Monday, August 9, 2010
Commonwealth Games: Debris clean-up deadline expires today
"I have said before that all most of the big malba will be cleared by August 10. Most of the work will be completely by 30-31st of August. We have kept the whole month of September to complete any other work," the Chief Minister had said on July 30.
She had also reiterated that there would be no deviation in the deadline to halt digging work and to remove the malba.
On Tuesday, when asked about missing the deadline, the Delhi Chief Minister said that most of the debris has been removed.
But with tonnes and tonnes of rubble still strewn around across the city, this does not seem possible.
our camera crew has found mounds of debris in several localities like Siri Fort, where work has been going on since over a month. The scene is pretty much the same at Connaught Place too, where vehicles have to dodge around the debris. It's the same story around Shivaji Stadium as well. With unfinished construction and debris strewn everywhere, it is difficult to believe that the Games are less than two months away.
When asked whether government will miss the deadline to remove the debris, Finance Minister A K Walia preferred not to comment.
"I will not comment on the issue," he said. Dikshit had last month asked her cabinet colleagues not to air views about preparation for Commonwealth Games.
Chief Secretary Rakesh Mehta, who was asked the same question, only said removal of debris will not be completed in areas where street-scaping works are going on.
"We have already removed 80,000 metric tons of debris. More or less removal of construction waste will be completed by the deadline," he said.
Mehta said removal of debris will not be completed in NDMC areas as DMRC has been allowed to carry out digging till August 15 for their works.
"If there is digging, then how can we complete the removal of debris," he questioned. (With PTI inputs)
Read more at: http://www.ndtv.com/article/india/cwg-debris-clean-up-deadline-missed-43295?cp
Moscow smog: 700 deaths a day
The death toll triggered by abnormal heat and dense smog caused by forest fires near the Russian capital has almost doubled to about 700 from the 360-380 deaths per day, a senior health official said on Monday."Usually, 360-380 deaths take place every day in Moscow, but these the rate has almost doubled to about 700," Chief of Moscow City Health Department Andrei Seltsovsky said.
He denied that it was something unusual as Moscow is undergoing a very long spell of abnormal heat wave with temperatures breaking all time records.
Moscow region has witnessed abnormally hot weather and drought for over a month with two temperature records broken in June and 10 records broken in July, RIA Novosti reported.
The heat has caused peat bogs fires nearby Moscow creating toxic smog throughout the capital and pushed the pollution levels to new highs on Saturday.
Quoting an unnamed medico "Novaya Gazeta" reported that ambulance teams have been told not bring patients to hospitals except in case of extreme urgency as they were overcrowded.
Elderly people and patients suffering from cardiovascular diseases are primarily at risk, the paper said.
Meanwhile, meteorologists have said that it will take at least another week for Moscow to be cleared of the smog.
Russia is undergoing the longest unprecedented heat wave for at least one thousand years, the head of the Russian Meteorological Centre Alexander Frolov today said.
"We have an 'archive' of abnormal weather situations stretching over a thousand years. It is possible to say there was nothing similar to this heat wave on the territory of Russia during the last one thousand years," Frolov told reporters.
He said scientists received information on ancient weather conditions by exploring lake deposits. Frolov also said Russia's grain crop may drop by at least 30 per cent.
Meanwhile, after a slight improvement in visibility on Sunday and today most of stranded passengers on Moscow's two worst smog affected airports - Vnukovo and Domodedovo have left for their destinations, but 22 flights are still behind schedule, civil aviation authority Rosaviatsia said in a statement.
Meanwhile, a state of emergency has been declared in the Ozersk district where the nuclear reprocessing plant Mayak is located.
The emergency has been declared after the neighbouring Urals town has been engulfed in raging forest fires.
"A state of emergency has been introduced in forests and parks on the territory of the Ozersk city district due to a complicated fire hazard situation," an official statement said.
26/11 trial: Ball now in Islamabad’s court
India has acted wisely in responding to the Pakistani demand for deposition before a Rawalpindi court of the police officer who led the 26/11 investigations at the Mumbai end and the magistrate who recorded the confessions of Ajmal Kasab, the sole surviving member of the marauding gang.
New Delhi’s offer comes in the wake of Islamabad’s request purported to strengthen evidence against seven of those under trial for the Mumbai carnage— the conspiracy for which was hatched on the Pakistani soil. The anti-terrorism court that sits in the garrison town has to decide, among others, the fate of Zaki ur Rehman Lakhvi of the LeT, whose lawyers have been harping on the absence of any direct evidence against their client. The proposal for video-conferencing with the Indian policeman and the magistrate — if accepted by the Pakistani court— should hopefully be a good legal counter to averments made on behalf of the accused. Defense lawyers have been seeking Lakhvi’s bail on the ground that the case has gone on for over a year-and-a-half with only two of the 200-odd witnesses testifying. The prosecution has also failed to come up with its final charge sheet despite having submitted interim charges in three installments.
It remains to be seen whether the Rawalpindi court will accept video-conferencing as the via media to avoid personal deposition of the Indian police officer and magistrate who took Kasab’s statement under section 164 of the criminal procedure code. If it doesn’t and there is some judicial or administrative hurdle in sending our officer/magistrate to Pakistan, New Delhi should, I feel, invite the Pakistani judge and the defense and prosecution lawyers to India for a face-to-face deposition. This engagement can also be on the no-man’s land at Wagah. The short point I’m making is that India should go to any length to not give Islamabad an excuse to either blame it for weakening the case against the Pakistani conspirators or not meeting the requirement of its judiciary that it claims is independent.
The conviction of those booked by Pakistani agencies is doubly crucial because Hafiz Sayeed continues to be at large. If Lakhvi and Co are also declared innocent by the court or let off for want of adequate evidence, the gingerly Indo-Pak dialogue will have to be put in cold storage for a long time. The public trust required to make bilateral engagement sustainable will get scarcer and be extremely difficult to mobilize anytime soon.
Bull-fighting gives city bloody nose
The Capital has seemingly failed in efforts to rid itself of the cow-cum-car stereotype of Indian streets during the Commonwealth Games (CWG), an international sporting event, to be held in October. Non-governmental organisations (NGOs) entrusted to provide shelter to stray cattle have backed out because their dues have not been paid for more than a year. The NGOs also claim lack of space to house the cattle.
Read full here
Meanwhile, the plan to remove stray dogs has also hit a roadblock after animal lovers voiced their dissent against the plan to round up dogs and confine them to a dog home for the duration of the Games.
"We can't pile up cows one over another. Cows are big animals," said Mahesh Chand Sharma, president of Gausadan foundation.
"The MCD was facing a financial crunch, which is why we could not release the money on time. We will be releasing it shortly," said Municipal Corporation of Delhi's press and information director Deep Mathur.
The NGOs are paid Rs 25 per day for one cow. The MCD contributes Rs 20 and the state government Rs 5.
"If we won't get money how will we feed the animals and take care of them," Sharma asked.
One pilgrim killed, seven others injured in landslide
One person was killed and seven others were injured in a landslide triggered by heavy rains in remote area of Kishtwar district in Jammu and Kashmir, officials said in Kishtwar on Tuesday. After heavy rains, the landslide occurred at Massu, about 280-kms from Jammu, in Kishtwar district last evening, they said, adding a group of eight pilgrims, on way to Machail Mata, came under the debris.
Read full here
One of them, identified as Romesh Kumar, was killed and seven others were injured, they said.
The injured have been admitted at Primary Health Center at Atholi.
The traditional Chandi Mata Machail yatra starts today and will conclude on August 28 in the mountainous Paddar in Kishtwar district.
The yatra starts from Bhaderwah in Doda district and further proceeds towards Atholi, Gulabgarh, Massu, Chandoli and finally concludes at Machail.
Lalit Modi's legal counsel to meet ED authorities today
Suspended Indian Premier League chairman Lalit Modi will provide documents relating to the T20 League on Tuesday to the Enforcement Directorate authorities in Mumbai, it has been learnt. The ED authorities have asked Modi, suspended by BCCI for alleged financial irregularities in the running the details.
Declining to comment on the matter, Modi's attorney Mehmood Abdi said that the former was always willing to co-operate with the government authorities.
Read full here
"As a law abiding citizen Mr Lalit Modi has been and will always be co-operating with the government authorities," said Abdi.
Modi's alleged misdeeds are being probed by the BCCI's three-member disciplinary panel which has held three hearings on the matter without his presence.
The panel comprises IPL's interim chairman Chirayu Amin, Arun Jaitley and Jyotiraditya Scindia.
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