The Hindu : New Delhi News : Inside Delhi

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Tuesday, Jul 13, 2004

New Delhi

New Delhi

Inside Delhi

Parking blues

The Millennium Indraprastha Park is proving to be a major hit with Delhiites, who throng the longest park in the city in large numbers over the week-ends. But while the Delhi Development Authority deserves all the credit for developing the park on a stretch along Ring Road where once a landfill site existed, the agency probably got its calculations vis-a-vis the number of visitors and their vehicles wrong and this has already started impacting the vehicular flow on the busy road.

Though DDA had provided parking for about 25 cars each at all the entrances of the park, the numbers now appear insufficient as hundreds of vehicles jostle for space in these lots during the week-ends. With little space available, many are forced to park on the muddy tract alongside the park. And when even that fills up, the vehicles line up alongside Ring Road.

As they eat into the road space, these vehicles slow down the flow of traffic. Also their presence on the road, makes driving dangerous for other motorists as vehicles coming out of the park and turning left for their onward journey on Ring Road are forced to get right into the path of the oncoming traffic.

It seems that considering the growing popularity of the lush green park, which provides a rare and reasonable getaway to the residents, the planners should once again sit down on the drawing board and redesign the parking so that a larger number of vehicles are accommodated. Not only can this bring additional revenue to DDA, the presence of adequate number of attendants will also make the parking areas safer, especially after dark. Further, easy parking would also save the time of the people coming to the Indraprastha Park and thereby make their visits more of a pleasure instead of a parking nightmare.

Encroachers' threat

A school building in Savitri Nagar in South Delhi is in danger of losing its land to encroachers. And all this, alleges the Sheikh Sarai Welfare and Educational Society, is happening under the patronage of the Municipal Corporation of Delhi officials.

The story goes like this. The school which is in the thick of a controversy has been around for the past 45-50 years in the area and the old structure was declared dangerous about 15 years back. The MCD, as a temporary solution, had then constructed some temporary rooms with asbestos roof on top for the smooth running of the school.

And now, a new school building is under construction after the removal of these temporary rooms.

The highly objectionable thing, according to the Society office-bearers, is that a permanent wall has been raised in between the old structure plus vacant land and the newly constructed building. And after raising this wall, some influential people in the area are trying to grab property, alleges the Society, in a letter to the DCP (South).

"The old structure and vacant land was with the school for the past 45-50 years. But it seems the encroachers are trying to grab this high-value property," said the office-bearers of the society in the memorandum. Moreover, some old trees present in the property are also in danger of being cut down.

The office-bearers of the society have demanded an enquiry into this illegal trespassing and encroachment and also an investigation into the role of MCD officials in the entire episode. Also, the Horticulture and the Forest department of the MCD should ensure that the trees are not cut down, they say in the complaint, copies of which have been sent to the Municipal Commissioner, the Secretary to the Delhi Lieutenant Governor and the Delhi Minister for Environment and Forests.

Changing colours

Politicians are known for frequently changing their statements on issues. They also have a reputation of not only quickly denying their statements before the media made a day earlier, but also accusing reporters of "misquoting" them.

Though this has rarely been the case with bureaucrats, academicians or professionals, what transpired at the Municipal Corporation of Delhi House meeting at Town Hall today is probably an exception.

The Municipal Commissioner, Rakesh Mehta, who has been accessible to media and considered media-friendly, was accused by a Congress Councillor of misleading the people through the media by stating that the local MLA was delaying a subway project in the Nizamuddin area.

This was strongly refuted by him, claiming that he had ever given any such a statement.

In front of the packed media gallery including reporters from newspapers which quoted him, Mr. Mehta said: "I never gave such a statement. I do not know where it has come from." Surprised, the MCD reporters started looking at each other. "This was never expected from the Commissioner," one of them said. Another journalist said: "It seems after dealing with the Councillors for more than two years now, he has learnt some of their traits."

The Nizamuddin Councillor, Farhad Suri, who had raised the issue urged the Mayor to record Mr. Mehta's statement in the minutes of the meeting. Later he entered the pressroom along with another party Councillor to urge the media to take a strong note of this denial. "This should not be taken lightly. He has questioned your integrity," he said.

K. Kannan and Lalit K. Jha

By Gaurav Vivek Bhatnagar, K. Kannan and Lalit K. Jha

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