Barricades at Sarojini Market, in New Delhi. (Express Photo by Praveen Khanna)Delhi News and Live Updates: The Delhi Disaster Management Authority (DDMA) on Tuesday decided to impose a weekend curfew in Delhi, starting from this week. Only essential movement will be allowed during the curfew. Work from home in all government and private offices except essential services.
Meanwhile, Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal on Tuesday tested positive for Covid-19 and has mild symptoms, the CM informed on Twitter. He has requested everyone who came in contact with him in the last few days to get tested.
Delhi Monday reported 4,099 fresh Covid-19 cases with a positivity rate of 6.46 percent. One more person died due to Covid-19 while 1,509 have recovered.
On the first day of vaccinating teenagers aged 15-18, Delhi administered the first shot to 20,998 children. Numbers are expected to go up from Tuesday when districts start vaccinating at camps. As many as 1.01 million children are eligible for the shot, as per Delhi government data.
With Covid cases on the rise, Delhi Health Minister Satyendar Jain Monday said over 81% of the total samples sequenced over the last two days were found to have the Omicron variant. Of the 187 samples sequenced in the two days, 152 were classified as omicron, as per the data shared by the Delhi government.
A weekend lockdown will be imposed in Delhi, starting this weekend, Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia said Tuesday. Meanwhile, the Delhi metro and buses will now allow 100 per cent seat occupancy to avoid crowding at bus stops and stations.
The decision was taken in a Delhi Disaster Management Authority (DDMA) meeting to review the Covid-19 situation in the national capital.
“I request people to not go out during the weekends, unless it is an emergency,” Sisodia said. Read more
'Weekend curfew in Delhi will be imposed Saturday and Sunda. Request people to go out for essential needs only,' says Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia.
All Delhi Government officials who are not involved in essential services will work from home. Private offices will be allowed to call 50% of their staff to office, says Sisodia.
He also added, "Buses and metros will run at full capacity, but no one will be allowed without masks. this is being done to ensure there is no crowding at stations and bus stops."
Of the 11 revenue districts in the capital, five have seen a three-fold increase in daily Covid cases in the past five days. District officials have strengthened the implementation of micro-containment zones and plan to cordon off the area, block, colony, or RWAs if there are five or more containment zones.
According to data shared by district officials, South, Southeast and West have seen the highest spike between December 29 and January 2. In this period, South district, which has been on top of the list since cases started increasing, saw a spike from 175 to 484; Southeast district saw a jump from 124 to 492; while West saw cases increasing from 94 to 464. Read more
The Delhi Disaster Management Authority (DDMA) on Tuesday decided to impose weekend curfew in Delhi, starting from this week. Only essential movement will be allowed during the curfew. Work from home in all government and private offices except essential services.
A Delhi court on Tuesday pulled up the CBI for filing a closure report against a former Canara Bank and Union Bank honcho under investigation for allegedly amassing disproportionate assets, stating that a transaction Rs. 1.15 crore was “not prima facie legal but only an attempt to camouflage illegal money” and therefore merited deeper investigation.
The case was registered on allegations that Archana Bhargava, former chairperson and managing director of United Bank of India and executive director of Canara Bank, abused her official position to obtain for herself and for a company owned by her husband and son — Rank Mercantile Private Ltd (RMPL) — various amounts from companies that got loans from the banks she helmed. Read more
Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal and his ministers are expected to get new offices at ITO as the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) government is planning to construct twin towers at an estimated cost of Rs 1,910 crore.
The new building, comprising 30 to 35 storeys, will be constructed on three plots of land at ITO after demolishing the existing structure at Vikas Bhawan-1, MSO Building (PWD headquarters) and GST Building. The total plot area of these three existing buildings is 53,603 square meters. Read more
Cloudy skies and the possibility of very light rainfall are on the India Meteorological Department (IMD) forecast for Tuesday, while the week ahead is also likely to be a rainy one.
The IMD has predicted that two western disturbances are likely to affect northwest India from January 4 to 9. Western disturbances are storms that originate in the Mediterranean region and bring winter rainfall to parts of northwest India.
Light rainfall remains on the IMD forecast from January 5 to January 8, followed by the possibility of thunderstorms on January 9 and 10. Read more
From journalists to a pilot to a Congress leader to the mother of a missing JNU student — these are among the 100-plus Muslim women who have found their names on a website that used their photos without consent, alongside degrading text meant to imply they were being auctioned.
This comes barely six months after another such website was created, also using GitHub, a provider of Internet hosting for software development. No arrest has been made so far in that case by police in Delhi, Noida or Gurgaon. Read more
Five men, including the 20-year-old informer of Uttar Pradesh police have been arrested for allegedly committing robbery of Rs 75 lakh after posing as policemen.
East Delhi Municipal Corporation (EDMC) has decided to take strict action against property tax defaulters and issued a notice to M/s Parsvnath Developers Limited, owner of Parsvnath Mall located in Akshardham, in this regard, said the civic body in a press statement.
Additional commissioner Brajesh Singh said that Parsvnath Developers had not paid property tax for the last three years. They failed to file the required information regarding the property tax liability of the mall premises, he said. Read more
Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal has tested positive for Covid-19. The AAP chief took to Twitter on Tuesday to say that he has mild symptoms and requested people who came in his touch in the last few days to get tested. Read more
BJP leader Subramanian Swamy has approached the Delhi High Court seeking to quash the Air India disinvestment process and set aside the approvals given to it by authorities.
A bench of Chief Justice D N Patel and Justice Jyoti Singh is scheduled to hear the petition on Tuesday.
Swamy, a Rajya Sabha MP, has sought to set aside and revoke any action or decision or grant of any further approvals, permissions or permits by the authorities with respect to the present Air India disinvestment process.
Swamy, through advocate Satya Sabarwal, has also sought for a CBI investigation into the role and functioning of authorities and submission of a detailed report to the court. (PTI)
Delhi Gurdwara Elections Minister Rajendra Pal Gautam on Monday introduced the Delhi Sikh Gurdwara (Amendment) Bill, 2022 in the Assembly to add one more member to the list of nominated members of the DSGMC, taking its total to 10.
The Bill also seeks to add the head priest of Shri Akal Takht, Damdama Sahib, Talwandi Sabo, Bhatinda, Punjab to the list of existing four head priests of the Sri Akal Takhts, who act as nominated members to the Delhi Sikh Gurudwara Management Committee (DSGMC).
According to a statement released by Delhi Assembly, the amendment in Section 4(b)(ii) would take the number of nominated members under this subsection to five. They are the head priests of Sri Akal Takhat Sahib, Amritsar, Sri Akal Takhat Sahib, Anandpur, Sri Akal Takhat Sahib, Patna, Sri Akal Takhat Huzur Sahib, Nanded, and Sri Akal Takht, Damdama Sahib, Talwandi Sabo, Bhatinda, Punjab.
It said that none of the head priests have voting rights for the purpose of election of office-bearers and other members of the executive board under sub-section (1) and sub-section (2) of Section 16 of the Bill. (PTI)
The Delhi government has asked all school principals to daily upload the status of vaccinated students on Google Tracker by 4 pm without fail, officials said on Monday.
Over 20,900 teenagers received their first vaccine dose as the inoculation drive for the 15 to 18 age group began at 169 vaccination centres in Delhi on Monday.
The national capital reported 4,099 new Covid cases on Monday, 28 per cent more than Sunday, and one death as the positivity rate rose to 6.46 per cent, according to data shared by the Health Department.
"Heads of Schools shall daily upload the status of vaccinated school students on Google Tracker by 4 pm without fail. Class teachers must ensure that parents are informed to take their children to the nearest vaccination site earmarked for vaccination of children between 15 to 18 years of age," the Directorate of Education (DoE) said in an order.
It said that in case the school itself has been identified as a Covid vaccination centre for the 15 to 18 years age group, parents may accompany the children to the school and facilitation in terms of provision of a separate room, staff for queue management & verifier should be provided by the principals.
"If the school is not a Covid vaccination centre, but a temporary camp mode vaccination of its students is required, the head of the School will get in touch with the district immunization officer so that a mobile team can be positioned for sufficient days depending upon the number of children to be vaccinated. (PTI)
The SFI and other student organisations of the Delhi University, which have been protesting for close to two months to reopen the campus, halted their stir on Monday because of rising Covid cases and the restrictions imposed by the city government.
The indefinite protest was halted after marking the birth anniversary of social reformer Savitribai Phule.
Addressing the gathering, Aarushi Sharma, the Secretary of the Student Federation of India's (SFI) Miranda House Unit said, "The DU administration deliberately did not want to reopen the campus even when the COVID-19 situation was better in Delhi."
"Whenever the vice-chancellor gave statements to re-open the campus, no interest was seen by the administration afterwards. They are forcing students to be the victim of the digital divide as there is a larger section of students that doesn't have proper Internet access and gadgets for attending online classes," Sharma said. (PTI)
A plea filed in the Delhi High Court on Monday sought the release and rehabilitation of an African elephant gifted to India by the Zimbabwean government and kept chained at the National Zoological Park here for 16 years now.
A bench of Chief Justice D N Patel and Justice Jyoti Singh issued notices and sought responses of the Centre, Delhi government, National Zoological Park, Central Zoo Authority (CZA) and the Animal Welfare Board of India (AWBI) on the petition and listed the matter for further hearing on March 9.
The court also directed the authorities to consider a representation preferred by the petitioner in this regard in November last year.
The plea filed by 16-year-old Nikita Dhawan, founder of Youth For Animals (YFA), said the lone African elephant named ‘Shankar' is a victim of cruelty and viciousness at the hands of caretakers at the zoo, and his present condition is nothing less than illegal imprisonment.
Dhawan said it will be a violation of Article 21 of the Constitution if the animal is not rehabilitated in a sanctuary as his mental and physical health is deteriorating day by day.
The plea cited a 2009 circular issued by the CZA which had banned exhibition of elephants in zoos, as well as CZA guidelines prohibiting an elephant to be held in solitary for over six months. (PTI)
The Delhi assembly on Monday constituted a panel to look into matters of stray cow welfare and utilisation of funds given to "gaushalas" here after MLAs of the ruling Aam Aadmi Party slammed the BJP-ruled municipal corporations of Delhi of financial "misappropriation".
The proposal to form the committee was moved by AAP MLA Saurabh Bhardwaj and it was approved by the House on the first day of its two-day session. Speaker Ram Niwas Goel said that the committee will submit its report on the issues to the House in a month's time. In a discussion on the issues, Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) legislators slammed the BJP and the municipal corporations for not coming up with a single "gaushala" (cow shelter) in the city and not attending to stray cattle.
Delhi has three municipal corporations -- South Delhi Municipal Corporation (SDMC), East Delhi Municipal Corporation (EDMC) and North Delhi Municipal Corporation (NDMC) -- and all have mayors who are from the BJP. (PTI)
Delhi on Monday recorded an air quality index (AQI) of 389, which falls in the "very poor" category, but rains expected in the next couple of days are likely to bring some improvement. The AQI of neighbouring areas of Ghaziabad (366), Gurugram (355), Noida (346), and Faridabad (340) was also recorded in the very poor category. At 295, Greater Noida recorded an AQI in the poor category.
Delhi's 24-hour AQI at 4 pm stood at 389. In the morning, the air quality of the national capital was recorded at 387 (very poor). The government's air quality forecast agency SAFAR said the AQI will continue to remain very poor on Tuesday. (PTI)
Amid rising coronavirus cases in the national capital, the Delhi Disaster Management Authority (DDMA) is expected to consider more restrictions -- to arrest the spread of the infection -- in its meeting scheduled on Tuesday, official sources said.
Delhi added 4,099 new COVID-19 cases with positivity rate jumping to 6.46 percent in the past 24 hours, as per the city government's health bulletin on Monday.
The DDMA in its last meeting on December 29 had decided that Covid-related restrictions imposed in Delhi under the 'yellow alert' would continue in view of a low number of hospitalisations.
However, as per Graded Response Action Plan (GRAP), Delhi has reached the stage of Level 4 (red alert) restrictions that stipulates the closure of most activities and total curfew. The ‘red alert', as per GRAP, comes into force after positivity rate stays above 5 percent for two consecutive days.
"In the last DDMA meeting, it was decided to review the emerging situation and consider if further restrictions as per GRAP were required. The meeting on Tuesday will discuss if anything more was needed to be done to check the spread of Omicron," an official source said on Monday.
Delhi Health Minister Satyendar Jain on Monday said COVID cases were rising fast but the situation was under control because people were not getting seriously ill to require hospitalisation. (PTI)
District-wise vaccination status of 15-17 yrs age group as on January 3