Page 21 - Delhi

Delhi witnesses massive traffic jams on New Year including India Gate

Massive traffic jams were witnessed on Sunday in several parts of the national capital, including at Connaught Place and India Gate, where thousands of people gathered to celebrate the New Year. According to police, heavy snarls were also reported from ITO intersection and near Akshardham temple. Police said that traffic was also affected as a group of people belonging to Jain community protested near India Gate on Sunday. They took out a march to protest against the Jharkhand government's recent decision to declare Sammed Shikharji, a pilgrimage site for the Jain community, as a tourist place, a police officer said. Several commuters took to Twitter to share their problems. "Utter chaos and long traffic jams around India Gate on Sunday and Saturday. This happens every year," one of the commuters twitted. Another commuter said that central Delhi witnessed a huge traffic around Mandi House, India Gate, Connaught Place, Pandara Road, Akbar Road, Shahjahan Road, and Man Singh Road.

Over 300 challan issued for drunk driving on New Year's Eve: Delhi Police

Delhi Police issued over 300 challans for drunk driving in the national capital on New Year's Eve, an increase of over 12 times compared to the previous year, officials said on Sunday. According to the official data shared by police, a total of 1,329 challans were issued for committing various traffic violations. Of the total, 318 people were fined for drunk driving, 175 for dangerous driving, 55 for driving on the wrong side, 47 for triple riding, 70 for minor driving, and 664 for driving without a helmet, while 53 vehicles were impounded on the spot, it said. Traffic police deployed 114 teams, armed with breath analyzers, to check drunk driving on Saturday, they said. Special pickets were also set up to check stunts on motorcycles, over speeding and reckless driving in coordination with local police and PCR at major points in Connaught Place, Mehrauli, Saket, Nehru Place, Vasant Vihar, South-Extension, Rajouri Garden, Pitampura, Netaji Subhash Place, Laxmi Nagar, Mayur Vihar and

Health clinic for sex workers, their families opened in Delhi's G B Road

A first-ever health clinic for sex workers and their families has been opened in Delhi's red-light area, G B Road, with facilities for routine check-ups and treatment. The clinic was inaugurated on Sunday. It has been started in a part of a non-functional school by some civil society groups. Shalini (name changed), a sex worker, said she hopes the facility will help her fight the stigma that she faces in visiting clinics in other parts of the city. "Even doctors start behaving differently when they learn we are sex workers and this clinic can help change that as it is meant just for people like us," she told PTI. NGO Sewa Bharti started this clinic in collaboration with Utkarsh Initiative to provide medical facilities to sex workers and their families. This clinic will have seven doctors. "We have started this initiative on the first day of the year to start this year with the right initiative catering to the secluded and exploited strata of the society," said Sushil Gupta, Genera

Minimum temperature drops to 5.5 degree Celsius in Delhi, says IMD

The minimum temperature in the national capital on Sunday dipped to 5.5 degrees Celsius, two notches below the season's average, the India Meteorological Department (IMD) said. The minimum temperature in the city was recorded at 10.7 and 10.2 degrees Celsius on Friday and Saturday. A drop in visibility too was recorded in several parts of the country. Visibility in Ambala, Dehradun, Bareilly, and Varanasi was recorded at 25 metres at 5.30 am. While in Chandigarh, Patiala, Baharaich, Gaya, Purnea, Kailashahar, and Agartala, it was recorded at 50 metres, officials said. According to the IMD, 'very dense' fog is when visibility is between 0 and 50 metres, 51 and 200 metres is 'dense', 201 and 500 metres 'moderate', and 501 and 1,000 metres 'shallow'. The weatherman predicted a mainly clear sky on Sunday, with the maximum temperature likely to settle around 19 degrees Celsius. The humidity in the national capital was recorded at 97 per cent at 8.30 am, they said.

70,000 seats remain vacant across DU colleges in 2022-23 academic session

The Delhi University (DU) has failed to fill 70,000 seats in the current academic session despite its best efforts, as seven per cent seats across all its colleges remain vacant. Saturday was the last day of admissions at the university for the 2022-23 academic session. Around 65,000 students have been admitted to undergraduate courses this academic session, an official said. He added that the university has inducted 11,300 postgraduate students in various courses. "We have been able to fill around 65,000 seats across 70 colleges for the academic session. Today was the last day of admissions," DU's Dean of Admission Haneet Gandhi said. This is the first time that the university admitted students through the Common University Entrance Test (CUET), giving up the old practice of taking admissions on the basis of the students' Class-12 score. Through the new admission process, the DU has admitted students in 79 undergraduate programmes across 67 colleges, departments and centres. The

Delhi LG eases licensing norms; bars in 5&4-star hotels to operate 24x7

All restaurants in 5-star and 4-star hotels in Delhi will now be allowed to operate round-the-clock, according to the new licensing norms aimed at boosting the national capital's night economy. Lieutenant Governor V K Saxena, had in November, set up a high powered committee to ease and facilitate license requirements for restaurants/eateries, and directed it to examine the existing regulations and suggest ways of expediting the licensing processes. After the submission of the report by the committee, it took several rounds of meetings to finally concretise the liberalised regulations, officials said. These will now be sent to the National Informatics Centre (NIC) to bring about necessary changes in the new application undertaking and uploaded on the MHA licensing portal. "This is expected to be done in the next three weeks, and come January 26, entrepreneurs in the national capital will be able to avail of this new progressive, business-friendly and liberalised licensing regime in

MCD regained unified identity in 2022; Delhi to get new mayor in Jan 2023

From regaining its unified identity after its trifurcation 10 years ago to a fresh delimitation exercise and a subsequent civic poll -- the Municipal Corporation of Delhi hogged the headlines for larger part of the year 2022. It will remain in the news in early 2023 too, as Delhi will get its mayor on January 6 after the high-stakes elections held on December 4. The Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD) had come into being in April 1958 and its mayor wielded influential power and carried a huge prestige till 2012 when the corporation was spilt into three separate civic bodies, each having its own mayor. But, in 2022, the Centre brought a legislation to unify the North Delhi Municipal Corporation (104 wards), South Delhi Municipal Corporation (104 wards) and East Delhi Municipal Corporation (64 wards) into a single entity, though it had capped the total number of wards at 250, down from 272 wards earlier. Thus, after the mayoral poll in January, Delhi will get a mayor for the city as

Dense fog in parts of Delhi, minimum temp at 10.2 degree Celsius: IMD

Delhi witnessed dense fog in parts of the city on Saturday, with the minimum temperature settling at 10.2 degrees Celsius, three notches above the season's average, the India Meteorological Department said. Relative humidity recorded at 8:30 am was 90 per cent, it said. The maximum temperature is likely to hover around 21 degrees Celsius in the national capital. The India Meteorological Department (IMD) has predicted partly cloudy skies during the day with dense fog in the morning. Visibility at Palam dropped down to 250 m for a short span of time during 1 am to 2 am and improved again becoming 800 m at 6 am. Visibility was less than 200 m at 5:30 am over Bhatinda, Chandigarh-50 m, Ambala-25 m, Bareilly-25 m, Lucknow-25 m, Varanasi-50 m, Patna-25 m, and Gaya-50 m, according to IMD. Delhi's minimum temperature rose to double digits for the first time in 15 days on Friday, but the respite is predicted to end soon. The IMD said icy winds from the Himalayas will bring the minimum ..

Smog engulfs Delhi; air quality in 'very poor' category, AQI at 369

Smog engulfed the national capital on Saturday morning pushing the overall air quality to remain in 'very poor' category with an overall Air Quality Index of 369

Ranji Trophy: Bad light costs TN yet again; Sai rues conceding late runs

Ravi Sai Kishore, who was one of the chief architects of what could have been a great win for Tamil Nadu, said that they missed out on a win by giving away too many runs in the third innings

GRAP stage III invoked in Delhi-NCR, non-essential construction work banned

In view of a spike in air pollution, the Centre's air quality panel on Friday directed implementation of curbs under stage III of the Graded Response Action Plan (GRAP) in Delhi-NCR, including a ban on non-essential construction and demolition work. Delhi's 24-hour average air quality index stood at 399 on Friday, just two notches below the severe category. The Sub-Committee on GRAP, at a review meeting, noted that the AQI is likely to slip into the severe category due to calm winds and stable atmospheric conditions. It directed authorities in Delhi-NCR to invoke curbs under stage III of the anti-pollution plan with immediate effect. If the AQI is projected to reach the severe category, restrictive actions under Stage III are to be invoked at least three days in advance, according to GRAP. Curbs under Stage III include a ban on non-essential construction and demolition, closure of stone crushers and mining activities in Delhi-National Capital Region (NCR).

2022: Looking back at 20 years of Delhi Metro, on track for 2023

It has been 20 years of the Delhi Metro, 20 years of a public transport system that has been the great class leveller and transformed the way Dellhiites work, party and manage their hectic lives in a city' that stretches across three states. As 2022 winds down, it's also time to track the past, present and future of a lifeline that connects far corners of the sprawling National Capital Region (NCR) comprising Delhi, of course, and also its thriving suburbs Gurgaon and Noida, as well as industrial cities Ghaziabad and Faridabad. It started in December 2002 with a corridor of just 8.2 km spanning six stations on the Red Line and has now grown to over 390 km. The network span comprises 286 stations (including the Noida Greater Noida Metro Corridor and Gurgaon's Rapid Metro). The multi-hued network now with lines in yellow, blue, green, grey and in multiple shades of pink, including magenta and violet transformed the landscape of the city and boosted its transport infrastructure. In

Delhi govt okays new draft solar policy, aims for 25% solar power share

Delhi govt gave a green signal to the new draft solar policy, 2022, which aims to enable 25 per cent of the national capital's annual electricity demand to be met by solar power by 2025

MCD allocates over Rs 13 crore desilting of drains under its jurisdiction

The Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD) on Thursday announced it has allocated more than Rs 13 crore for desilting of drains under its jurisdiction for the next year. It said the desilting work would be carried out in two phases in June and then in January. New Delhi will be hosting eight G20 events starting from March 1, 2023 with the meeting of G20 foreign ministers and culminating with that of heads of governments and states on September 9-10. As part of its extensive action plan for desilting of drains, the MCD has also decided to rope in school children to inspect the quality of work done by contractors. "MCD, to combat the problem of water logging, has decided to carry out desilting of drains in two tranches. Now, the desilting of drains will be carried out in June and January every year. To carry out desilting operations, MCD has allocated a budget of Rs 13.76 Cr which will be spent across all 12 zones," the civic body said. Until now, the MCD has been carrying out desilti

Over 400,000 Delhi senior citizens' pension delayed; committee blame Centre

The Petitions Committee of the Delhi Legislative Assembly has taken cognizance of complaints of pensions of as many as 4,26,058 senior citizens getting withheld in Delhi

Sisodia misleads Delhiites by visiting Okhla landfill site: Delhi BJP Chief

He said that since October 20, new garbage has stopped entering Okhla and 6000 metric tonne of inert (garbage ash) was being lifted daily from the Okhla landfill site

Finance dept creating roadblocks in bringing pro-people welfare projects

The Delhi Assembly's Petitions Committee on Wednesday accused the city government's Finance department of creating roadblocks in implementing pro-people welfare projects, such as Yamuna cleaning, laying of water pipelines and disbursal of pension to the elderly. Committee member Saurabh Bhardwaj said data entry operators engaged in hospitals for years had been sacked after the Finance department impeded the disbursal of their salaries. Government healthcare facilities have been working without them for six months, he said. Funds for the Delhi Jal Board have been frivolously withheld for the last six months, derailing essential projects such as cleaning of the Yamuna, drinking water pipelines and laying sewerage lines. Within the Social Welfare department, objections are repeatedly raised by the Finance department on pension of the elderly, due to which they have to wait for months for pension, Bhardwaj as quoted was saying in a statement. "The Finance department of the Delhi ...

Severe cold wave conditions persist in Delhi; likely to abate for 2 days

Fresh cold wave conditions shall prevail again from December 31 to January 1, 2023

Gave opportunity to both experience, youth in MCD leadership polls: BJP

"We will fight this election with a special policy and will work for the success of our candidates," Delhi BJP Working President Virendra Sachdeva said

Ammonia pollution in Yamuna affecting water supply in parts of Delhi: DJB

Water supply in parts of Delhi has been affected due to ammonia pollution in the Yamuna river, the Delhi Jal Board said on Tuesday. Operations at Wazirabad, Chandrawal, Bawana, Nangloi, Dwarka and Haiderpur water treatment plants (WTPs) have been hit. Water supply will remain affected till the situation improves, it said. Water will be available at low pressure in parts of south Delhi, central Delhi, west Delhi, northwest Delhi and southwest Delhi, the DJB said. According to the Bureau of Indian Standards, the acceptable maximum limit of ammonia in drinking water is 0.5 ppm. At present, the DJB can treat up to 0.9 ppm.