THE TIMES OF INDIA, NEW DELHI TUESDAY, OCTOBER 28, 2014 5TIMES CITY

New Delhi: Commercial focusmay move out of New Delhiwith big plans of Smart City de-velopment being made on theoutskirts. Under the directionof the urban development min-istry, DDA is preparing a pro-posal to turn areas they hadidentified for land pooling intoagiant, integrated Smart City.

Around 24,000 hectares inNajafgarh, Kanjhawala andNarela will be converted into amodel city. It will have, amongother facilities, 100% power,100% internet connectivity,24/7 water supply, and high fre-quency mass transport.

Part of the BJP poll agenda,finance minister Arun Jaitleyhad announced Rs 7,060 crorefor development of 100 suchSmart Cities all over the coun-try. DDA’s Smart City projectwould be one of them. Officialsin the Authority say that theproposal has almost been com-pleted and will be tabled in thenext meeting for final approval.Once it gets the nod, work onthe project will begin immedi-ately, they say.

“By the end of this year, weshould be comfortably placed tostart land pooling scheme inDelhi, and at the same time wewould also have in place a PMCor a project management con-sultant. Our idea is to ensurethat by the time the developerentities—those who pool their

lands and begin its develop-ment—begin work on theirown projects we should havethe supporting infrastructurelike roads and public transporthubs in making alongside, so

that the two go on synchronous-ly. We want to create a modelcity that can be replicated inother parts of the country,”DDA vice-chairperson Balvin-der Kumar, who is overseeing

the project, said. Developmentis likely to bear visible resultsbetween the next five and tenyears at the end of which theSmart City should be function-al, Kumar said.

As a model, DDA has pickedthe Gujarat International Fi-nance Tec-City, or GIFT City asit is otherwise known as, whichwas the first Smart City com-missioned by Narendra Modias part of the 100 Smart Citycampaign.

“There is a lot to learn fromthe manner in which GIFT Cityis shaping up. The area whereit’s coming up is barren likeOuter Delhi, so we will try toreplicate their efforts of waterregeneration and recycling.For this we have decided to ap-point a world-class consultantwho will advise us in water con-servation, and another consult-ant to advise us on solid wastetreatment facilities. Smart Citywill be a model not only in tech-nical advancement but also inits approach towards utilizingprecious natural resources likewater,” Kumar said.

The Smart City in Delhi, forwhich DDA has been givencharge, will have to fulfil the setof parameters that define astandard Smart City. These in-clude dedicated bicycle lanes,high frequency mass transport,24x7 water and power suppliesto all households, no waterlog-ging incidents in a year, 100%internet coverage, 30 minutesemergency medical responsetime, and facilities like parks,retail outlets, parks, schools,and recreational areas to be lo-cated within 400 metres of 95%households.

Rohini Loni

Badarpur

PalamDwarka

UttamNagar

TilakNagar

Patel Nagar

KamlaNagar

SignatureBridge

DhaulaKuan

Delhi

BarapullahCorridor

IndiaGate

CP

PaschimVihar

Nangloi

MundkaJharodaKalan

DabodaKhurd

Badli

MunimpurKukrola

Dhansa

Luksar

Soldha

Najafgarh

Chhawla

MahipalpurHauz Khas

VasantKunj

MehrauliSaket

Kalkaji

Okhla

KhekraKundli

NarelaHalalpur

Qutabgarh

Begumpur

HolambiKhurd Alipur

Bakhtawarpur

NathuPura

BurariKanjhawala

BawanaTronicaCity

Palla

Pitampura

Pooth Khurd

Chhatarpur

Zone K-I

Zone-N

Zone-L

Zone P-II

KEY FEATURES

FUTURE PERFECTDDA’s Smart City to spread over areas marked for landpooling |

24,000 hectares in outer Delhi Based on concept of Gujarat International Finance Tec-City (GIFT City)

Wi-Fi hubs to provide 100% internet coverage at 100Mbps

Mobilitythrough surface-level & elevated roads

Buildingsbased on green technology

Top-notch water and solid waste management

100%metered power connection

High-frequency mass transport and dedicated bicycle lanes

New Delhi:A liftman workingin GB Pant Hospital has beenarrested and charged with sex-ually abusing a 15-year-oldmentally challenged girl whenher father left her in the wait-ing hall of the hospital to get anappointment from a doctor.The teenager had shared hertrauma with her father uponhis return.

The father approached po-lice on Saturday night afterwhich an FIR was registered.Mohd Zafar (35), an area resi-dent, was arrested within a fewhours. Police suspect he alsoabused other girls and womenwho came to the hospital seek-ing treatment. “The girl wasalone in the waiting hall dur-ing evening hours. The ac-

cused took her to a room onpretext of getting her examin-ed by a doctor and assaultedher,” an officer said.

Her father, who owns ashop in southeast Delhi’s Jait-pur area, said he had come tothe hospital to get a disabilitycertificate for her. When he re-turned to the waiting hall, he

found her lying on the floorcrying. She kept repeating thatshe wanted to leave. When heinsisted she tell him what theproblem was, the girl said thataman had taken her to an emp-ty room and, once there, tou-ched her inappropriately andalso threatened her with direconsequences.

The shocked father rushed

to the police post at LNJP Hos-pital which is nearest to thespot and narrated all to duty of-ficers there. An FIR was regis-tered under POCSO Act.

Scanning CCTV footagefrom the hospital, police iden-tified Zafar and tracked his lo-cation electronically. He wasnabbed in the early hours ofSunday from a friend’s housein the locality. He initially de-nied the charge but later brokedown and confessed. He wasproduced before the magist-rate and sent to Tihar Jail. Po-lice are probing if he abusedother patients. They are goingthrough Zafar’s mobile phoneto check if he had filmed thechild. Police have informed thehospital authorities and areprobing to see if there was anynegligence on their part.

Hospital liftman arrestedfor assaulting disabled girl

POCSO INVOKED

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New Delhi: Traffic in centralDelhi came to a dead stop onMonday afternoon when DeenDayal Upadhyaya Marg wasshut down for a visit of Presi-dent Pranab Mukherjee to theCAG office. The one-and-a-half-hour engagement threw trafficout of gear on this major thor-oughfare. Many commuterswere stuck in jam for nearly an hour.

Police were on tenterhooksas they had been asked to causeminimum inconvenience tothe public. They had even comeup with a route map for VVIPmovement. During a recentvisit of Prime Minister Naren-dra Modi to AIIMS, they had al-lowed traffic to move alongwith the cavalcade but main-tained a distance of 100 metresaround the high-security vehi-cles. There were even no police-men in uniform guarding the road.

However, no such measureswere taken for the President’svisit. The snarls began aroundnoon when vehicles headingfor north and central Delhiwere stopped short at ITO sig-nal though vehicles going to-wards Vikas Marg were al-lowed to take a right turn.There was congestion as vehi-cles going left blocked the way.The hour-long blocking of theroad led to jams that soon reac-hed India Gate and Old ITObridge.

What added to the prob-

lems for the commuters wasthe ad hoc traffic managementas well as no advance warn-ings. As a result, huge tail-backs were seen in all direc-tions. Though police insistedthey had a diversion plan inplace, it seemed to have had lit-tle effect.

Drivers lost patience andtried to take alternative routes,leading to a perfect gridlock.Soon traffic began crawlingand then came to a standstill onBahadur Shah Zafar Marg, Ja-wahar Lal Nehru Road, GeetaColony Road and Vikas Marg.

Even after movement restric-tions were lifted, traffic woescontinued for another hour. Bythis time, the epicenter of thejam had moved to the ITO inter-section which usually remainschaotic even otherwise.

“We had deployed extrapersonnel to keep the trafficmoving but being peak hour ittook time for the snarls to clearup,” said a traffic police officer.Police claimed they could final-ly get the traffic moving by 2pmbut it took a few hours more fornormalcy to be restored completely.

Prez visit to CAG officethrows traffic out of gear

GRIDLOCKED: The scene at ITO on Monday afternoon

TOI photo

New Delhi: Residents of Mangar, a vil-lage off Gurgaon-Faridabad highway,have claimed they have seen a leopard ina densely-forested patch close by on Sun-day. They have claimed that the leoparddragged away a cow, killed it and left apart of the carcass behind. This was oneof those rare occasions when villagershave spotted a leopard in the Mangarstretch of the Aravalis.

There are, otherwise, many cases ofcattle kill but villagers remained unsureas to whether or not a leopard was prey-ing on their livestock. Some villagerscampaigning for the protection of Man-gar forests said the leopard sighting con-firms thriving wildlife in the area.

Chaudhury Sukal, who owns cattleand has them graze in Mangar forests,

said that villagers went looking for theirmissing cow and spotted the leopard.Fearing they would be attacked, they ranaway.

“The leopard was spotted in exactlythe same place where some real estatecompanies had staked claim to land, say-ing it is agricultural. We have been say-

ing all along that the Mangar forests areimportant and ecologically rich. Now it’sbeen proved that there are leopardshere,” said Sunil Harsana, a villager.

Snow Leopard Trust, too, has docu-mented cases of cattle kill and pugmarksin the area. There were also sightings ofthe big cat near Asola Bhatti sanctuaryclose to the capital. Experts say it’s a signthat the Aravali or Ridge habitat aroundthe capital is critical to sustenance ofwildlife. Forest department officialshave said the corridor for their move-ment from Haryana and Rajasthan pas-ses through Mangar towards Asola Bhat-ti sanctuary.

“More patrolling is needed here sothat builders and poachers cannot dis-turb the habitat. It’s high time this partof Aravalis is notified,” another villagersaid.

Leopard spotted in Mangar jungles

RARE OCCASION: Wildlife thrives in this region

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New Delhi: A 22-year-oldwoman from Nagaland was al-legedly raped by a Nigeriannational who had promised toget her a job at a multinationalcompany and marry her. Theaccused has been arrested.

In her complaint to the po-lice, the woman said she hadmet the man six months backthrough a social networkingsite during which he claimedto work with a multinationalcompany based in Gurgaon.The man started meeting herfrequently and had recentlymoved in with her. Since then,he started raping her andthreatened her with dire con-sequences if she tried to es-cape. She told the cops that theman used to confine her to aroom and beat her up if she re-fused his advances. Finallyshe managed to escape fromhim on Sunday night and wentto the Maurice Nagar policestation where she registered acomplaint. A team of cops ar-rested the man from the houseon Monday morning.

The woman was sent for amedical examination afterwhich she was sent to a wom-en’s centre for counseling. Acase of rape and illegal con-finement has been registered.Police said that the womanhad come to the city two yearsback and had completed hergraduation from the DelhiUniversity after which waslooking for a job.

Nigerian heldfor raping girl

from Nagaland

New Delhi: Dengue has claimed its sec-ond victim in the capital. According to themunicipal corporation, a 52-year-old manadmitted at Max Super-Specialty Hospitaldied due to the mosquito-borne disease onOctober 10. Sureshwar Singh, a residentof Loni road near Shahdara in northeastDelhi, was diagnosed positive for the IgMantibody for dengue virus by the ELISAdiagnostic test.

The first dengue death took place inChhawla village in west Delhi where a 48-year-old man succumbed to the disease.

Cases of dengue have also gone up sig-nificantly in the last few weeks with thetotal number reaching 340, as on Saturday.“In the last one week, 115 dengue caseshave been reported from across the city,which is very high,” said a senior munici-

pal official. He added that the weather isuncharacteristically warm this year post-Diwali which is conducive for the growthof dengue mosquitoes.

Officials said south Delhi is the worst-hit by dengue with 155 cases reported thisseason. North and east corporations havereported 68 and 56 cases, respectively.“The numbers are less as compared to

previous years. In the year 2013, Delhi re-ported 4,402 cases during this period,” theofficial added.

Many hospitals said they are floodedwith requests for admission from patientssuffering from dengue symptoms. “Notall cases required admission as treatmentis mostly symptomatic. But patients con-firmed positive for dengue are scared at

the prospect of sudden drop in plateletcount. Elderly people often suffer from co-morbidities such as diabetes, heart dis-eases and other such health issues andthey need special care,” said a senior doc-tor at Moolchand MedCity hospital insouth Delhi. He added that they have re-ceived nearly 100 patients suffering fromdengue.

Asenior doctor at Safdarjung hospitalsaid: “Normally, we would see a sharp de-cline in dengue cases post-Diwali. But thisyear we are still getting 2-3 patients daily.”

Over 5,500 dengue cases and six deathswere registered in the national capital lastyear, according to SDMC, which compilesreport for vector-borne diseases in thecity. Civic bodies are continuing with pre-ventive measures like fumigation, check-ing of breeding areas and awareness cam-paigns to control the dengue menace.

Second dengue death in capital

115 CASES IN A WEEK

Outer Delhi set to get a ‘smart’ cityDDA Will Have It Built On 24,000Ha In Najafgarh, Narela And Kanjhawala

New Delhi: The Centre onMonday announced a num-ber of projects—a footballstadium, a cycle sharingproject, 13 community hallsand a cultural centre—forDwarka. “We are going toimplement cycle sharingproject in Dwarka. This isfor the first time such a pro-ject is being implemented inIndia,” Union urban devel-opment minister M Ven-kaiah Naidu said here.

The minister said thatcycling was very good forhealth and the centre hasspecially worked out thisproject keeping in mind acongested city like Delhi.“With the cycle sharing pro-ject ready, people don't needto buy a cycle,” he added. PTI

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Suhas.Munshi@timesgroup.com

New projectsfor Dwarka

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