Congestion Charge For Cars To Clear Air, Govt Weighs Options

A congestion charge on cars that crowd the Capital is one of the options the government is considering to clean the air in the city ahead of the Commonwealth Games.

  Delhi has converted commercial vehicles to CNG, introduced Euro IV petrol and diesel this April and introduced new buses, but air pollution is still above permissible limits, with respirable suspended air particles (smaller than 2.5 microns) continuing to increase in the past year.







"Many options are being considered by the Delhi government. One of them is a congestion charge on cars," Environment Secretary Dharmendra told Newsline.


At its first meeting, a recently notified Transport Committee, headed by Chief Secretary Rakesh Mehta, mooted the idea of increasing parking rates in certain parts of the city.


An analysis of air pollution data done by the Centre for Science and Environment said nitrogen oxide levels and RSPM levels are growing steadily. "RSPM is growing steadily in the city. So are nitrogen oxides, which contribute to the creation of ozone, a dangerous pollutant.



In 2010, till April, the PM2.5 levels exceeded the standards on 92 per cent of the days monitored," said CSE's Anumita Roychoudhary.


DETAILED NEWS CAN BE VIEWED FROM THE LINK IN HEADLINE ABOVE.

With thanks : source : Indian Express


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Small Cities Put Metros To Shame In Cleanliness Ratings

They may not have the glamorous tag but when it comes to cleanliness and sanitation, smaller cities like Chandigarh, Mysore, Surat, Tiruchirapalli and Jamshedpur have beaten the metros in the sanitation rating released by the Union urban development ministry on Monday.

Not surprisingly, Chandigarh is on top, followed by Mysore, Surat, New Delhi Municipal Council area and Delhi Cantt in the top five list of civic areas graded by independent agencies appointed by the ministry.

Cities like Tiruchirapalli, Jamshedpur, Mangalore and Rajkot fall in the top 10 list out of 441 cities and towns with a population of more than one lakh subjected to the test.

What could surprise many, Kanpur, once a major industrial city and considered quite polluted, ranked 10th in the list.

With an ambitious task of 100% sanitation, the ministry took up the rating exercise with the objective of promoting safe sanitation in around 400 cities and towns across the country.

Though Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD) could not make it to the list of top 25 released by the ministry, metropolitan areas Navi Mumbai, Bangalore and Chennai got the 11th, 12th and 13th rank, respectively. Kolkata could manage the last rank in the list of top 25 cities and towns.

DETAILED NEWS CAN BE VIEWED FROM THE LINK IN HEADLINE ABOVE.

With thanks : source : Times of India

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Bridge Closure Leads To Chaos, Old Yamuna Bridge Closed For Bypass Project

Motorists and cyclists travelling between East Delhi and North Delhi are having a tough time as the traffic police have closed the Old Yamuna bridge.

The entire traffic of Yamuna bridge has now shifted to Geeta Colony bridge resulting in long traffic jams on it and the Shantivan crossing on Ring Road everyday.

According to senior traffic police officers, the bridge has been closed to facilitate the construction of Ring Road bypass, a road parallel to Ring Road between Indira Gandhi Indoor Stadium and Salim Garh fort near Kashmere Gate ISBT.

The bypass project is being constructed by public works department, which will be widely used by athletes and delegates during the Commonwealth Games I October this year.

"The bridge has been closed for the motorised traffic in both directions so that the PWD could carry out the construc- tion of the bypass project. The non-motorised traffic like bicycles and cycle rickshaws, is still being permitted," joint com- missioner of police (traffic) Satyendra Garg said.

"It will remain closed for at least two months."

DETAILED NEWS CAN BE VIEWED FROM THE LINK IN HEADLINE ABOVE.

With thanks : source : Times of India

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Commonwealth Games Concerns : Air's The Truth, Delhi Air Can Turn You Sick

The Delhi government uphill task of cleaning the city's air before the Commonwealth Games. The city's air is choked with tiny, toxic particles that travel to the deepest parts of the lungs.Doctors have noticed the effect on people. Data available at the All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) show increasing number of new patients with asthmatic symp- toms.

"We have noticed an increas- ing trend of young boys and girls who came to Delhi a year two ago from other states, developing asthmatic symp- toms," said Dr Randeep Guleria, specialist in pulmonary diseases at AIIMS. "Most of these patients do not smoke and do not have a history of asthma."

The Centre for Science and Environment has done a "pre- Commonwealth Games assess- ment" of Delhi's air quality mon- itored by the Central Pollution Control Board and come up with some alarming figures.

DETAILED NEWS CAN BE VIEWED FROM THE LINK IN HEADLINE ABOVE.

With thanks : source : Hindustan Times

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New Power Tariff Likely Only After Games

Delhiites will continue paying the same electricity tariff rates till October this year, whenever the government gives a go-ahead for the new rates to be effective.

According to highly-placed sources, the new tariff is likely to be implemented only after the Commonwealth Games and the government is keen on a status quo. Whether the new tariff rates will reflect the reduction proposed earlier, or whether discoms will finally have their way with a hike, remains to be seen.

Following directions of the government, regulator Delhi Electricity Regulatory Commission (DERC) has started the process of sending statutory advice to the state government on the financial position of the power companies.

While officials from the commission declined to comment on the issue, sources said the advice to be sent to the government would contain a lot of the same information that the regulator unearthed from the average revenue requirement (ARR) petitions submitted by the discoms late last year. The regulator took three-four months analyzing data submitted by discoms and audited accounts of distribution companies showing a profit made mainly by selling surplus power.

DETAILED NEWS CAN BE VIEWED FROM LINK IN HEADLINE ABOVE.

With thanks : source : Times of India

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RWA takes animal body to court

Five months after the Delhi High Court, on a plea by dog lovers, directed the Animal Welfare Board of India (AWBI) to identify spots across the capital for feeding stray canines, the panel finds that the task may not be that easy. Protests against the move reached a new level on Monday. 

The Resident Welfare Association (RWA) of a high-rise residential complex for central government employees —M S Apartments on KG Marg, abutting Hyderabad House, Civil Services Society and Andhra Bhawan — has dragged the Board to the court for identifying a feeding spot within the campus “despite protests”.

The RWA virtually questioned the Board’s power to allocate a feeding spot in densely-populated areas. 

The court had, on December 18, 2009, asked the Board to find designated places in all colonies in consultation with RWAs, SHOs and animal welfare organisations of each area.

DETAILED NEWS CAN BE VIEWED FROM THE LINK IN HEADLINE ABOVE.

With thanks : Source : Hindustan Times

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Waterlogging out, harvesting in

Residents of Greater Kailash-I seem to have found a novel way to battle the persistent problem of water-logging in the area.

The Resident’s Welfare Association (RWA) of the R-Block in Greater Kailash (GK) -I is building rain water harvesting tanks at places where water logging is a big problem.

“We are constructing plants where water logging is common. This way, water will not stay on the roads and will get accumulated in the tanks,” said U.C. Mathur, secretary of the RWA.The water will get filtered once in the tanks and will then be released into the ground. 

“We are not using the water for consumption. It will be released into the soil,” said Mathur. The colony already has two water harvesting tanks, one of which has addressed the problem of water logging.The third one is under construction and will be functional by May-end.

DETAILED NEWS CAN BE VIEWED FROM THE LINK IN HEADLINE ABOVE.

With thanks : source : Hindustan Times

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Priydarshini Vihar RWA to be aired live on Delhi Aaj Tak TV Channel

Priydarshini Vihar RWA is to be aired live on Delhi Aaj Tak TV Channel, tomorrow i.e. 11th May at 12.30 PM. The same programme will have a repeat telecast at 5.30 pm in the evening on the same Delhi Aaj Tak TV Channel. 

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Now, buy wine from where you buy your bread

Wine lovers in Delhi, raise a toast to this! Soon, queuing up at the rustic and dingy State-owned retail outlets to buy the preferred brand will be a thing of the past. The Delhi Government has decided to allow private department stores — selling fruits, vegetables and groceries — to also retail wine and foreign liquor in line with the practice in neighbouring National Capital Regions of Gurgaon and Noida, apart from States like Maharashtra and Karnataka.

An interesting aspect of the new policy is that wine and imported foreign liquor would be available at the licencee stores for longer hours than at the Government-owned outlets. While the latter open up only in the afternoon, Bacchus lovers can lay hands on their preferred brands as early as 10 am at the department stores. The move is sure to boost wine sales in the Capital substantially.

Talking to The Pioneer, Excise Minister Dr Ashok Kumar Walia confirmed that the Government had decided to allow department stores to sell wine, beer and imported liquor. The new policy has been approved and the notification is likely to be issued early this week. According to Walia, the policy has been framed for those who fight shy of standing in queues at State-owned retail outlets.

A total of 1,48,54,417 cases of wine, imported liquor and beer were sold in Delhi last year. The State Government generated over Rs 1,400 crore from liquor sales in 2009-2010.

However, insiders say the Government had been facing strong resistance from MLAs and councillors whenever a new licence was granted or a new shop opened. But with the new policy, department stores would be encouraged to sell wine and beer along with grocery items to boost their revenue prospects.

According to the new policy, the licence fee for L-53 (for department store) has been increased from Rs 50,000 to Rs 2 lakh a year. For L-53F (for sell of foreign beer and imported liquor (IFL)), the department store would have to pay additional 10 per cent of the L-53 licence fee 53. The department store will require a carpet area of at least 500 square feet and a minimum six segments in the category of goods that include grocery items, vegetables, frozen foods, sugary and bakery items, toiletries, cosmetics and household goods, toys, sports items, apparels, office stationary, electronic appliances and any other goods.

“The applicant should have a pre-existing department store operational for at least 12 months prior to the date of application and have an annual gross turnover of Rs 15 lakh or more,” the new policy said. A chain of department stores, having annual turnover of more than Rs 5 crore in Delhi, will be eligible to have separate licences for each of its store.

Detailed news can be viewed from the link in headline above.

With thanks : source : DailyPioneer 

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Property tax camp at Anand vihar - Rs. 10 Lakh collected in 3 hours

Dear Mr Vohra,

After a great deal of struggle and tapping all sources right from the bottom to top, finally we succeeded to get a camp organized for collection of ‘property tax’ at Anand Vihar on 8th May, 2010. On this exercise we encountered two perennial problems as in the past – one in getting adequate number of forms and the other in getting the camp fixed. Ultimately, we had tap the top source from whom orders were passed to get the needful done. Should it happen time and again?

You will be surprised and astounding to know that within a matter of 3 hrs. of the camp, we could get 267 applications cleared and collected over Rs.10 lakhs on one day! When people are prepared to pay, the officialdom is loathe and is not at all willing to help? This is paradoxical in the Govt.

We had to look after the officials in every respect at the camp, as a matter of courtesy and graciousness to keep them in good humour and get the job done. Of course, all the applicants were very happy and highly appreciated our efforts but at what cost of energy and time and money?

Can’t we remedy this odd situation? People are prepared to pay the taxes and that too in advance, but the govt. machinery – the babus – is not willing to assist or cooperate. This is the status of the MCD property tax office!

Best regards,

T K Balu, 
Hony. Secretary/RBECHS/Anand Vihar

Info under RTI hard to come by within 30 days

Even four years after the Right to Information Act was enacted, getting information within 30 days as mandated under the law is not an easy task. PTI filed 20 applications in a span of five months between November 1, 2009 and March 31, 2010 with different union ministries and organisations.

 

Surprisingly, no department provided complete information within 30 day limit mandated under the Act. In three cases, applications were rejected within a month along with exemption clauses given under the transparency law.

Nine applications did not receive any reply in a month and the Central Public Information Officers replied much after the mandatory period was over.

In the remaining eight cases, the CPIOs either transferred the application or sent incomplete responses. In four of these information was provided after the intervention of higher authorities.

With thanks : source : Tribune : with a link in headline above for detailed news.

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