. The relative humidity oscillated between 77 per cent and 95 per cent, IMD said. The national capital received 3.3 mm of rainfall till 5.30 pm, it added. The weatherman has predicted generally cloudy skies with light rain and thundershowers during the morning for Monday, adding that the minimum and maximum temperatures are likely to hover around 10 and 20 degrees Celsius, respectively. On Saturday, the minimum temperature in the national capital settled at 6.1 degrees Celsius and the maximum at 23.8 degrees Celsius. Meanwhile, Delhi's air quality index (AQI) was recorded at 357 at 9 pm, according to the ministry of earth scie

Delhi govt to launch realtime pollution factors gathering mechanism

Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal will on Monday inaugurate a "super site" and a mobile van which will collect pollution data in realtime and tell its constituents. Delhi would become the first city in the country to get a realtime source segmentation of air pollution that will help in identifying factors responsible for increase in air pollution at any place in Delhi, Delhi Environment minister Gopal Rai said on Sunday. "The super site facility is located at Sarvodaya Bal Vidyalaya premises near ITO. The project has been initiated by the Delhi Pollution Control Committee (DPCC) in collaboration with IIT Kanpur, IIT Delhi, and TERI, Rai said in a statement. The pollution forecasts will also help the government in taking policy decisions in time, the state Environment minister said. The launch of the super site is one of the most important aspects of Delhi's campaign to combat pollution. Based on the data, this super site will also assist in forecasting air pollution levels enab

CM Arvind Kejriwal urges Centre to provide 1,300 MGD of water to Delhi

Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal Sunday urged the Centre to provide 1,300 million gallons per day (MGD) of water to Delhi, saying it will help ensure round-the-clock water supply to the people in the city. The Delhi government is trying to increase water availability in the city, he said after inaugurating an 11 million litres capacity underground water reservoir in Patparganj village. "Delhi received 800-850 MGD water around 1997-98 when its population was around 80 lakh. It is still getting the same amount of water though the population has now tripled to 2.5 crore. With a slight nudge from the Centre, water can be made available from neighbouring states," the chief minister said. "We will supply round-the-clock water to each household in Delhi if the city is provided 1,300 MGD water by the Centre," he added. The chief minister also assured residents of Delhi that their water bills would be rectified in case of any anomaly and suggested they hold paying the charges till the correct

Delhi's air quality shows improvement, recorded in 'moderate' category

Delhi recorded an overall Air Quality Index (AQI) at 197

Light rain likely in Delhi, minimum temperature recorded at 6.4 deg C

The minimum temperature in the national capital settled at 6.4 degrees Celsius on Sunday, three notches below the average for the season, with the India Meteorological Department predicting light rain and thundershowers during the day. At 8.30 am, the relative humidity was recorded at 95 per cent, the IMD said. The weatherman predicted generally cloudy skies with light rain and thundershowers during the day, and said the maximum temperature is likely to hover around 17 degrees Celsius. The Beating Retreat ceremony, which marks the formal end of the Republic Day celebrations, is scheduled to be held at Vijay Chowk on Sunday. On Saturday, the minimum temperature in the national capital settled at 6.1 degrees Celsius and the maximum at 23.8 degrees Celsius.

AAP govt's project to transform 1,400-km Delhi roads to kick off from Apr 1

Repairing broken pavements, central verges and manholes, resurfacing roads and sprinkling of water on them on a daily basis -- these are some of initiatives that will be undertaken as part of the Delhi government's mega project to transform the city roads that will kick off from April 1. Addressing a press conference, Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal said about Rs 4,500 crore will be spent on the project in the first year and then Rs 2,000 crore every year. The Delhi government will also introduce deep scrubbing machines and litter picker machines, he said, adding that it will also hire over 100 mechanised road sweepers, over 150 sprinkler tankers and 250 anti-smog-guns-cum-sprinklers. The chief minister said they will be transforming a total of 1,400 kms of roads that come under the jurisdiction of the Delhi Public Works Department. He added that heavy penalties will be imposed on the contractor in case of any shortcoming in the project. The entire system will be monitored remotely