The Hindu : New Delhi News : Inside Delhi

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Tuesday, Aug 30, 2005

New Delhi

New Delhi

Inside Delhi

Cattle menace

shifts base

Though the residents of South Delhi now face fewer stray cattle on the roads in the wake of the Delhi High Court directive, the problem is becoming more complex in other areas of the Capital, with people alleging that illegal dairy owners are now shifting base to these areas.

Armed with the High Court order asking the Municipal Corporation of Delhi to pay South Delhi residents Rs.2,000 for each cattle they catch, citizens and residents' welfare associations had launched a campaign to catch any stray cattle in sight. However, this created panic among illegal dairy owners who were mainly responsible for the problem of stray cattle. People from different parts of the Capital, particularly Outer Delhi, East Delhi and West Delhi, are now complaining that the stray cattle are moving to their areas as the MCD is "concentrating" more on serving the VVIP-strong South Delhi.

Alleging that little is being done to tackle the menace as illegal dairies continue to flourish in many parts of the city and the civic body officials are not targeting the root cause of the problem, affected residents have alleged that there had been a marked increase in the presence of stray cattle on the roads in their area in the recent past.

Urging the High Court to give permission to catch stray cattle to residents of other parts of Delhi also so that the problem could be tackled more effectively, residents have requested the Court to deal more sternly with civic body officials for their lackadaisical approach in dealing with the issue.

-- Sandeep Joshi

Racing ground

With most of the traffic police personnel having a day off on Sundays, the private bus operators usually have a field day. And if there is a Delhi Transport Corporation bus following them, their recklessness knows no bounds. As such, Lutyens' Delhi became a favourite racing ground for one private bus driver this past Sunday.

The private bus, plying on Route 740, was on its way from Anand Vihar Bus Terminal to Uttam Nagar. As it reached `A-point' near ITO, the conductor of the bus noticed a DTC bus of the same route coming from behind. Realising the monetary threat to him, he immediately sounded an alarm and began urging his driver to jump all the lights and race ahead.

To begin with, on the instructions of the conductor, the private bus driver tried to hold the traffic behind him to a halt when the light turned green. He wanted to delay the movement of the traffic so that he could zip ahead as soon as the signal was about to turn red as that would have left the DTC bus way behind.

It was strange that this was happening at the "no-tolerance zone'' crossing of Sikandra Road and Tilak Marg. But the private bus operator was emboldened by the fact that the crossing was not manned by any policeman in the afternoon.

Thereafter, as the DTC bus managed to move ahead of it on Sikandra Road, the private bus operator chose to skip a couple of stands in order to nose ahead. Paying scant regard to the 40 km per hour speed limit, the driver stepped on the pedal and kept racing till he had left the DTC bus nearly half-a-kilometre behind. Though the race did not cause any harm, it could well have. It is time the traffic police step in and check such rowdy behaviour by the private bus operators rather than devoting all their energies all the time solely to making fast bucks through "challans".

-- Gaurav Vivek Bhatnagar

Free saplings

The National Rail Museum distributed 500 saplings free to visitors and also planted different varieties of trees at its premises in Chanakyapuri as part of the "Van Mahotsav" celebrations on Sunday.

An important feature of the ``Van Mahotsav" this year was that Jatropha, a bio-diesel plant that is believed to be an alternative source of energy, was also planted. Jatropha's seeds are used for extracting oil that can be used in automobiles as fuel.

To encourage children to participate in large numbers, entry for those below 12 years was made free and a colourful cultural programme on environment was staged.

The Chairman of the Railway Board, J. P. Batra, who was the chief guest at the Mahotsav, also planted a sapling. The National Rail Museum, which is a repository of invaluable relics of the country's rail heritage like vintage steam locomotives and Maharaja's saloons, also organised a painting exhibition by Roop Chand, a diploma holder from the United States, on the theme ``Save Environment".

A book review competition for children from Class VI to XII was organised by the National Book Trust at which noted writer Arun Prakash spoke to the kids on how to write a book review.

-- Madhur Tankha

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