The Hindu : New Delhi News : Inside Delhi

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Tuesday, Sep 27, 2005

New Delhi

New Delhi

Inside Delhi

An annoying move

The recent move of the New Delhi Municipal Council (NDMC) to allow entry of visitors to its headquarters at Palika Kendra only through entry passes has left government officials and accredited journalists annoyed.

It being a civic body, a large number of citizens visit the building everyday. They include employees of various Central Government and State Government departments who have their offices in the Lutyens' Delhi area. However, the latest arrangement is causing them inconvenience, as they have to waste a lot of time getting the entry pass made.

The main reason behind the displeasure among non-NDMC government employees frequenting Palika Kendra is that all Central and State Government employees carry their respective identity cards, but the untrained private security guards do not acknowledge those. "At various important government buildings in the area, employees carrying identity cards are allowed entry. But here the civic body is unnecessarily causing inconvenience to us," rues a Rail Bhavan employee.

Similarly, the NDMC administration is denying entry to journalists accredited to the Union and Delhi governments. Senior journalists rue that scribes having Press Information Bureau (PIB) identity cards are allowed entry to the North and South Blocks and even the Parliament House complex besides other important buildings in the area, but to enter Palika Kendra they have to get an entry pass made.

Trained security personnel of the Central Industrial Security Force and the Delhi police deployed at key buildings allow entry to PIB card holders, but the private guards and other security personnel at the NDMC headquarters often misbehave, they said, adding that several complaints to senior NDMC authorities have fallen on deaf ears.

-- Sandeep Joshi

`Powerless' to check power theft

Even while the power distribution companies in the Capital throw up their hands in despair over rampant theft of electricity and equipment, government officials are rarely found at the receiving end.

However, things took a turn for the worse when a transformer at the Minto Road housing complex --- a residential area for government servants-- caught fire due to excessive load.

While it wasn't the first time that the transformer tripped and caught fire, the culprits, though known, have never been booked.

According to the Minto Road residents, the nearby area of Shakur Ki Dandi was "borrowing" power from the complex that led to the overload and caused the fire. Despite repeated reminders and several attempts to meet the area representatives to curb this theft, nothing has been done so far, claim residents.

"Every time the transformer catches fire, we begin the process of talking to the power department and informing them about the theft that has been happening. But even as the fire is controlled and immediate danger averted, the matter is forgotten until the next incident. The process has been going on for a very long time with nothing really coming of it," said a local resident, dousing a fire that occurred this past week.

Bindu Shajan Perappadan

Adding to the chaos

Children coming out of school are usually an impatient bunch running on to the streets without even caring for their lives. But if the parents too become impatient outside schools, it can lead to, well, unpleasant situations. Particularly when they come along with big cars and equally big egos.

The scene on any afternoon outside a particular school at East of Kailash in South Delhi is more or less like that. Kids come out of the school and want to get inside their school buses or their cars in a hurry. And that is what they do. But that is how far they go. Simply because the adults around them have a problem being in their lane or cooperating with men deployed specifically for coordinating the traffic. The school is located in a service lane, obviously not too wide. The space constraint increases with buses queuing up to ferry children. The only way out for those coming in their vehicles is to follow the instructions of the men coordinating the traffic.

But some parents, usually arriving in big cars, seem to have problems sharing the available space with other vehicles. And what they never seem to have at their disposal is time. Thus what could otherwise be a slow but smooth passage becomes a maze of confusion. And even as they become angry and shout at other drivers, they forget that they themselves are adding to the problem.

-- Prashant Pandey

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