Sreemati Chakraborti (69) remembers her early days in South Delhi’s Chittaranjan Park (C R Park) when heated arguments among residents would erupt in the markets over what must be the name of the neighbourhood. C R Park was at that time officially known as East Pakistan Displaced Persons Colony (EPDP Colony). Though colloquially it was known as ‘Bangali Colony’, a name that has stuck ever since.
In 1971, Chakraborti’s family was one among the 50-odd families who were the first to make EPDP Colony their home. In the next couple of years, the issue arose of giving the neighbourhood a name, more fitting of the history and identity of those residing in it. A plethora of options were discussed, including names of Nobel laureate Rabindranath Tagore, nationalist revolutionary Subhas Chandra Bose, and freedom fighter Bipin Chandra Pal. Eventually, the contest boiled down to two names — Chittaranjan Das or Purbachal, which translated loosely as mountain rangers from the east.
Over two months after the Delhi Police busted a racket of those helping aspirants crack entrance tests, including GMAT, the Graduate Management Admission Council (GMAC), which officially administers the exam, has cancelled the scores of 108 Indian candidates and also banned them from taking the test in future. Besides 108 candidates who took the test from India, the axe has fallen on 25 candidates from other countries in Southeast Asia as well as in Europe, West Asia and North America among others.
A 36-year-old man was killed while another person was injured after a BMW car allegedly rammed into them near the Lal Bahadur Shastri (LBS) hospital in Delhi on Friday. The police said that the accused BMW driver has been arrested. The deceased has been identified as Rahul. The injured person, also identified as Rahul (37), a resident of Khichri Pur in Delhi, suffered an injury on his left leg, said the police.
Vijay Shekhar Sharma (File)
Delhiites woke up to a sunny Sunday morning as the national capital recorded a minimum temperature of 16.2 degrees Celsius, one notch above the season's average, the India Meteorological Department said. The humidity was 75 per cent at 8.30 am.
The city's air quality was recorded in the moderate category with the AQI clocking 187 at 9 am, the Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB) data showed. An AQI between zero and 50 is considered good, 51 and 100 satisfactory, 101 and 200 moderate, 201 and 300 poor, 301 and 400 very poor, and 401 and 500 severe.
The city is expected to see mainly clear sky during day, and the maximum temperature may climb to 32 degrees Celsius, the weather department said. (PTI)
Sreemati Chakraborti (69) remembers her early days in South Delhi’s Chittaranjan Park (C R Park) when heated arguments among residents would erupt in the markets over what must be the name of the neighbourhood. C R Park was at that time officially known as East Pakistan Displaced Persons Colony (EPDP Colony). Though colloquially it was known as ‘Bangali Colony’, a name that has stuck ever since.
In 1971, Chakraborti’s family was one among the 50-odd families who were the first to make EPDP Colony their home. In the next couple of years, the issue arose of giving the neighbourhood a name, more fitting of the history and identity of those residing in it. A plethora of options were discussed, including names of Nobel laureate Rabindranath Tagore, nationalist revolutionary Subhas Chandra Bose, and freedom fighter Bipin Chandra Pal. Eventually, the contest boiled down to two names — Chittaranjan Das or Purbachal, which translated loosely as mountain rangers from the east. Read more
Olympic gold medallist Sushil Kumar, currently lodged in Tihar Jail in connection with a murder case, is now working as a fitness and wrestling coach for prison inmates, officials said Sunday. Five to six inmates have already joined the fitness classes and get training twice or thrice a week. Kumar was arrested in May last year along with his associates for allegedly thrashing and killing Sagar Dhankar, a young athlete, at Chhatrasal Stadium in New Delhi. Read more
A 30-year-old man was arrested for allegedly raping his 11-year-old step daughter and threatening to kill her in Gurugram on Saturday. According to police, the girl’s mother filed a police complaint against the accused. In the complaint, she said some time after her husband died six years ago, she had married the accused, who is a native of Nepal. For the past few years, they have been staying in a rented accommodation with their four children. Read more
Students of Class IX and XI in Delhi will be promoted to the next grade on the basis of their scores in the mid-term tests, annual examination and projects or practicals taken together and will be awarded up to 15 grace marks in any number of subjects to pass, according to the promotion policy issued by the education department for this academic session. Since 2020, the department has been issuing modified promotion policies for these grades because of the pandemic-induced school closures and the consequent disruption of teaching-learning. Read more
Commuting in South East Delhi is going to be all the more difficult as the Public Works Department (PWD) has decided to start repairs on the Mathura Road, even though work on the Ashram Chowk underpass and re-development of the Modi Mill Flyover is yet to be completed. Mathura Road is one of the key alternative stretches for commuters to escape the Ashram traffic. Now, owing to work on the Mathura Road, traffic movement on all the alternative routes to reach Sarai Kale Khan, East Delhi and Central Delhi, Noida, Badarpur and Faridabad will be severely affected in the coming days.
The Police will divert the traffic from the intersection point at Mathura Road, New Friends Colony East/West towards Mata Mandir Road. If commuters wish to travel to ISBT Sarai Kale Khan and Hazrat Nizamuddin, they would have to take the approach road via Mata Mandir Road to C V Raman Marg and then take a left to Ring Road to the Ashram Chowk. Read more
Gautam Gambhir, who represents East Delhi in the Lok Sabha, has said the unification of the municipal corporations of Delhi (MCDs) has been necessitated due to Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal-led Aam Aadmi Party government as it has been blocking funds given by the Centre for the civic bodies.
“Whatever is being done and whatever steps Election Commission is taking are according to rules and regulations. If anything is actually unconstitutional, then they could go the courts and get a stay,” said Gambhir, a Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader. The State Election Commission on Wednesday postponed the announcement of dates for the municipal polls in Delhi following a communication from the Centre on the unification of the civic bodies. Read more
On Friday a little past midnight, as the fire started spreading in the shanties at Gokulpuri, four members of a family woke up with a start and tried to escape their house as quickly as possible. It was only as they were running out, did they realise that their youngest, a teenage boy, was still asleep. In the next few seconds, as they tried desperately to wake him up, their jhuggi was engulfed in fire. On Saturday morning, their charred, unrecognisable bodies were recovered from the spot. Read more
The Delhi government on Saturday said that the musical on the life of social reformer B R Ambedkar has received a "tremendous response" from the public and shows will now go on till March 24. Earlier, the musical starring actor Rohit Roy was scheduled to end with two shows on March 12.
The musical on the life and legacy of Ambedkar, the architect of the Constitution, had kicked off on February 25 and shows were being held at the JLN Stadium here. "The Kejriwal government has decided to extend its musical drama on Babasaheb Ambedkar till March 24 after seeing the public's tremendous response for the show," Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia's office said in a statement.
The play is being showcased in a 100-ft arena having a 40-ft revolving stage, which has been mounted with thematic design. Stagecraft also include digital props and spectacular play of light and shadow. The duration of the play is about two hours, and it showcases a mix of theatrics, acrobatics and choral performance to background music. The script is embedded with social commentary on the plight of the Dalit community and its struggle. (PTI)
For the scores of labourers living in the shanties at Gokulpuri, Friday was a grim reminder of their material reality. The combustible material in the jhuggis made the fire spread rapidly, the tightly packed and unplanned shanties with only a few routes to exit or enter made it hard for people to escape, and the lack of 24×7 water supply meant even attempts at dousing the fire could not be made.
Now with their homes burnt down, and a night spent under the open sky with nothing to eat or wear, these men, women and children have just one hope — resettlement in pucca houses. Aranya Shankar , Abhinaya Harigovind report
The Public Works Department (PWD) has begun work on the nearly 4-km-long Moolchand to Ashram flyover stretch in a bid to decongest the corridor and make it safer for pedestrians. As part of this, a ‘sports centre/play area’ will come up below the 2.5-km-long Lajpat Nagar flyover for residents of nearby areas who have no access to parks. Lakhs of vehicles use this road, which sees heavy traffic snarls every day. To bring uniformity to the road, the department is removing bottlenecks and widening carriageways with equal width and length on both sides.
“Currently, there are many bottlenecks on this road due to which traffic movement is hit even during non-peak hours. Several motorists use the footpaths to escape traffic. Under the plan, the entire road will be redeveloped and pedestrianised,” said a senior PWD official working on the stretch, which is part of the government’s streetscaping project. The drainage system on the stretch is also being redeveloped to tackle waterlogging during monsoon. Read more
Vijay Shekhar Sharma, founder and CEO of Paytm, was arrested and released on bail by Delhi Police last month after being booked under IPC Section 279 (rash or negligent driving). According to an FIR filed in connection with the case, a Jaguar Land Rover, allegedly being driven by him, had hit the vehicle of DCP (South district) outside The Mother’s International School on Aurobindo Marg.
The incident took place on February 22 and police lodged an FIR on a complaint filed by Constable Dipak Kumar, posted as driver with DCP (South) Benita Mary Jaiker. Read more
Haryana Chief Minister Manohar Lal Khattar Saturday said the Haryana government will develop Damdama as a major tourist destination, which will promote eco-tourism, provide employment and lead to economic development of the region. He also said that a jungle safari will be launched in Aravallis, for which land has been identified and work is on.
“There is a lot of scope in tourism here, but not enough attention had been given to it in the past. In the last two years, we have been working in this direction. At Morni in Tikkar Taal, we have already started water sports and air sports. Similarly, at Damdama Lake, we will start water sports and air sports, which will help in promoting eco-tourism, especially among the youth in Delhi and NCR areas, who are particularly interested in adventure sports. It will lead to economic development of this region and provide employment to local people,” he said. Read more
Over two months after the Delhi Police busted a racket of those helping aspirants crack entrance tests, including GMAT, the Graduate Management Admission Council (GMAC), which officially administers the exam, has cancelled the scores of 108 Indian candidates and also banned them from taking the test in future. Besides 108 candidates who took the test from India, the axe has fallen on 25 candidates from other countries in Southeast Asia as well as in Europe, West Asia and North America among others. Read more
Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal asking if Lakshadweep Administrator Praful Patel would be appointed to the post. “Is Mr Praful Patel, Administrator of Lakshadweep, being made the next LG of Delhi?” Kejriwal tweeted Saturday. Anil Baijal, Delhi’s current L-G and a 1969 batch AGMUT cadre officer, was appointed in December 2016.
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Two men were arrested for allegedly abusing and attacking a police constable with beer bottle in north Delhi's Gulabi Bagh area, police said on Saturday. The accused have been identified as Ashok (22) and Yash Pratap Singh (22), both residents of Sarai Rohilla, they said.
On Thursday, constables Pradeep, Rikhil, and Vijay were on foot patrolling the Old Rohtak Road near Kishan Ganj Railway Station where they saw three men inside a car playing very loud music, police said. They signalled the car driver to turn the volume down, who in turn confronted them with abuses but moved from the spot, a senior police officer said. When they got to know that their car number was noted down, they took a U-turn and tried to run over the police staff but missed them and continued driving, the officer said. (PTI)
The Gurugram police has arrested 38 people, including nine women, allegedly doubling as loan recovery agents without lenders' permission and blackmailing and extorting money from defaulters in paying credits taken through some Chinese and other lending apps.
Police also raided a call centre run by them at a commercial complex in Udyog Vihar - Phase 1 here and seized 27 laptops and 44 mobiles used to run the racket.
A sum of Rs 1.70 lakh too was seized as the crime proceed, Assistant Commissioner of Police (Crime) Preet Pal Singh Sangwan said, adding an FIR in this connection has been registered at the Cybercrime police station. (PTI)
A petition has been filed before the Delhi High Court seeking direction to the Centre to facilitate the continuation of studies of Indian medical students who have returned from war-hit Ukraine in domestic colleges.
The petition by Pravasi Legal Cell, likely to be listed for hearing on March 21, has demanded that the central government should permit such students to complete their education in Indian medical colleges as an emergency and one-time measure.
The petition has submitted that presently, there are no norms and regulations in place to accommodate these rescued medical students in Indian medical colleges and the ongoing crisis in Ukraine has the potential of disrupting the careers of Indian students who have already gone through the trauma of being in the war zone. (PTI)
The maximum temperature in the national capital settled at 31.2 degrees Celsius, two notches above the season's average, on Saturday, the India Meteorological Department (IMD) said.
The minimum temperature settled at 15.6 degrees Celsius, normal during the season, it said. The relative humidity oscillated between 70 per cent and 42 per cent.
Delhi's air quality was recorded in the "moderate" category. The 24-hour average air quality index (AQI) read 160 at 4 pm, according to the Central Pollution Control Board. (PTI)