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NGT DelhiTRANSCRIPT
* THE TIMES OF INDIA, NEW DELHITHURSDAY, DECEMBER 3, 20154 TIMES CITY
New Delhi: A major portionof the busy Feroz Shah Roadin Lutyen’s Delhi caved in onWednesday morning after apart of a drain-water sewageline running below it crum-bled. While the civic bodies,expectedly, blamed each otherfor the mess, traffic police saida part of the road had to bebarricaded leading to snarlsduring peak hours.
New Delhi MunicipalCouncil chairman NareshKumar said, “An old pipelinerun by CPWD was leaking andcaused the cave-in. They(CPWD) are running an un-treated water network. At pre-sent, the potable water net-work is under us and the onefor horticulture is with them,which creates confusion. Wehave received no complaintson the water leak. Our civil de-partment is working in collab-oration with CPWD to fix theroad.”
The caved-in road, whichCPWD officials admittedcould have been triggered by a
leaking pipeline passing un-der the road, was reported atthe Feroz Shah Road-KG Margcrossing at 10am. The crater,at least 10ft long, 5ft wide and
stretch will remain closed un-til it is identified and re-paired. Officials have ruledout the possibility of anothercave-in nearby.
Traffic cops said the jamhad a cascading effect with ve-hicles coming from ShaheedJeet Singh Marg reducing to acrawl, leading to additionalsnarls at Aurobindo Marg.
The traffic volume on Fe-roz Shah Road is usuallyheavy throughout the day as itis one of the major connectingroads and has a number of MPbungalows throughout thestretch. If one part of the car-riageway is closed, it immedi-ately results in a traffic jam asthe accumulation rate is highon the stretch.
The ripple effect could beseen as far as Mandi House inthe evening, said traffic policeofficials.
5ft deep, was barricaded im-mediately to avoid a mishap.
CPWD and NDMC offi-cials were unable to identifythe leaking pipeline. The
Road caves in, blame game starts
A MESS: The crater at the Feroz Shah Road-KG Marg crossing is at least 10ft long, 5ft wide and 5ft deep
Anindya Chattopadhyay
CPWD officials admittedthat the road may havecaved in because of aleaking pipeline under it.A part of the road had tobe barricaded whichlead to snarls duringpeak hours
TIMES NEWS NETWORK
New Delhi: With the city ex-periencing smog for the fifthday in a row, National GreenTribunal on Wednesday mor-ning directed the Delhi go-vernment to convene an emer-gency meeting and discussmeasures for immediate pol-lution abatement. It has alsoasked the government to co-me out with a notification,highlighting measures it hasalready taken to control theincrease in pollution.
“What is the status of airpollution? All you can say isthat there is no pollution... Allstakeholders who are dealingwith pollution indicate thatDelhi is highly polluted. Thelevels of PM2.5 and PM10 arebeyond prescribed limits. Wecannot permit such a state ofaffairs causing serious envi-ronmental pollution to preva-il,” said the bench.
The four-member commit-tee, comprising member se-cretaries of Delhi PollutionControl Board and CentralPollution Control Board, thedirector health services andthe environment secretary,met on Wednesday eveningand will carry on with the de-liberations on Thursday aswell.
Ashwani Kumar, secreta-
areas according to priorityand then prepare an actionplan. Areas like Anand Viharand Civil Lines are likely to becovered.
At 8pm on Wednesday, An-and Vihar, an area borderingDelhi and Uttar Pradesh withan inter-state bus terminus,had PM10 levels of 940μg/m3against a standard of 100, andPM2.5 levels of 229μg/m3. Aresidential area like RK Pu-ram, which is seeing massiveconstruction activity at pre-sent, had PM 10 levels of569μg/m3 and PM 2.5 levels of257μg/m3.
that will be considered aswell,” said a source. “Real-ti-me monitoring of air pollu-tion is also being done—in sixlocations by DPCC and anot-her 10 by SAFAR. This will gi-ve an idea of some critical ar-eas, although if it is felt thatsome other places are vulne-rable too, a quick samplingfrom them can also be carriedout. The solutions will be so-urce-based, though with airpollution, any measure that istaken to reduce it in one loca-tion will impact a much largerarea.”
The committee will list
form a basis for the recom-mendations by the committeebut there are other factors
areas have been marked basedon locational variation in pol-lution load. This report will
ry environment, said, “Wewill look at specific geograp-hical areas where pollution le-vels are worse and come upwith solutions. This meansthat we will first have to iden-tify such places based on ourown data, experience and thereport on air pollution thatIIT Kanpur has made for us.”He said the report had foundthe severest pollution in athird of Delhi.
The IIT study has not beenreleased yet, but sources saidit has mapped Delhi based onpollution levels. “The city hasbeen divided into grids and
Seeks ReportOn MeasuresTaken So Far
NGT tells govt to act after 5-day smog
Mumbai: A metal trader fromsouth Mumbai was lured toDelhi with the promise of agood deal, abducted by a gangand held for nearly a month tillhe could cough up a ransom ofRs 10 lakh before being re-leased unharmed.
Back in Mumbai, HemantParikh, 50, filed a complaintwith the V P Road police on No-vember 28, accusing RahulJain and Sakip. Police haveregistered a case of kidnap-ping, wrongful confinement,assault and section of thearms Act. Mumbai police com-missioner Ahmad Javed hastransferred the case to the an-ti-extortion cell of the citycrime branch. Deputy com-missioner of police Dhanan-jay Kulkarni confirmed the in-cident but refused to elaboratesaying the probe is at crucialstage.
Sources in the force saidParikh, who has a shop in Gu-lal Wadi at Bhuleshwar, foundan advertisement on an onlinemarketing portal that said theadvertiser, in a distress sale,was offering tonnes of copperat throwaway prices. When heresponded, Rahul Jain askedhim to come to Delhi for ameeting. Parikh flew to thecapital in end-October. The ac-cused took him in their car toan undisclosed location, tookaway his mobile phone, de-manded a ransom of Rs 30 lakhand confined him.
“They allegedly assaultedand tortured him to force himto pay up. Besides the twonames he has given, he said an-other four-five persons wereinvolved. Our investigation isgoing in the right directionand we hope to get some leadssoon,” said an official on con-dition of anonymity. Parikhwas released on November 26.
Mumbai traderabducted in
Delhi releasedafter a month
Alerts Health Impact Description AQI
None
MinimalImpact Good 0-50
May cause minor breathing discomfort to sensitive people Satisfactory 51-100
May cause breathing discomfort to the people with lung disease; discomfort to people with heart disease, children and elders
Moderate 101-200
May cause breathing discomfort to people on prolonged exposure; discomfort to people with heart disease
Poor 201-300
May cause respiratory illness to the people on prolonged exposure; pronounced effect in people with lung and heart diseases
Very Poor 301-400
May cause respiratory effects on healthy people; serious health impacts on people with lung/heart diseases
Severe 401-500
AQI Description Health Impact Alerts
0-50 ExcellentAir quality satisfactory, and air pollution poses little or no risk
➤ When PM 2.5 levels are higher than 150 μm/m3 | Children, elderly with cardiovascular or respiratory conditions warned, dust prevention at construction sites➤ PM 2.5 levels above 150 μm/m3 for 3 days | Vulnerable groups to stay indoors, power plants, factories asked to reduce emissions➤ PM 2.5 levels more than 150 μm/m3 for 3 days and more than 250 μm/m3 on some days | factories close, no outdoor activity➤ PM2.5 above 250 μm/m3 | Schools close, power plants cut emissions, car use regulated as per licence number
51-100 GoodFor some pollutants there may be a moderate health concern for a small number of people
101-150 SlightlyPolluted
Sensitive groups may experience health effects. General public not likely to be affected
151-200 Moderately Polluted
Heart and respiratory system of everyone may be affected; serious health effects on sensitive groups
201-300 Heavily Polluted
Patients with heart and lung diseases severly affected; healthy people are commonly affected
>300 Severely Polluted
Weaker endurance in activities and significant severe health warnings among healthy; certain diseases have early appearance
CHINA HAS STRICTER NORMS AND A FOUR-LEVEL ALARM SYSTEMINDIA HAS LAX STANDARDS AND NO ALERTS
HERE’S WHY BEIJING’S AIR HAS BECOME A LOT CLEANER THAN DELHI’S
AQI (Air Quality Index) based on PM 2.5 levels
AIR QUALITY INDEX
POLLUTION FRIGHT
Source: SAFAR@MoES-IITM-IMD (10 stations)
PM2.5
Delhi 352 Very PoorTomorrow 359 Very Poor
Pune 98 GoodTomorrow 90 Good
Mumbai
Tomorrow239 Poor245 Poor
US Embassy data calculated as per Indian standards by SAFAR@MoES-IITM-IMDBased on 1 Station Data Per City at 4pm
Hyderabad 36 GoodChennai 18 GoodKolkata 323 Very Poor
New Delhi: It’s going to be a wingdingfor ink-slingers and tattoo lovers whorelish it as an art and a form of self-ex-pression as the capital is all set to host afirst-of-its-kind tattoo convention. Thethree-day event called Heartwork Tat-too Festival, to begin from December 4at the IGI Stadium, seeks to clear themyths, misconceptions and tabooaround inking and also highlight In-dia’s centuries-old tattoo saga.
With body art workshops by inter-national legends from the tattoo indus-try like Anil Gupta, Paul Booth andAndy Shou, it is not only a platform forupcoming tattoo artists to get an in-sight into international body art prac-tices but a chance for those wanting to
ed our country to have some sort ofstanding in the field. This is also an at-tempt to educate people that tattooingis not a taboo anymore, and that it is an-other form of art, in fact, the most dy-namic one,” says Lokesh Verma.
Over 60 Indian and internationalartists will showcase their work with“live tattooing” ranging from tradi-tional to new school. There will also beatattoo design competition with multi-ple categories to compete in.
“With the event being conducted inan open area, visitors will be able towitness the methods of tattooing andclear their doubts on safety and hy-giene. This is not something alien to In-dia. From different tribes in Aruna-chal Pradesh to communities in Rajas-than, each place in the country has itsown history of tattooing,” says Verma.
“Our larger aim with such a con-vention is to put India on the worldmap of tattoos. I have worked in 17 dif-ferent countries and have always want-
sport a tattoo inked by these artists. While Paul Booth is an American
tattoo artist known for working on themusician Fred Durst, members of theheavy metal band Slipknot, and WWEwrestler, The Undertaker, Anil Guptais renowned for his realistic portraitsand expertise in celtic knot work withintricate patterns and designs. AndyShou is a Chinese tattoo designer whohas also authored a boo k on Chinesetattoo art.
Heartwork has been curated by Sa-meer Patange, a Mumbai-based celeb-rity tattoo artist popular in the indus-try for inking many from Bollywood,Delhi-based Lokesh Verma, who iscountry’s first award winning tattooartist, and Tattoo Empire and TattooGizmo, the distributors of tattooequipment in India.
Delhi to ink a new chapter with tattoo festDharvi.Vaid
@timesgroup.com
BODY AS CANVAS
Photo courtesy: Devilz Tattooz
New Delhi: A trial court hascome to the rescue of a dis-abled woman, who was alleg-edly moved to an old-agehome by her siblings, possi-bly because they wanted tousurp her share in the familyproperty. The court onWednesday ordered the Del-hi Commission for Women toprobe the matter.
Considering discrepan-cies in the statements of thekin of the woman regardingher condition and noting thatshe was not capable of safe-guarding her own rights, thecourt also ordered the gov-ernment to appoint a guardi-an for her.
The episode came to lightwhen the court was hearing aproperty dispute suit filed bythe woman’s elder sisteragainst their brother, alleg-ing that he was selling thefamily property at Sarai Ro-hilla without giving her anyshare. The court sought re-sponses from all family mem-bers, including the woman,in the case.
Initially, the family wasreluctant to even reveal herwhereabouts, forcing thecourt to call in cops. Later, thecourt found several contra-dictions in their statements.While the elder sister saidtheir brother was responsib-le for the woman’s disability,alleging that he had hit her
with a hot strainer, othersclaimed that she had beensexually abused severaltimes by her former employ-er and suffered a series ofabortions.
While other family mem-bers admitted that the wom-an was receiving treatmentat the Institute of Human Be-havior and Allied Sciences,they were not able to produceany medical records, sayingthese had been misplaced.The elder sister, however,claimed to have the recordsand was asked to producethem within two weeks.
The court noted that thepossibility of the woman be-ing “tutored” by her siblingscould not be ruled out. “It isdifficult for me to prima faciedraw any inference about hermental state, but, certainly,there is some disturbance re-quiring psychiatric inter-vention…Considering the ci-rcumstances that have nowemerged, I am convinced thatshe is in a state of destitutionand her family... are not ma-intaining her and despite thefact that she hardly appearsto be 40-50 years of age, shehas been admitted to an old-age home...” said additionaldistrict judge Kamini Lau.
Dumped by kin,court comes towoman’s rescue
WORLD DISABILITY DAY
December 3
New Delhi: The South DelhiMunicipal Corporation hasissued a public notice statingthat parking fee should not becollected in the premises ofcommercial complexes,malls and private hospitals.The notice has come almost amonth after the proposal waspassed in the civic body’sstanding committee meeting.
The notice mentions thatthe place earmarked for park-ing in commercial complex-es, malls and private hospi-tals is free from floor area ra-tio (FAR) and no fee can becharged from the public. “Un-der the provisions of MasterPlan 2021 and plans sanctio-ned by the corporation, thearea reserved for parkingcannot be put to commercialuse. The fee collection vio-lates the corporation’s rules,”said a South Corporation official.
Standing committeechairman Radhey ShyamSharma said they are going toissue notices to every com-plex to stop collecting park-ing charges. “We are going togive them a choice. If theywant to continue chargingparking fee, then they willhave to get a trade licencefrom the corporation for car-rying out commercial activ-ity. Strict action will be takenagainst those complexes
which fail to follow the regu-lations,” he said.
While south Delhi resi-dents have welcomed the civ-ic body’s decision, a few stillthink that if parking is madefree then everyone will sta-tion their vehicles at malls,hospitals and commercialcomplexes causing conges-tion issues. “Everyone willstart parking their vehicles atmalls and other complexesunless the civic body deploysenforcement staff to keep aneye on it,” said Ajay Agarwal,a resident of Green Park.
The civic body also statesthat it is the responsibility ofthe complex owners to ensurethat orders are followed andmonitoring is done. “We arenot going to monitor whetherthe order is being compliedwith or not. The private com-plexes should monitor theirpremises and deploy guards,if required,” Sharma said.
The condition outsideMax Super Speciality Hospi-tal in Saket is pathetic as mostvehicles are parked on theroad despite parking fee be-ing charged. Residents feeljams and congestion willworsen if charging parkingfee is stopped. Officials claimthat as they have just startedthe procedure, it is too early tocomment on the consequenc-es of the order. “We are goingstep-by-step, the first being is-suing notices to the complex-es,” said a senior official.
No parking feeat S Delhi malls,
pvt hospitals
Vipin
NEW PLAN: South Delhi residents have welcomed the move
New Delhi: A section of thealumni of Jamia Millia Islamiahas now written to the univer-sity administration welcomingits decision to invite Prime Mi-nister Narendra Modi to deli-ver the convocation address.The university community isdivided over the invite to Modifor the convocation, the date forwhich will depend on confir-mation from the PM office.
The letter, addressed to theJamia vice-chancellor and sig-ned as “from the alumni com-munity”, said the invitation tothe PM for the 2015 convocationwas a step in the right directionand that all former and currentstudents supported it. Signeddocuments from the alumni ha-ve been enclosed with the letter,which further said that all Ja-mia students and alumni werewaiting to welcome Modi.
A couple of days ago, a sec-tion of the alumni wrote to theuniversity to withdraw the in-vitation, alleging that Modiand “his party has been cons-tantly involved in spreadingrumours and hatred about Ja-mia Millia Islamia”.
Reacting to the letter, thissection of alumni urged theuniversity not to change its de-cision because of a small sec-tion of students.
Jamia stilldivided overModi invite
TIMES NEWS NETWORKNew Delhi: Hotel Le Meridien, whichis facing a CBI probe for allegedly de-faulting on licence fees, has defendeditself before the Delhi high court.
In a mammoth counter affidavit fil-ed in court on Wedesday, the hotel an-nexed key internal file notings ofNDMC to maintain the Rs 151crore paidby it constitutes a full settlement of li-cence fee dues with the hotel till 2013-14and that the civic agency has illegallybacked out from the agreement now.
It also points out that the figure ofRs 151 was calculated and offered byNDMC itself, with the hotel agreeingonly with a view to put an end to the dec-ade-long case pending in the HC.
The dispute and subsequent at-tempts by then chairman Jalaj Srivas-tav to settle it figured prominently inthe unceremonious exit of the thenUnion home secretary L C Goyal in Sep-tember.
A disagreement over referring theNDMC-Le Meridien deal to a widerprobe resulted in the government
shunting out Goyal and his junior col-league A K Singh from MHA. On a com-plaint filed by former NDMC officer BN Singh, the MHA had appointed athree-member panel to examine the al-legations that Srivastav and his juniorHimanshu Ranjan indulged in severalirregularities, including in the dealwith Le Meridien.
When the MHA panel found enoughmerit in Singh’s complaint to recom-mend a probe by an independent agen-cy, Goyal refused to give his nod while
the additional secretary pushed for thecase to be handed over to CBI. Eventu-ally both senior IAS officers were re-moved but a CBI probe started.
CBI is investigating allegationsthat NDMC suffered a loss of over Rs400 crore due to its officials agreeing tosettle dues from the luxury hotel at Rs150 crore.
Meanwhile, NDMC too approachedHC seeking to disown the previous set-tlement and raising a fresh demand. Inresponse, the hotel through its parentcompany C J International hasclaimed it owed even less than Rs 151crore to NDMC.
“It was all along understood thatpayments in term with calculation ofRs 151 will form the basis of paymentsto be made by the hotel towards futurelicence fee,” the affidavit filed in HCsays, adding that “fresh demand of Rs540 crore was made by NDMC for thefirst time in 15 years without any foun-dation”.
The affidavit maintains that theamount paid by it to NDMC forms theentire amount due towards licence feearrears, including interest.
Paid licence dues: Le Meridien
COURT BATTLE
[email protected]@timesgroup.com
WEATHERMax 24.6°C (0) / Min 13.5°C (+5)Moonrise: Friday – 12:32am
Moonset: Thursday – 12:33 pmSunset: Thursday - 05:25 pmSunrise: Friday - 06:58 amPartly cloudy sky. Shallow to moderate fogwould occur at a few places in the morn-ing/forenoon. Maximum & min temper-ature on Thursday will be around 26°C &13°C . Max Humidity on Wednesday was98% and min 13%