Delhi news: The Vasant Vihar Sub Divisional Magistrate has directed Andaz Hotel in Aerocity to cancel the concert of Punjabi singer A P Dhillon citing violation of Covid guidelines by the Delhi Disaster Management Authority (DDMA). The event was to be held Saturday night.
All schools in Delhi for class 6 onwards reopened on Saturday, after the air quality panel considered the air quality index and the winter vacation schedule. However, they will continue to remain closed for students of primary grades. The Delhi government had shut schools from November 15 on account of deteriorating air quality last month.
Meanwhile, the Delhi government has imposed a fine of Rs 1 crore on NBCC (National Buildings Construction Corporation Limited) for violating the construction ban at a site at Netaji Nagar. NBCC was trying to covertly continue construction at night, Environment Minister Gopal Rai said. A notice has been issued to the agency to shut the construction site immediately.
On the virus front, Delhi on Friday detected 10 new patients infected with the Omicron variant, taking the total number of cases to 20, Delhi health minister Satyendar Jain said. This is the largest number of Omicron cases detected in the city in one day so far. The capital recorded zero death due to Covid-19 and 69 fresh cases of the infection with a positivity rate of 0.12 per cent on Friday.
The strike by resident doctors at several Centre-run hospitals in Delhi has left patients in the lurch.
Near the emergency block at Safdarjung Hospital on Friday, Praveen Kumar sat on the pavement, leaning against a wall with his leg in a cast. After an accident last month, a procedure was scheduled for his leg on Saturday and he was required to get admitted on Friday.
“We met a doctor who said that the surgery will not happen because of the strike. We were told to wait till Monday. This is the second time that it is being rescheduled. It was supposed to have happened earlier this month,” said Praveen, a resident of Faridabad, who plans on spending two days outside the hospital with his wife, rather than travel the long distance back home.
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With stronger winds, Delhi’s air quality saw slight improvement on Saturday with an AQI of 291, while the national capital also recorded the first ‘cold day’ of this season.
On Friday, the AQI was 329, in the ‘very poor’ category.
The India Meteorological Department (IMD) predicted a ‘cold day’ for Delhi on Saturday and Sunday. A ‘cold day’ is recorded when the minimum temperature at a station in the plains is less than or equal to 10 degrees Celsius, and the maximum temperature at the station is 4.5 to 6.4 degrees less than normal.
The Vasant Vihar Sub Divisional Magistrate has directed Andaz Hotel in Aerocity to cancel the concert of Punjabi singer A P Dhillon citing violation of Covid guidelines by the Delhi Disaster Management Authority (DDMA). The event was to be held Saturday night.
“The Delhi Disaster Management Authority is satisfied that the NCT of Delhi is threatened with the spread of Covid-19 epidemic, which has already been declared as a pandemic by the World health Organisation and has considered it necessary to take effective measures to prevent its spread and issued various orders/instructions from time to time to all authorities concerned to take all required measures to appropriately deal with the situation in NCT of Delhi,” Vasant Vihar SDM Ankur Prakash Meshram said in an order dated December 17 sent to Naresh Madan of Andaz Hotel as well as Vijay Malhotra, the Director of Security at the hotel.
He referenced a DDMA notice dated December 15 with “regards to prohibited/restricted activities from December 16th to January 1st which prohibits all social/political/sports/entertainment cultural/religious/festival related rings and congregations throughout NCT of Delhi”.
Hours after arresting a 49-year-old man for allegedly planting a tiffin bomb inside Rohini district court to kill his neighbour, who is an advocate, the Delhi Police on Saturday said the accused is a DRDO scientist who was locked in a court battle with the advocate.
A senior police officer from the Special Cell told The Indian Express that the accused has been identified as Bharat Bhushan Kataria. “We have sufficient evidence against him, including electronic evidence which shows his presence on the court premises. Now we are trying to find whether anyone else was involved,” said the officer, adding that they have “ruled out any terror angle.”
A plea has been filed in the Delhi High Court seeking direction to the Centre and Reserve Bank of India (RBI) to formulate a policy to issue Rs 50 coins to provide equal opportunity and ease of doing business to the visually impaired citizens of the country. A bench of Chief Justice D N Patel and Justice Jyoti Singh listed the application for hearing on February 25, 2022.
The application was filed in a pending petition by advocate Rohit Dandriyal seeking directions to the authorities to withdraw the new currency notes of Rs 50 as the visually-impaired people were finding it difficult to use them due to their size and the tactile marks.
Services on the Green Park-Qutub Minar section of the Delhi Metro’s Yellow Line will be suspended for a few hours on December 19 morning due to a scheduled track maintenance work, DMRC officials said on Friday. The Yellow Line connects Samaypur Badli in Delhi to HUDA City Centre in Gurugram. “To undertake the scheduled track maintenance work at Qutab Minar Metro station of Yellow Line, train services on the morning of 19th December 2021 (Sunday) on this line will be briefly regulated,” the Delhi Metro Rail Corporation (DMRC) said in a statement.
Train services will remain suspended from Green Park to Qutab Minar from the start of revenue services till 7 am. Hence, three metro stations, namely Hauz Khas, Malviya Nagar and Saket, will be closed till resumption of train services in this section, it said. However, connectivity between Green Park and Qutab Minar stations will be provided through free feeder bus services during this period at a frequency of around 25-30 minutes. Passengers are advised to plan their journey accordingly during this period, it added.
Four persons, including an autorickshaw driver, died after a container truck overturned and fell on an autorickshaw near Indira Gandhi stadium in Central district, early Saturday morning. The police have identified two of the deceased as Surender Kumar Yadav, who was driving the three-wheeler, and his nephew Jai Kishor. The others are yet to be identified.
An FIR has been registered at I P Estate police station and initial probe has revealed that the truck was loaded with rice and was heading from Sonepat to Tughlakabad. The truck’s driver and helper are absconding. “We are conducting raids to nab them,” said DCP (Central district) Shweta Chauhan.
Delhi has recorded a minimum temperature of 6 degrees Celsius over the past 24 hours at the Safdarjung weather observatory, and the minimum temperature is set to dip further to around 5 degrees Celsius over the next two days, the India Meteorological Department (IMD) forecast indicates.
The minimum temperature recorded over the past 24 hours is the lowest so far this season, and is two degrees below the normal for this time of the year. The maximum temperature over the past 24 hours was 20.4 degrees Celsius, which was also two degrees below the normal.
The planning body of the Delhi Development Authority on Friday approved the transportation plan for the Central Vista redevelopment project, an official said. The foundation stone of the Central Vista project was laid in December 2020. The revamp envisages a new triangular Parliament building, with seating capacity for 900 to 1,200 MPs, that is targeted to be constructed by August 2022 when the country will be celebrating its 75th Independence Day. The common Central Secretariat is likely to be built by 2024. The Central Vista redevelopment seeks to upgrade the boulevard running from Vijay Chowk to India Gate with more amenities.
All schools in Delhi for class 6 onwards reopened on Saturday after the air quality panel considered the air quality index and the winter vacation schedule. However, they will continue to remain closed for students of primary grades.
Schools reopen in Delhi from today for students of Class 6 & above
Studies were hampered when schools were closed. There should be a permanent solution for pollution. I’m excited to attend offline classes after a long time: Samir, a student of Sarvodaya Bal Vidyalaya,Sadiq Nagar pic.twitter.com/YoApbmZ40w
The Union Environment Ministry has released Rs 11 crore to Delhi under the National Clean Air Programme (NCAP) to cater to critical gaps in air pollution management, officials said Friday. This is the first time Delhi has got funds under NCAP, a national-level strategy for a 20 per cent to 30 per cent reduction in PM2.5 and PM10 concentration by 2024, with 2017 as the base year for comparison.
“Delhi has been allocated Rs 18.74 crore under NCAP. This is the first time it received funds under the programme since it started in 2019. The first installment of Rs 11 crore was released a few days ago,” an official said.
“The rest of the amount will be released after Delhi submits utilization certificates for up to 60 percent of the first installment,” he said.
The NCAP fund will be utilised to meet critical gaps — wherever there is any inadequacy of funds from other sources. The rest of the funding is to be mobilised through convergence of schemes. Funds for bigger projects such as management of construction and demolition waste are allocated under the Swachh Bharat Urban programme and other schemes of the central government. NCAP covers 132 non-attainment cities which do not meet the prescribed national ambient air quality standards. (PTI)
The men who allegedly lynched a 25-year-old man in Trilokpuri on suspicion of theft were returning from a wedding and were drunk, police have said.
The man, Mohd Afsar Shabbir, left home early Tuesday morning, according to his mother, 70-year-old Raffo Begam. A few hours later, she was told that Shabbir had been found lying in a pool of blood close to their home.
He was beaten to death by a group of six or seven men. Police said he was brutally assaulted with stones and bricks, and succumbed to injuries at the hospital. Read More
A man died while his wife and three children are undergoing treatment for burn injuries after a fire broke out in their rented room in Sector 40 on Thursday night. According to the police, the incident took place around 11.30 pm when Suresh Saha, a migrant from Bihar, and his family members were in their room.
Kuldeep Singh, Station House Officer (SHO), Sector 40, said the deceased was declared dead at the hospital. “Suresh suffered at least 70 per cent burn injuries and fell unconscious due to the smoke. His wife and three sons, aged 11, 17 and 18, suffered burn injuries and were rushed to Safdarjung Hospital in Delhi. Three of them are in a critical condition,” Singh said. Read More
Physical classes in schools (Class 6 onward) and colleges can resume with immediate effect in Delhi-NCR, the Commission for Air Quality Management (CAQM) informed on Friday.
The Delhi government and state governments in the National Capital Region have been advised to take immediate decision to resume offline classes.
Physical classes for students up to class 5 can begin from December 27, the CAQM said in a press release. Read More
A 23-year-old woman working in the administration department of Fortis Hospital was injured after two men on a scooter dragged her on the road for nearly 200 metres as she resisted a robbery bid.
Police said the woman was standing by the road in Shalimar Bagh when the accused tried snatching her phone. She resisted and caught one of the accused by his jacket, but they accelerated the bike, causing her to fall. Read More
A man died while his wife and three children are undergoing treatment for burn injuries after a fire broke out in their rented room in Sector 40 on Thursday night. According to the police, the incident took place around 11.30 pm when Suresh Saha, a migrant from Bihar, and his family members were in their room.
Kuldeep Singh, Station House Officer (SHO), Sector 40, said the deceased was declared dead at the hospital. “Suresh suffered at least 70 per cent burn injuries and fell unconscious due to the smoke. His wife and three sons, aged 11, 17 and 18, suffered burn injuries and were rushed to Safdarjung Hospital in Delhi. Three of them are in a critical condition,” Singh said. Read more
With 10 more cases of the Omicron variant confirmed in the city, Delhi’s tally has gone up to 20.
“Ten new cases of Omicron variant have been reported in Delhi, taking the total number of cases of the variant here to 20. A total of 10 people of these 20, have been discharged,” said Health Minister Satyendar Jain on Friday.
This is the largest number of Omicron cases detected in the city in one day so far. This comes a day after Delhi recorded the highest positivity since June 28 at 0.15 per cent. As of Thursday, there were 475 active cases in the city.
Suspected Omicron cases arriving from ‘at risk’ countries are being referred from IGI airport to Lok Nayak Hospital, where they are being quarantined. Genome sequencing is being conducted.
The air quality in Delhi is likely to be in the lower end of the ‘very poor’ category on Friday, according to a morning forecast issued by the Air Quality Early Warning System.
The AQI is likely to be in the ‘poor’ category over the weekend, the forecast indicates. The slight improvement in air quality can be attributed to high wind speeds from December 17 onwards, according to the SAFAR forecasting system.
On Thursday, the AQI in Delhi was 368 – in the ‘very poor’ category. AQI between 301 and 400 is considered ‘very poor.’ Similarly on Wednesday, the AQI was 363. Read more
The Public Works Department (PWD) will strengthen about ten key stretches in the West Delhi area to make roads safer for commuters and pedestrians by preventing traffic jams and accidents caused due to broken roads and potholes. The department has also received financial nod for the development work, said officials.
A PWD official said, “We have got the financial approval for strengthening, resurfacing and micro-surfacing these roads to improve safety. This procedure is carried out when the roads are in bad condition and needs improvement and maintenance. Under this, the PWD will repair the roads and fill cracks, broken sections and potholes to avoid accidents and make the roads better for traffic movement, commuter and pedestrian safety.” Read more
‘We lost everything’: Fire guts Rohingya refugee camp at Haryana’s Nuh
The fire destroyed 32 shanties and displaced 102 people. (Express Photo)
On Thursday morning, Mohammad Hassan, 30, fervently dug through the charred remains of his shanty, which was destroyed in a fire Wednesday. Amid smoke and stench of burnt rubber and plastic, he picked up a sewing machine and some charred pages of his son’s notebook. Standing beside him, his wife Nuruda, broke down.
“We have lost everything. All our savings, belongings, documents are gone. We had been saving for our daughter’s marriage,” said Hassan, a labourer.
Delhi: Woman consumes sanitiser on Instagram Live, rescued by cops
In one of the quickest rescue operations by the Delhi Police, a 25-year-old woman who was allegedly threatening to commit suicide on an Instagram Live video was traced and saved in North Delhi. Police on Thursday claimed that it took them less than eight minutes to complete the operation.
The woman had allegedly consumed sanitiser and was threatening to end her life while she was recording herself on Instagram Live. She lives with her husband.
Advise eateries to mandatorily disclose whether meat served is ‘halal’ or ‘jhatka’: NCM to Punjab govt
The National Commission for Minorities on Thursday directed the Punjab government to advise hotels, restaurants and other eateries in the state to mandatorily disclose whether the meat they are serving is ‘halal’ or ‘jhatka’ so that people can make an informed choice.
In a letter to Punjab’s chief secretary Anirudh Tewari, NCM Chairman Iqbal Singh Lalpura said it has come to the notice of the commission that hotels/restaurants in Punjab are serving halal meat only which is prohibited in Sikh religion.