Another poll sop: Pay hike for Imams

Another poll sop: Pay hike for Imams

Rajesh Kumar | New Delhi With the fear of Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) poaching Muslim vote bank in the Capital, the ruling Congress Government on Monday has decided to come out with inducement for the minority communities.

The Delhi Wakf Board has enhanced the salary of Imams from Rs 3,000 to Rs 5,000 per month. The Board has also enhanced the salary of Moazzins up to Rs 2000 per month.

Keeping in view of the large number of minority communities, the Congress Government is all set to woo Muslim voters ahead of the Assembly polls. The decision assumes significant in the Assembly elections year as there are over 20 lakhs population of Muslims in Delhi who would play a major role to counter anti- incumbency factor of Congress Government over dozen of constituencies here. The Muslims always considered Congress vote bank in Delhi.

Delhi Wakf Board chairman and Congress MLA Mateen Ahmed on Tuesday announced the honorarium (salary) of Imams, Moazzins, school teachers, widown pensions and scholarship for minority students.

He also announcement for implementation of fifth pay commission for madarsa teachers.

Ahmed said that the salary of Imams was lower so the Board has decided to increase their salary.With this decision, Alim will get a monthly salary of Rs 5,020, Hafiz Rs 4850, Nazirah readers Rs 4200 and Mu’azzin Rs 4000. At present there are 252 Imams in Delhi.

In a bid to provide better financial help, monthly stipend (pension) of minority widow has been increased from Rs 300 t0 Rs 500. With this decision, over 1250 muslim widows would be benefited. Ahmed said that during his tenure, pension was increased from Rs 100 to Rs 200 and Rs 200 to Rs 300 per month.

The Delhi Wakf Board chairman said that the Board has also decided to enhance the monthly scholarship to the students of Madarsa Alia, Masjid Fatehpuri from Rs 300 to Rs 500.

The Board has also enhanced the remuneration to the teachers of Madarsa Alia up to Rs 2000 per month.

Sources in the Government said that the Delhi Government had approved the proposals to this effect two months ago but the announcement was delayed so that it could be cashed in the elections.

A delegation of Kul Hind Tanzeem Aimma-e-Masajid (All India Council of Imams) also met the Chief Minister Sheila Dikshit with a demand of increment in the salary of Imams.

The delegation also demanded the creation of special fund to meet the social and educational expenditure.

To woo minority sentiments, the Sheila Dikshit Government has earlier authorised Principal Secretary (Home) to regularly monitor implementation of the Prime Minister’s 15-point programme for the welfare of minorities and submit a six-monthly report to the Cabinet.

BJP may retain all sitting MLAs

BY MANISH ANAND

NEW DELHI

Aug. 26: While the Congress is zeroing in on fresh faces to replace a large number of its sitting MLAs, the BJP is all set to repeat all its MLAs except one in the forthcoming Delhi Assembly elections. The party is also tipped to leave aside four Assembly constituencies for its alliance partner Akali Dal (Badal), though the JD(U) demand for 20 seats has no takers in the party.

A senior party functionary said that the BJP has taken a view that tickets will not be denied to the sitting legislators. “Senior leaders have taken the view that the anti-incumbency factor works mostly against the sitting MLAs of the ruling party. As the party has been sitting on the Opposition benches for a decade, the sitting party legislators stand to gain with the strong undercurrent against the ruling party,” he added.

The BJP has 17 MLAs in the 70-member-strong Delhi Assembly, while the Congress has 47 members in the House. BJP MLA Dayanand Chandela from Khayala constituency is the lone sitting member who is tipped to be dropped due to the disciplinary action taken against him for anti-party activities. However, the party is wary that he might contest as an Independent.

The party leaders said that few of the local veteran leaders defeated in the last Assembly polls will also be given tickets. However, there will be no place for the BJP councillors in the Assembly elections. “There is no going back on the stand that those who contested the MCD elections will miss out on the Assembly polls,” said a senior party functionary.

The party is also of the view that no more than four seats can be given to the Akali Dal though the constituencies that they contested last time might be changed. “The BJP will also field four to five Sikh candidates in the Assembly polls, so the alliance together will put up around eight to nine candidates from the community to justify the demand of 10 per cent seats on the basis of the population,” added the party functionary. However, the demand of 20 seats by the JD(U) has been termed as highly ambitious. “The JD(U) does not have political base in the national capital, while the BJP has strong base among the people from Bihar and eastern UP residing here,” said a senior BJP leader.

How well are we prepared for Commonwealth Games: PHD Chamber

How well are we prepared for Commonwealth Games: PHD Chamber

India Infoline News Service / Mumbai Aug 26, 2008 09:26

The chamber suggests construction of a ‘preparedness level index’ to ensure that all projects are completed within the stipulated timeframe

The Olympics ceremony came to a grand closure last weekend, with a spectacular display by China on all fronts, be it sports, courtesy, hospitality, infrastructure, air cleanliness level, rain dispersal, terror threat, transportation (Rail, Bus, taxi). All aspects covering such a major event were worked out to the minutest detail, and with luck favoring them things did run smoothly. Commonwealth games are scheduled to be held in Delhi, from 3-17 October, 2010. Exactly 770 days are left from today. How well are we prepared for this mega event, which will showcase India to the world. The palpitations should have already started, now that the shield of another event is off. PHD Chamber has suggested construction of a ‘preparedness level index’ for CWG-2010 ensure that all projects are completed within the stipulated time frame. According to PHD Chamber, the index should take into consideration 4 important benchmarks; Physical Infrastructure, Transportation, Environment and Human Resource Development mainly Sportspersons.  This index should be updated every three months to assess the progress made and to take necessary corrective action in case of any delays. CWG, which would involves some 5,000 athletes from 53 countries, will be the largest sporting event ever staged in India. Having staked India’s reputation on the event, New Delhi is spending an estimated US$12bn to prepare the city for the games. With little more than 2 years left, plans to build state-of-the-art sports facilities and transport infrastructure, including new roads, at least 10 flyovers and new underground subway lines, have yet to be executed. Delhi’s train stations require up-gradation and the city will have to add some 40,000 hotel rooms to cater to those expected to visit for the games. The facilities and amenities which existed during the Melbourne CWG 2006 and Beijing Olympics, 2008 should be an important benchmark. It’s important that all development agencies including the Private players sit across the table to evolve holistic strategies to complete the projects in time. Delhi has promised 11 World class venues for different events. All these need extensive overhauling. The proposed Commonwealth Games village to be built on the Yamuna riverbed has been given to a Dubai based real estate firm Emaar-MGF. As per the plan there will be three residential blocks with a capacity of about 8,500 athletes and delegates in around 4,000 rooms. The entire plan is scheduled to be finished by December 2009. The civic agency, MCD, has received a whopping amount of Rs.75.5 crores from Delhi government for its projects. The Municipal Corporation of Delhi is supposed to construct 16 railway/ road over bridges and under bridges all across the city. However, work on 9 of them is yet to start as official clearance from the Railway Board is yet to come. All the agencies have to work round the clock to ensure that these projects are completed .The civic agency also needs to complete the 16 multi-level car parking sites before 2010, which have been in the pipeline since 2004. The third runway at the International Airport opened recently and the airport can now handle 60 flights (landings and take offs) an hour (to go up to 70 flights) and is equipped with latest systems, Code F Compliant and can ensure landing from both sides during low visibility.  Construction of the turmoil building, encompassing a covered area of 65 acres (nearly 2.8 million sq.ft.) is also moving at a fast pace so is the work on the airport express rapid metro link between the city and the airport. “the Airport project seems actually a little ahead of the target” commenting a senior official of the PHD Chamber. The hotel rooms in Beijing were not filled up, for the opening ceremony. We can learn a lesson and properly work out the requirements for the different categories and than go ahead and sanction hotel rooms. This will ensure that rooms are available for all categories of tourists, right from 7 star to budget hotels. The bed and breakfast scheme launched by the Delhi Government, though started with a lot of expectations, is still to pick up. The difficulties encountered are the exacting standards laid down. Not many people are keen as they fear that after the event, how well will it be received and also a lot of money is required to come up to the standards and get the clearances. Efficient traffic management during the Commonwealth Games could be the toughest job. We can draw lessons from the Chinese experience. An “intelligent traffic management” system, could ease the situation. We have to also plan the etiquette classes for volunteers and people handling public transportation Air quality in Beijing was improved over nine successive years with 14 phases of air control pollution efforts. The 13 waterways in the urban area had been cleaned, and forest coverage reached 51.6 percent, Delhi should start on air control pollution efforts. The Jal Board should start the water cleansing plan for the Yamuna river. “Delhi, which is by itself beautiful and diversified with monuments, heritage buildings by-lanes, food and eateries from a bygone era to latest hep joints, has to work on its own individual strengths and highlight the same, so the visiting delegates and sportspersons become our ambassadors”, said Dr. L K Malhotra, President, PHD Chamber. Apart from all these, serious concern should also go into the sports front itself. After all we should not be left embarrassed with a dismal performance at the medal tally. We should work hard and spend on training and cultivating our sportspersons. China has spent a lot of hard work and money on training the sportsmen, needless to say that they top the tally at Olympics. India has set Rs3bn  for this purpose. Has the government taken steps to ensure that the resources are reaching the right people?

With better roads, buses, Delhi set for transport makeover

By Rajeev Ranjan Roy
New Delhi, March 26 (IANS) Modern and comfortable buses, wider roads and solar powered bus shelters are in the offing in the Indian capital ahead of the Commonwealth Games in 2010. The roads are being upgraded. New bus shelters are being put in place. As many as 1,600 out of 2,500 shelters will be illuminated with solar power, while over 1,000 of them will be equipped with water harvesting facilities.

“In terms of overall capacity building, Delhi is being prepared to cater to people’s basic needs for the next 25 years. The Commonwealth Games 2010 has proved a blessing in disguise for the city,” R. Narayanaswami, special advisor, Commonwealth Games 2010, Delhi government, told IANS in an interview.

The total fund allocation for Delhi’s transport sector in 2008-09 is Rs.29.33 billion.

At present, around 3,000 state-owned Delhi Transport Corporation (DTC) and around 4,000 private buses ferry an estimated 6.5 million passengers every day, while around 600,000 people use the metro daily.

Since the DTC fleet will go up to 10,000 with mostly low floor, compressed natural gas (CNG)-run, air-conditioned buses, rides will become a luxury when compared to the rough and tumble of journeys on private Bluelines.

Around 100 such buses are already plying on the city roads.

“Travelling in low-floor buses is quite comfortable because they ply smoothly. The only thing that needs to be done is to widen the roads. I am sure, like me, people will stop using cars. I now take the new bus to Connaught Place,” Pratibha Singh, a resident of the Saket area in south Delhi, told IANS.

The government intends to phase out all the existing buses. Even private operators will have to ply only low floor, CNG-run buses by forming a cooperative body. The government has already invited tenders for this.

The first dedicated corridor – known as the Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) system – is being readied from Ambedkar Nagar to Delhi Gate for operation from June. Each bus can seat 35 passengers, with legroom (space to stand) for 45 more.

It has been criticised on the grounds that it adversely affects the flow of traffic, but officials point out that the BRT system will have dedicated lanes for buses, cars, and other vehicles for smooth traffic flow.

The widening of roads will ensure that buses ply smoothly.

Some key routes, being widened and upgraded, are the inner and outer ring roads, the approaches leading to Geeta Colony Bridge, Azadpur Road in the north, and the north-south of the Shanti Path. All the arterial routes towards the Commonwealth Games Village in east Delhi, near Akshardham Temple, are being upgraded.

Delhi to get 3,125 new buses

New Delhi, Aug 25 (IANS) The Delhi cabinet Monday gave its nod for purchase of 1,250 low-floor CNG AC buses and 1,875 CNG low-floor non-AC buses and directed the Delhi Transport Corporation (DTC) to initiate negotiations for acquiring these buses.The decision has been taken so as to augment intra-service bus fleet of the DTC.

The cabinet also gave a green signal for re-development of DTC depots and terminals as per the recommendation of the Master Plan 2021.

“The depots would be re-developed to facilitate construction of multi-storeyed parking facility for buses and commercial development. It would reduce the DTC’s dependence on government and would also help the corporation to take up further improvement in the city transport and passenger amenities without any support from the government,” said a Delhi government spokesperson.

The process of re-development would be initiated from Vasant Vihar depot.

The cabinet also approved creation of 1,040 posts including 160 posts of officers of Delhi Judicial Service and other posts of ancillary staff in different scales for Dwarka and Saket district courts with an aim to overcome the problem of pendency and smooth functioning of judicial system.

Surveys to start on more BRT routes

AanchalBansal

Posted online: Monday , August 11, 2008 at 01:48:16

 

New Delhi, August 10 Even as Delhi Government has currently stopped the extension of the Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) corridor from Ambedkar Nagar to Delhi Gate through Moolchand crossing to explore an alternate plan for the BRT corridor, the Delhi Integerated Multi-modal Transit System (DIMTS) is set to undertake feasibility studies on two more corridors planned for the extension of BRT in the Capital.

While the government is looking at extending the pilot stretch from Moolchand to Delhi Gate with a dedicated bus lane along the left side of the road without any concrete medians, the agency is inviting Expression of Interest from private firms to carry out a feasibility study and Detailed Project Reports (DPR) along two corridors — to Jehangirpuri via Lajpat Nagar and Shastri Park metro station to Karawal Nagar via Bhajanpura.

An opinion poll of both bus commuters and car owners will be conducted before the plans are executed.

“Consultants will have to conduct opinion surveys at various bus stops and intersections during peak hours,” said a DIMTS official.

The pilot project from Ambedkar Nagar to Moolchand ran into trouble earlier this year, facing public ire over encroaching into space meant for cars and the long waiting time (spanning about 7-10 minutes) at traffic intersections along the 5.8 km stretch.

While the design conceptualised by the Transport Research and Injury Prevention Programme (TRIPP) Department of IIT Delhi for the pilot corridor had the dedicated bus lane along the central verge of the road, officials said consultants for the new corridors will have to design the position of bus lanes based on surveys conducted on traffic behaviour and movement.

Incidentally, there was no DPR conducted for the pilot project by TRIPP, IIT Delhi.

While the government came up with plans of a footover bridge and an underpass for controlling traffic and pedestrian movement as quick-fix measures much after the first corridor was made operational in April this year, consultants will have to explore options of constructing subways and underpasses as part of the engineering design.

Consultants will also be asked to ensure there are off-road parking options available along the new corridors to ensure smooth movement of vehicles along the car lanes.

“We have sent in the Request for Proposal (RFP) to agencies that have had experience in designing at least one BRT corridor. The first project was a pilot and so we are incorporating all lessons learnt in implementing the first corridor,” said an official.

 

 

The six other corridors:

* Moolchand to Jehangirpuri via Lajpat Nagar Sarai Kale Khan and ISBT (27.5 km)

* Shastri Park-Karawal Nagar-Shastri Park via Bhajanpura (8.5 km)

* Kondli-Gokulpuri via Ghazipur road and Loni Road (14 km)

* Rajender Nagar-Pragati Maidan via Shankar Road, Talkatora Garden, India Gate and Purana Quila Road (8 km)

* Jamia-Tilak Nagar via Kalkaji, Greater Kailash, CR Park, RK Puram and Prem Nagar (28 km)

* Nizamuddin Flyover-Nandnagri via Sarai Kale Khan (15 km)

All Delhi government hospitals to go digital

Source: Nerve News

Friday, August 8, 2008

Scores of Delhi government hospitals still handling piles of papers and hard copy of medical records shall soon be able to do without it – they are set to go digital.
Delhi Chief Minister Sheila Dikshit said Thursday that besides reducing paper work, the effort would help admission of patients in hospitals.

?All government hospitals will soon be online so that availability of beds could be known to facilitate admission of patients. This would also help in providing better health facilities to the citizens of Delhi,? Dikshit said.

Dikshit said that ?Delhi is the health capital of the country and people from all the other states and even abroad come here for expert advice and treatment.”

She was speaking at a function to felicitate doctors and paramedical staffs. She appreciated the ?dedicated, committed and professional efforts of doctors? and said ?the government doctors are equally capable as private doctors?.

The chief minister gave the State Award to at least 69 doctors and paramedical staff.

Bhagidari lunches cost govt Rs 1.68cr

Source: Abantika Ghosh of TNN

NEW DELHI: A mouthwatering Rs 1.68 crore was gulped down by city officials and RWA members in lunches and dinners hosted in the past five years under the Delhi government’s much-touted Bhagidari scheme. This was revealed by the government in response to an RTI application filed by TOI.

According to a finance department official, the grants given for development work under the scheme during the same period would be less than Rs 1 crore. “Such a lot of money on food borders on misdemeanour on government’s part,” the official said. “We were never given more than a cup of tea at meetings. How can the bill be so high?” S P Gupta of Old Rajinder Nagar RWA wondered.

Ten years after it was first mooted, Bhagidari, a scheme that was the brainchild of chief minister Sheila Dikshit and got her profuse international praise, it was revealed in an RTI plea that the the nine revenue districts of the state government have spent Rs 1,67,72,749 only on Bhagidari lunches and dinners organised by them during various meetings and workshops in the past five years. It means the annual cost of these meals to the state exchequer was Rs 33 lakh.

In reply to the same application filed by TOI, the state government has listed diverse things – most of which have no connection to the Bhagidari initiative – including power reforms – that have drawn criticism from all quarters – implementation of the unit area method of property tax, the RTI Act itself, implementation of VAT and even routine acts of governance including setting up of voter registration centres.

The concept, when it began, says Col (retd) U N Kohal, president of the Delhi RWA Joint Front, was commendable. But somewhere down the way, the plot was lost. “Officials have no will to make it work and even the meetings which were very regular earlier have now become few and far between and any RWA member who does not turn up for two consecutive meetings has his/her name struck off. There has been no outcome at all and on hindsight I now feel that it was all a PR exercise at government expense, a political stunt. The RTI figures only confirm my suspicion.”

The partnership with the government, feels Geeta Bhargava, a member of Defence Colony RWA has not just been full 10 years later. “A lot is talked about and the ground reality is not up to the mark. And I had no inkling that such a lot of money is spent on these lunches and dinners. If these figures are true, then I am sorry this looks like yet another wastage of the tax-payers’ money to further the government’s image. The money should have been used so much better for the development of colonies,” she says.

While R K Dutta, general secretary of Raja Park RWA lauds Bhagidari but blames the high food bills on corruption, S P Gupta of Old Rajinder Nagar RWA is incredulous. “We have never been given more than a cup of tea at the meetings. How can the bill be so high? Anyway all Bhagidari has attained is a hypothetical empowerment of RWAs nothing more.” Kulanand Joshi, joint secretary (bhagidari) though said the money is “highly justified. Each workshop lasts for three days, it is common courtesy that you feed these people who have agreed to spare so much of their precious time for the community.

HC bans plastic bags in all city markets

8 Aug 2008, 0424 hrs IST,TNN

 
 
NEW DELHI: In a major step towards tackling the plastic menace, the Delhi high court on Thursday extended the ban on plastic bags to all markets in the city. Since hotels, hostels and shopping malls have already been declared no-plastic zones, the new order, if strictly enforced, will significantly reduce the use of this ecologically hazardous material.

The court also asked the Delhi government to increase the minimum permissible thickness of plastic bags from 20 microns to 40 microns and ordered the closure of all illegal recycling units in the city with immediate effect.

A bench headed by Justice T S Thakur, responding to a PIL by Vinod Jain of an NGO, Tapas, asked the city government to consider the recommendations of the Justice Chopra committee. The panel, comprising Delhi Pollution Control Board chairman J K Dadoo, Central Pollution Control Board chairman J M Mauskar and retired judge R C Chopra, had sought the use of virgin plastic in place of recycled plastic, a ban on small plastic pouches and getting plastic manufacturers to set up a state-of-the-art recycling unit.

While the government representatives chose not to talk about the order, saying they hadn’t received a copy of the judgment, petitioner Jain said this was the first step in completely phasing out plastic bags from the city.

“The court has banned the bag at all places where it is used the most. The only setback at this point appears to be the lack of a deadline for implementing the ban. The government may take forever with this order,” he said.

Experts, however, point to another huge problem that may occur after the order on closure of illegal recycling units is enforced. Delhi recycles about 1.2 million tonnes of plastic a year of which about 90% is done illegally, say industry insiders. In the process, the industry uses up about 50% of the city’s plastic waste. At present, Delhi has no other mechanism for handling its waste and most of it finds its way to sewers and the Yamuna. As one expert asked, “Once the illegal units are shut, what is to happen to all this waste?”

“Delhi Pollution Control Committee does not have sufficient staff for such an operation,” a government official said. “Till some time back, DPCC did not even have a clear idea of the extent of illegal plastic recycling taking place in the city. The collection mechanism was based largely on ragpickers. While the order is good for the city, the government needs to plan out its course of action before implementing the order in a hurry.”

Delhi Elections : Folk singers will perform for BSP campaign

Source: delhielections.com

Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) is resorting to a novel way of winning over the electorate of the capital-using folk singers of Uttar Pradesh.

A group of folk singers will be coming to Delhi at the behest of BSP to campaign for candidates of the Mayawati led party which is contesting in all the 70 seats here.

“The singers will perform across Delhi in the run-up to the assembly elections. They will inform people of Delhi about the achievements and the good rule of the BSP government in Uttar Pradesh,” a party leader said.

The BSP has already announced 66 of the 70 assembly candidates, becoming the first party to name its nominees for majority of the seats much before the elections expected before December.

The party so far has no representation in the Delhi Legislative Assembly. BSP president and Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Mayawati had recently called party’s Delhi unit leaders to Lucknow to discuss election preparations. The meeting is to be followed by a convention to be held here later this month.