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During the last quarter of this past year the Capital was witness to a series of protest marches and rallies. From the anti-reservation agitation to the health employees raising their voice against certain terms of reference in the Sixth Central Pay Commission, the Delhi police were kept on their toes throughout.

This past weekend when some political parties took to the streets in protest against the execution by hanging of former Iraqi President Saddam Hussein in Baghdad, traffic near Connaught Place came to a standstill for some time.

Among the onlookers was a middle-aged couple hailing apparently from some Southeast Asian country.

The foreigners were walking around the Janpath intersection when they noticed the protest march. Seemingly amused to see the protesters carrying an effigy of U.S. President George Bush and shouting slogans against him, the couple walked with them to see what they do next.

As the protesters were stopped by the police some distance away from their destination -- American Center -- they decided to carry out a mock hanging of Mr. Bush's effigy.

Almost immediately, the couple took out their digital cameras and began taking pictures of the ``hanging'' of the U.S. President.

Not satisfied with the "capital punishment" handed out to Mr. Bush, the protesters then -- much to the excitement of the foreigners -- began to burn his effigy.

The couple walked away from the scene only after they had captured every highlight of the protest demonstration.

--Parul Sharma

`The fatal knock'

With the kind of traffic volumes that one sees in Delhi, survival is a daily affair for most -- especially pedestrians, cyclists and two-wheeler riders. A small bump on the road, a missing pothole cover, a displaced central verge stone or a carelessly left barricade in the middle of the road can all provide the fatal knock.

But despite driving and moving around the cities being so precarious, precious little is done to improve the situation. The Government may be spending crores of rupees on beautifying the city but no one is appointed to take a round of the roads and see that there are no displaced stones of the central verge lying on the fast lane. This can help save the lives of many a two-wheeler rider. Likewise, an ordinary looking bump or pothole on the road can easily throw a two-wheeler rider off balance and before the fast moving traffic coming from behind.

The problem lies not in the lack of vision but in lack of sensitivity which prevents officials from just looking out of the windows of their vehicles while travelling and seeing if they can do something to improve the lives of the ordinary people.

And what is true of the Government is true of the civic bodies that also care little about missing manhole covers and open ditches that can grievously or fatally harm a person. The Delhi police are no better. Or else why would its senior officials allow their lower staff to go unpunished when they leave the barricades unattended on the roads after setting up pickets. At night these barricades have time and again knocked down two-wheeler riders or led to major mishaps involving four-wheelers. But still the "with you for your always'' force keeps repeating its mistakes without fail. Probably they are waiting for a bigger accident to take place before they would put an end to this dangerous practice.

--Gaurav Vivek Bhatnagar

Councillors

in a hurry

Despite confusion over the holding of municipal elections in the Capital, sitting Councillors of both the Congress and the Bharatiya Janata Party are not taking any chances. They seem to be in a hurry to inaugurate new facilities or announce new infrastructure projects for the people of Delhi. As it is still not clear when the dates for holding civic polls will be announced, the Councillors and other senior leaders are leaving no stone unturned to ensure that all such works that can garner them votes are completed before the model code of conduct comes into force.

In the past one month the Municipal Corporation of Delhi organised several functions to mark the inauguration of newly constructed buildings of schools, hospitals and community centres. The Councillors are also busy renaming roads, some after small-time political leaders and relatives of senior leaders, including local Councillors.

"This being the election year, the Councillors think whatever planning has been done in the past four years must be brought before the people. Leaders are pressuring us to let them inaugurate even those projects that are not fully complete. This anxiety is more among the Congress Councillors who have to make up for all the harassment caused to the public due to the sealing and demolition drives in the city," said a senior MCD official.

--Sandeep Joshi

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