Delhi's Covid-19 positivity rate is now at 1.04%. (Express photo by Praveen Khanna)Delhi News highlights: Delhi on Sunday recorded 570 fresh Covid-19 cases and four more deaths. The positivity rate is now at 1.04%. On Saturday, the city had reported 635 fresh Covid-19 cases and two deaths
The Delhi State Anganwadi Workers and Helpers Union (DSAWHU) said they would escalate the protest, which began 21 days ago, on February 22 if the government strikes a deal with other unions it is supposedly in negotiations with.
“On February 11, we received an email which was an invitation for a meeting with Women and Child Development Minister Rajendra Pal Gautam. But since they also invited CITU (Centre of Indian Trade Unions), we have said we will not be a part of it. We made it clear that we will not be a part of any talks which are held with any union except ours,” said Vrishali from DSAWHU.
The Delhi BJP on Sunday attacked Chief Minister and AAP leader Arvind Kejriwal, saying he has an "anti-nation mindset", and accused him of "buying votes" by taking money from Khalistanis.
Kejriwal has been under attack from both the Congress and the BJP who have questioned him over former Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) leader and poet Kumar Vishwas's accusations of he supporting separatists in Punjab, where voting for assembly polls was held on Sunday.
In a video, Vishwas also claimed that Kejriwal had spoken about becoming prime minister of a separate state. Kejriwal has, however, termed the allegations as "laughable" and said he must be the "world's sweetest terrorist" who builds schools and hospitals. (PTI)
Wearing fresh uniforms, young kids looked about excitedly at their newly renovated creche at the Mandoli women's prison here when it reopened after a long hiatus imposed due to COVID-19.
Dropped off by their mothers at 9 am, the little ones are eager to meet their friends and teacher after a long time and they are as enthusiastic about playing with new toys at the creche-cum-playschool which was set up when the prison was established in 2017.
Officials at Mandoli Jail no 16 said that as coronavirus cases came down and restrictions were removed in the outside world, the prison authorities also decided to open the creche again for children.
They said that all activities were suspended in the prison earlier due to the pandemic, and even NGOs and welfare organisations were not allowed access. This impacted the youngsters as they could not attend their classes, the officials said. (PTI)
As many as 1,000 Congress workers have submitted applications to the party for contesting the municipal corporation elections in the national capital, Delhi Congress president Anil Chaudhary said on Sunday.
The elections to the 272 wards of the three municipal corporations in Delhi are expected to be held in April. Early this month, the Congress asked its leaders and functionaries keen on contesting the elections to start applying for tickets from Monday.
"The number of applications received from Congress workers for the Corporation Elections-2022 has reached 1000, which is a very encouraging number," Chaudhary said in a statement.
He claimed that the enthusiasm of the Congress workers to submit applications is a "clear indication" that the party will perform very well in the corporation elections as the people have come to know "the reality" of both the BJP and the Aam Aadmi Party. (PTI)
The Delhi High Court has imposed Rs 20,000 costs on the chairman of Staff Selection Commission (SSC) for the delay in compliance with its order to examine the answer sheets of a woman candidate who had applied for a post but mentioned the roll number incorrectly.
The court said its July 2019 order was complied with only after filing of the contempt petition by the candidate who has expended money. The court was informed by the central government counsel that an order has been passed by the SSC Chairman on February 11, 2022, relating to the exam given by the candidate, however, it was neither communicated to the petitioner nor brought on record.
"Evidently, the said order is in purported compliance of the directions of this court...dated July 29, 2019. Let a copy of the said order be communicated to the counsel for the petitioner by the respondent (SSC) during the course of the day on his e-mail, leaving it open to the petitioner to pursue her remedies as may be available in law.
"However, insofar as the compliance has been done only after filing of the instant contempt petition for which the petitioner has expended money, a nominal amount of Rs 20,000 is imposed upon the respondent to be paid to the petitioner within two weeks,” Justice Najmi Waziri said. (PTI)
With MCD polls two months away, the AAP and the BJP have started the process of identifying candidates.
Senior AAP leaders said that multiple surveys by different agencies are being conducted at the ward level to gather feedback on aspirants. Potential names are also being sought from Vidhan Sabha observers, district in-charges, and MLAs. Read more
Delhi on Sunday recorded 570 fresh Covid-19 cases and four more deaths. The positivity rate is now at 1.04%.
Delhi's power regulator DERC has appointed Delhi Police's former Special Commissioner Pardeep Kumar Bhardwaj as its ombudsman to examine grievances of the city's electricity consumers.
A 1987-batch IPS officer of the AGMUT cadre, Bhardwaj had earlier held several prestigious posts in the central government and had retired as a special commissioner of Delhi Police. He was administered the oath of office by the Delhi Electricity Regulatory Commission Chairman Justice (Retd) Shabihul Hasnain earlier this week, said a DERC statement.
The institution of the Electricity Ombudsman was established by the Commission under the provisions of Sections 42(5) and 42(6) of the Electricity Act, 2003 and the DERC (Forum for redressal of grievances of the consumers and ombudsman) Regulations, 2018. (PTI)
A 24-year-old man died while his brother sustained severe injuries after a chemical drum exploded inside their workshop in Delhi’s Dwarka Sunday morning. Police said the men were sitting at their workshop where the family repairs sofa and other furniture. A drum, used for storing chemical foam, exploded because of a short circuit and a fire broke out inside the workshop. Read more
Distraught after he lost his livelihood in Mumbai due to the Covid-19 pandemic last year, 44-year-old dance teacher Balaji Sawalkar arrived in Delhi to start life afresh.
But he found no takers for his dancing skills in the national capital. When he ran out of money, he started to live in ‘Rain Basera’, a night shelter for homeless people in the city. It was here the Delhi Police found him and helped him to get a job at a restaurant. Read more
A public interest litigation has been filed before the Delhi High Court seeking a direction to the AAP government here to appoint within one month a Lokayukta as promised by it in its election manifesto of 2020.
Petitioner Ashwini Kumar Upadhyay, a lawyer, has stated that the political party came into existence after the historic anti-corruption movement but the post of Lokayukta has been lying vacant since December 2020.
The petitioner has alleged that the Delhi government is not taking steps to weed out the menace of bribery, black money, benami property, tax evasion, profiteering and other economic as well as white-collar offences and therefore, being the protector of fundamental rights, the court has to intervene in the matter of the appointment of a Lokayukta. (PTI)
A 31-year-old Indo-Tibetan Border Police (ITBP) jawan deployed for security duty at the Teen Murti Bhavan here allegedly shot himself dead on Sunday using his service rifle, officials said.
Constable Y Reddy was found dead around 5 AM with his INSAS rifle lying next to him, they said. Reddy was from Karnataka and had returned from a 30-day leave just about two weeks back. A purported suicide note was recovered from his bed in which he has accused his wife and father-in-law of mentally harassing him, officials said. (PTI)
In a bid to beautify the Lutyen’s Zone and New Delhi areas, the New Delhi Municipal Council (NDMC) has decided to decorate all walls under its jurisdiction with paintings of India’s cultural heritage and freedom fighters as well as messages about civic awareness, said officials.
According to NDMC officials, the council has taken this decision under the Azadi Ka Amrit Mahotsav project to celebrate the 75 years of India’s Independence. The main aim of this initiative is to paint the boundary wall of several public places, monuments, school buildings, parks etc. with the street art and Independence theme. Read more
With many residents of old age homes missing out on Covid-19 immunisation due to the lack of identity cards, a special drive was organised by a doctor from the All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) on Saturday to reach them. Around 250 persons were administered the vaccine at the camp held at Rajghat between 9 am and 4.30 pm.
The doctor, through an organisation founded by him, reached out to residents of at least 19 old age homes in the city. And, a message was sent out to all 74 homes across the city to bring their residents for immunisation. Read more
Shop owners at Palika Bazaar believe that the 44-year-old market has a reputation that it does not deserve. The bazaar is on the United States Trade Representative (USTR) 2021 list of markets notorious for counterfeiting and piracy.
“They don’t seem to have surveyed the bazaar or visited it before making the list. Business is already poor, and a listing like this makes a difference to the market’s reputation,” said Mahesh Jaitley, vice president of the Palika Bazaar Association. Read more
It was a pleasant Sunday morning in Delhi with the minimum temperature settling at 11.4 degrees Celsius, the India Meteorological Department said.
The relative humidity in the city at 8.30 am was 83 percent. The weatherman has predicted mainly clear skies with strong surface winds during the daytime. The maximum temperature is likely to settle around 25 degrees Celsius.
The air quality index (AQI) of Delhi was recorded in the moderate category. The AQI read 175 around 9 am, according to the Central Pollution Control Board. The AQI of neighbouring Faridabad (171), Ghaziabad (185), Gurgaon (214), Noida (143) and Greater Noida (128) was recorded between poor and moderate categories. (PTI)
A bike suspected to have been used to plant a bomb at the capital’s Ghazipur flower market last month has been recovered from near the Old Seemapuri area, where another improvised explosive device (IED) was found in a house, the Delhi police’s Special Cell said. It suspects the ammonium nitrate and RDX bombs had been made by the same persons.
Both bombs were defused in a controlled manner. Read more
As the protest by anganwadi workers in the national capital entered its 20th day Saturday, the Delhi State Anganwadi Workers and Helpers Union (DSAWHU) said they would escalate the protest on February 22 if the government strikes a deal with other unions it is supposedly in negotiations with.
“On February 11, we received an email which was an invitation for a meeting with Women and Child Development Minister Rajendra Pal Gautam. But since they also invited CITU (Centre of Indian Trade Unions), we have said we will not be a part of it. We made it clear that we will not be a part of any talks which are held with any union except ours,” said Vrishali from DSAWHU. Read more
A section of students from the College of Art on Saturday staged a protest near Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal's residence over the institute's merger with the Delhi government-run Ambedkar University.
The Delhi University was informed that the Office of the Lieutenant Governor has in-principle approved the merger of the College of Art (COA), subject to its de-affiliation from the university. The Delhi University has not yet approved the de-affiliation.
The students held placards that read "Reject AUD, Reclaim DU", "We Reject CoA merger with AUD". They also submitted a memorandum to the office of the chief minister, demanding that the merger be stopped. The Students' Federation of India supported the protest. The JNU unit of the National Students' Union of India too expressed solidarity with the protesting students. (PTI)
Delhi Social Welfare Minister Rajendra Pal Gautam celebrated the birth anniversaries of social reformers Guru Ravidas and Gadge Maharaj on Saturday.
"Sant Ravidas had a dream that every person, irrespective of caste, should have the right to lead a dignified life. Both rich and the poor should get equal opportunities," Gautam said after he launched the programme by reciting a couplet of the 15th Century mystic poet and reformer.
Lavishing praise on Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal, Gautam said, “Now, the children of both rich and the poor in Delhi are getting an excellent education in government schools.” Speaking on abolishing caste-based oppression, the minister said the onus of creating a society free of discrimination is on every citizen. “Only then will our country will progress and will be called the golden bird again,” he said. (PTI)
With an emphasis on fighting air pollution, the Delhi government has started scrapping its old petrol and diesel vehicles and procuring electric ones. The General Administration Department (GAD) has recently procured 12 electric vehicles to be used by ministers and top officers of the Delhi government.
"We have also started the process to identify and send such vehicles that have completed their lifespan for scrapping," said a senior GAD officer.
According to a National Green Tribunal (NGT) order, the use of diesel and petrol vehicles older than 10 years and 15 years respectively is banned in Delhi. After the launch of the Electric Vehicle Policy in August 2020, various departments and autonomous bodies of the Delhi government have started replacing old petrol and diesel vehicles in their fleets with electric vehicles. (PTI)