• Delhi Events
  • Times Delhi
    • The alacrity shown by the NDMC in blanking out details about consultants contracted for CWG projects is not without basis — at least two consultants who bagged important projects are small outfits with little experience.
    • Prakash, a retired NDMC official, was allegedly killed at the behest of his only son who wanted to usurp Rs 65 lakh that the man had received through compensation for land taken away by the Yamuna Expressway Authority.
    • A girl was allegedly gangraped by her three neighbours in a moving car following which they have been arrested and a case registered against them, police said on Friday.
    • It was touted as a huge fillip to Delhi's crawling renewable energy sector but solar power has turned into the proverbial white elephant - to expensive for the 'aam admi' to maintain or use.
  • Midday

    • Over 100 workers have been killed during the construction of the metro railway in India's capital city, New Delhi, since 1998, according to a submission by the metro authorities.

      The first line opened in 2002 in the city, offering commuters an air-conditioned and swift alternative to overcrowded buses and three-wheelers.

      There has been pressure to upgrade it before October''s Commonwealth Games.

      According to metro spokesman Anuj Dayal, most of the deaths had happened in road and other accidents around the construction sites.

      "Only nine or 10 workers have died in incidents involving collapse of metro structures. There have been two such incidents of structural collapses," The BBC quoted him, as saying.

      Dayal, however, added that the metro''s accident rate was low compared with similar construction projects around the world.

      Authorities have informed that families of the deceased workers had received about 150,000 - 900,00 rupees (3,000 dollars to 20,000 dollars) in compensation.

      The frequent accidents at metro sites have given rise to fears that safety standards are being compromised in the rush to build new lines, the BBC reports.

      At least six people were killed when a pillar supporting a partly built bridge collapsed in July last year in south Delhi, BBC reports.

      In the same month, a labourer was killed when a girder fell on him at a rail construction site.

      In October 2008, two people were crushed to death and 12 injured when a bridge under construction collapsed on to a bus and cars below.

      In May 2009, a pillar supporting a partly built bridge collapsed killing six workers in the city''s Zamrudpur area.

    • If you a journalist reading Black Light, it feels like working your daylights off on a difficult case and yet you enjoy the workout

      Rimi B. Chatterjee's science fiction Signal Red was like sitting down among the boys with six packs of beer. There were secret laboratories hidden in the wilderness, bio weapons and microwave cannons. Then came The City of Love set in 16 th century India with its Arakan Pirates, Sufism, tantra and the whole shebang.


      These sketches, done by Rimi herself, are clues the protagonist has to
      put together to solve the puzzle

      But for me, the third, Black Light, surpasses the previous two. The book is like being at work in a spa where you get massaged by your boss (long-legged hot one) and get paid at the end of it. Since it is the revised version of her first unpublished book Live Like a Flame, its pages smell of the fondness an author has for the first work.

      The novel opens with the pandemonium revolving around a newspaper office, the late night shift and the mad rush for deadlines. This is routine existence for young journalist Satyasandha Sarkar which is shattered by a phone call from his mother informing about his strange and eccentric aunt Medhasri Sen's suicide.

      What follows is Satya's quest to follow the clues she has left behind that will unravel more about her. The attractiveness of Black Light lies in the fact that one packs his rucksack and accompanies Satya as he hunts down art works and souvenirs she has left behind for him.

      One ends up sitting next to him reading the five interconnecting stories that finally help him put together to solve the puzzle. When the stories are finally revealed, they break the rhythm transporting us to a different plane. But it keeps coming back to Satya and trying to comprehend what he is going to do with the clues is all the more fun.

      However, the hidden philosophical undertones in the novel distracted me from sticking to Satya. Blame it on the Signal Red hangover, I wanted to skip the 'heavy stuff' and play Satya and keep it a simple
      riddle solving exercise.

      Publisher: Harpercollins
      Price: Rs 299

    • Call it travel fatigue or something else, today, when the Metro kick-starts its journey from Connaught Place to Gurgaon, it would be missing two esteemed commuters - Delhi Chief Minister Sheila Dikshit and Urban Development Minister S Jaipal Reddy. While the duo would be present to flag off the train, they are going to give the 12.53-km one-way trip a miss.

      "They will flag off the train but not ride it," said a senior Delhi Metro official.

      The stretch would be thrown open to commuters on the day of its inauguration.

      "There is no specific reason behind it. We wanted to open it as soon as possible," added the official.
      This will be the longest line of the Delhi Metro spanning 45 km, connecting north Delhi with the millennium city of Gurgaon.

    • Top players allege discrimination

      Biting the bullet: Gagan Narang's selection for the Games has come under criticism from fellow shooters. Pic/mid day

      Foul is fair at the Commonwealth Games; at least that seems to be the case. Poor infrastructure, missed deadlines, rampant corruption - all this is old news, and more importantly it had little to do with the athletes or sports. That has changed now.

      Top shooters of the country have alleged discrimination and foul play in team selected for CWG by the National Rifle Association of India (NRAI). The charge: top players have been sacrificed to include those who did not even take part in the trials which were mandatory according to the NRAI's own regulations (displayed on its website).

      Fingers are pointing at Gagan Narang, one of the country's leading shooters himself. Narang had not taken part in the selection trials for the rifle prone and rifle 3 categories but he participated in trials for 10m air rifle event held in June, which was mandatory for selection to CWG and also the Asian Games. Despite that, he has been included in all three groups.

      NRAI officials say he has been exempted on the basis of his performance in the World Championships. But by doing that, they have overruled their own selection criteria.

      According to the NRAI website: "To select the team for the Commonwealth Games 2010 and the Asian Games 2010, the following procedure shall be followed by the designated selection committee of the NRAI. To ascertain the mathematical merit of a shooter's performance, where he or she has shot the World Championship, the average of his June trial score (first score) shall be added to his rendered second score (WC score) & the sum shall be divided by the digit 2.

      To ascertain the mathematical merit of a shooter's performance, where he or she has not shot the World Championship, the average of his June trial score (first score) shall be added to his rendered second score (August trial) & the sum shall be divided by the digit 2." "Those who were not selected will obviously cry foul. We are not taking any Tom, Dick or Harry. Do you want us to lose medals?" said NRAI secretary Rajiv Bhatia.

      But those the federation chooses to call Tom, Dick or Harry have proved their worth and performed consistently both at selection trials and World Championships. "I would have been happy if my recent efforts, which include a score of 599/600 in April, were given value. And I would have been happier if I had some support or exemption when I broke my rifle four days before the main trials. I chose to fight out the trials in spite of all odds. I shot the trials with a borough rifle only to know afterwards that the selection could have been based only on a single World Championship score," said Joydeep Karmakar (current world no. 16) "But one of my friends opted out and still qualified," he added.

      "For someone, one score has become so important that consistent scores by others are overlooked. Some people have qualified without participating in the trial and having a base score," said Sanjeev Rajput, who won an individual gold medal in the Commonwealth championship last February with a tournament record. Gagan Narang refused to comment on the issue. "I want to concentrate on my game," he said.

      GUNNING FOR GLORY
      Men's rifle:       Abhinav Bindra, Hariom Singh, Gagan Narang, Imran Hassan Khan
      Men's pistol: Deepak Sharma, Omkar Singh, Vijay Kumar, Gurpreet Singh, Samaresh Jung, C K Chaudhary, Harpreet Singh
      Men's shotgun: Manavjit Singh Sandhu, Mansher Singh, Mairaj Ahmad Khan, A D Peoples, Ronjon Sodhi, Asher Noria
      Women's rifle: Suma Shirur, Kavitha Yadav, Meena Kumari, Tejaswini Sawant, Lajja Gauswami
      Women's pistol: Anisa Sayyed, Rahi Sarnobat, Heena Sidhu, Annuraj Singh
      Women's shotgun: Seema Tomar, Shreyasi Singh
    • More than 40 physicians test positive

      The appropriate analogy would be that of the hunter becoming the hunted. After several residents at All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) tested positive for dengue, now several cases have been reported from Lady Hardinge Medical College.


      Once bitten: 20-30 MBBS students and around 5-10 resident doctors
      are suffering from dengue at Lady Hardinge. Pic/Imtiyaz khan

      More than 40 doctors here have been diagnosed with the vector-borne disease, while 40-45 cases have been reported from the AIIMS campus. Sources say that the number includes many MBBS students and resident doctors.

      "20 to 30 MBBS students and around 5 to 10 resident doctors are suffering from dengue," a source at Lady Hardinge said. Students too are worried about the fact. "We have to be really cautious as there are many students in the hostel suffering from dengue", said Payal Gupta, a second year student at Lady Hardinge Medical College.

      Apparently, Shivaji Stadium which is situated opposite the College was getting renovated for the Commonwealth Games. But, the stadium has now been excluded from the list of venues for the Games.
      "The area is completely dug up and may be this is the reason it has become grounds for mosquito breeding", said Rashmi Seth, a third year student.

      MiD DAY tried to contact Dr G K Sharma, Director, Lady Hardinge Medical College. But he did not respond to any of the calls or messages.

      "Even though the number of cases continues to rise, neither the director nor any senior official came to meet the students or the doctors," a third year student said on condition of anonymity.
      Meanwhile, the city has reported 1081 cases of dengue so far with 67 fresh cases. The data released by MCD shows only 11 cases in central Delhi.
      As per sources, the actual figures of dengue patients are being fudged at Lady Hardinge Medical College too.

      WRITING OFF
      Commonwealth Games Federation CEO Mike Hooper on Thursday denied issuing any advisory to participating CWG countries about a possible outbreak of dengue in the city and said he merely sent a report on the basis of what CGF Chief Michael Fennell observed during his visit last month. "We have not issued any kind of advisory to Commonwealth countries regarding dengue disease in the capital.
      I have also not written to the Organising Committee. It was just a report which has been sent to participating nations on the basis of Mr Fennell's recent visits to the stadiums," Hooper said.