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Above law?

No one is above the law in this land. Yet many are more than equals or so it appears from the manner the Delhi traffic police treats vehicles of both Delhi and other States which bear red or blue rooftop lights denoting their use by VIPs.

While most Delhiites stick to the traffic rules as they believe that is the best way to survive in the chaos on the roads, very often one finds these VIP vehicles simply breaking every law of the land in trying to nose ahead of the pack.

But while they are obviously always in a hurry for doing something important, the VIPs in these vehicles seem to forget that their acts leave the other motorists fuming and fretting. For, these VIP vehicles often breeze past at high speeds making other motorists brake and swerve in order to avoid getting hit.

However, the traffic police for whom the law remains equally applicable to all, ignores such reckless driving merely because the occupants are well-heeled people.

This, however, is only ruining the impression of the ordinary traffic cop in the minds of the people which is very unfortunate considering that most of the personnel do their jobs sincerely and work untiringly to see that the traffic keeps moving.

It is also pertinent to note that many times major security breaches have taken place because the police agencies have been too coy to stop the VIP vehicles when they should have.

Be it the Parliament attack case or the recent misuse of a fake sticker by a Member of Parliament to gain access into the high security zone, the inability of the police and the traffic police to stop and search vehicles bearing VIP insignia has proved to be a major hurdle in making security foolproof.

Also, as such VIP vehicles are often even allowed to move freely even if they are having dark windows, they also pose a major threat to the civil society at large, considering that there have been many incidents in the recent past in which women have been criminally assaulted in moving vehicles.

Gaurav Vivek Bhatnagar

A date with

`suitable boy'

It will be the Capital's formal `date' with perhaps one of its most famous English writers -- Vikram Seth -- this week. The "Two Lives" of his aunt Henny Gerda Caro and Shanti Behari Seth might have already become the stuff that literary legends are made of, but for the Capital it has been a long wait to meet the legend himself.

A book that is a `family affair' in more ways than one, Delhi's `suitable boy' is all set to launch the story of two of its members on the day of his mother's 80th birthday.

Taking different cities by storm, his five-city tour will conclude in the Capital at a grand book release function organised by his publishers Penguin India on October 20.

Documenting the lives of Henny and Shanti -- two ordinary people who lived through extraordinary times -- the book has already managed to go cross the `regular' sale figures.

With 60 books selling in two days in one bookshop a day after it hit the stands, Seth certainly still lives up to the tag of being one of the best writers of his generation.

Mandira Nayar

Green initiative

After toiling hard for over a decade, the residents of Sector-7 in Rohini along with the non-government organisation Balprada have finally managed to convert a barren piece of land in their area, being used for cattle rearing and dumping garbage, into a beautiful lush green park.

Though the park was to be developed by the Municipal Corporation of Delhi, but the civic body officials never paid any heed to the pleas of the area residents to develop it into a green area. This led to anti-social elements and illegal dairy owners encroaching on public land. Things changed when Balprada got together with local residents and started planting trees. The task, however, was not easy as they had to cross many obstacles like water shortage, theft of tree guards, garbage dumping and damage to trees. But finally all their efforts bore fruit. "Our volunteers with the help of senior citizens, women and children initially planted 80 saplings of medicinal plants, comprising neem, pipal, banyan, amaltas, ashok, jamun, kachnar and shisham. We even persuaded the MCD officials to help us in developing the park. Since then, more than 1,000 big and decorative plants have grown in the park," informed Balprada's secretary Madhusudan Sharma. "Benches funded through contribution from locals were placed in the park. Senior citizens supported us in planting trees, maintaining them and creating awareness about the need to protect the environment. Locals also provided water to save the trees from the scorching heat of May and June when the park's water pump was out of order. It is a unique case of cooperation of citizens, non-government organisation and government," added Mr. Sharma.

Sandeep Joshi

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