Reconstruct Demolished Shelters In 3 Days: SC To DDA

No Night Shelters In The Country Should Be Demolished In Winter, Rules Apex Court

A photograph in TOI of two children spending a cold night under the open sky made the Supreme Court on Thursday lash out at Delhi Development Authority (DDA) for its apathy and order reconstruction of two night shelters within three days.

PICTURE THAT MELTED HEARTS:As it delivered the order, Supreme Court pointed talked about this photograph that TOI printed on Thursday. The photograph shows two children spending the night in biting cold out on a road  

"We do not want to see such photographs again," said a Bench comprising Justices Dalveer Bhandari and Deepak Verma. To drive the point about the super-seriousness of the apex court home, the Bench made vice-chairman of DDA personally responsible for reconstruction of the night shelters at the places where they were demolished. 

With anguish, it remembered a similar insensitive attitude of the Delhi government and the Centre last year resulting in many deaths during cold wave conditions which had forced the SC to step in to the rescue of homeless poor. In fact, the agency photograph that TOI carried had been taken in January this year and was intended to make the point that despite many judicial interventions, the agencies remained indifferent and callous. 

The Bench said it would not brook repetition of such unfortunate incidents this year and referred to the news reports published in TOI about demolition of night shelters at Nehru Place and Kalkaji. It said "this indeed is a matter of great anguish, disappointment and astonishment." 

with thanks : Times of India : link above for detailed news.

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RTI & RWAs !

Dear Mr. Vohra ji,

 

Let's have a debate/discussion on the RTI as applicable to the RWAs. The provision made in the DCS Act and Rules are of course applicable to us but not the RTI Act-2005 as such. This is a misnomer. Hence the miscreants in the Societies try to take advantage of the present state of affairs and create problems even for genuine societies, like ours, which we have taken up with the Registrar Cooperative Societies but no response so far. Similarly, there are yet a lot of issues to be thrashed out with them. Hence may I suggest for your consideration to arrange to convene a 'workshop' whereat the officials of the RCS as well as the important office-bearers could be invited to thrash out all loop-holes in the rules and act and avoid worthless correspondence and litigation and thereby save considerable precious time, energy and money of the RWAs etc.

 

Delhi East front should no doubt take such 'common issues' with the authorities concerned which will be useful for the smooth and effective functioning of the Societies and in the over all interest and progress of the residents' welfare!

 

Awaiting your response and with best wishes,

TK Balu

Secretary/RBECHS/Anand Vihar

MCD on FACEBOOK !

Dear Mr. Vohra ji,

 

It is a welcome feature that MCD will create a Facebook to book our grievances. However, all societies and people have to be educated as to how the 'facebook' is operated and how they could lodge a complaint! Secondly, the Hon.Lt. Governor and Hon.CM also created such 'grievances cell' in their offices and got a lot of publicity through the media but you will be appalled to know that their response is very poor! Pardon me to say so. I am expressing my opinion on this from my own experience. I had addressed all the common problems of our Society to both the foresaid VVIPs but till date no response. Their officials only do the 'post office' work i.e. forward the complaints to the officials concerned but there is no follow up from their side nor do they endorse a copy to the petitioner concerned i.e. in our case the Society itself.  What for are they doing all the 'cosmetic' dress-up and fool the aam admi!?

 

In this context I can quote with authority that during the tenure of Maharaja Scindia, when he was a railway minister at the centre, every complaint had to be attended to and replied within a fortnight and all such things were being monitored by his dedicated officials to apprise him of the position. Moreover, whenever railway officials go on tour (duty) or on leave and travel by train, it is compulsory for them to interact with the travelling passengers in the trains they are travelling and send a report on their return to the Minister's cell at Rail Bhavan and they too are monitored and necessary remedial action is taken. No doubt the tenure of his 'raj' is still considered as the 'golden era' of the Indian Railways and considerable improvements were effected. ALAS WHERE IS THE SYSTEM NOW!

 

In view of the above, let us hope and wish and pray that the pioneer attempts proposed to be made by the MCD, which will no doubt certainly improve the present situation, provided the officials at the higher level of the MCD mean 'business' and do their work religiously and faithfully, without fear or favourtisim! LET'S WAIT AND WATCH WHICH WILL BE KNOWN WITHIN A SHORT PERIOD OF TIME AFTER IT IS LAUNCHED WITH ALL FANFARE AND TRUMPHER AND PUBLICITY IN THE MEDIA!

 

Meanwhile let us be educated on the operation of the system for the benefit of all. You could do it at your level which will be useful to all the RWAs etc.

 

TK Balu

Secretary/RBECHS/Anand Vihar

Illegal Water Packaging plant.

Ramakrishna Vihar Social Welfare Society (Regd)

M-134,Ramakrishna Vihar Aptmts, 29, Patparganj, IP EXtn, Delhi-110092.

Phone No.-9968656377/9810017316/9899221580,email-rsws29@hotmail.com

REMINDER

SDM (Preet Vihar)                                                                  Dt. 21^st October, 2010

L.M Bandh , Shastri Nagar

Pushta , Geeta Colony,

Delhi.

Sub:- Grievance No. 90917000006 to Delhi Admn thru their web portal.

Sir,

Enclosed please find a copy of above mentioned Grievance sent to Delhi Administration through their web portal by Shri. J.K.Gehlawat (who is now General secretary of the Managing Committee of Retired & Retiring Govt. Emp. CGHS, 29, Patparagnj, I.P.extn, Delhi-92) which is self explanatory. Reply received from Delhi administration (for necessary action at your end) on the issue is also highlighted for your reference.

Till date no reply has been received from your good offices regarding the same.We, request you to kindly note that the RO plant in question –

1. Doesn’t have any ISI/BIS mark certification for quality thereby posing a risk to the resident’s health
2. Doesn’t have any provision for sterilizing the Jars received back from the residents.
3. Doesn’t have any quality check mechanism.
4. Doesn’t sell packaged water jars with MRP labels etc.
5. Is not approved by any dept. of Govt of NCT of Delhi/Industry.
6. Sells water @ Rs.16/- per Jar of 20 Ltrs.
7. Wastes lots of precious water and doesn’t account for any Govt. revenue etc. like excise and sales tax.

Through this letter, we would like you to kindly interfere and order closure of the same.

                                                                 Thanking You,

                                                                                                   Yours Faithfully,

                                                                                                         P.N.Singh

                                                                                                         (President)

cc-
DDG,Enforcement,BIS, Manak Bhavan
9 Bahadur Shah Zafar Marg
New Delhi 110 002, India – to take necessary action for closure of the above mentioned RO water/packaged drinking water plant.

Petrol gets costlier by Rs 3 per litre

New Delhi: Petrol prices are set to go up by Rs 3 per litre from Wednesday - with oil companies citing a rise in global crude prices and pointing out they are still losing money.Oil marketing majors including Indian Oil Corporation (IOC), Bharat Petroleum Corporation Limited (BPCL) and Hindustan Petroleum Corporation Limited (HPCL) are hiking petrol prices by almost Rs 3 per litre. New prices have already come into effect at BPCL outlets, others will follow suit from Thursday.Since the government deregulated prices in June this year, petrol prices have been on a rise. After the early November hike , Oil PSUs have once again raised petrol prices - this time by almost Rs 3 per litre, the higest hike in 6 months.

 

In Delhi, prices have gone up to Rs 55.87 per litre from Rs 52.91 earlier. In Kolkata petrol costs Rs 59. 77 now from Rs 56.81 rupees. In Mumbai and Chennai, consumers will have to shell out Rs 60.31. 

with thanks : IBN live : link above for detailed news.

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MCD Logs In To Facebook To Solve Civic Woes

with thanks : Hindustan times : link above for detailed news.

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By 2030, Demand For Water will Exceed Supply By 50%

Water shortages are expected to aggregate 40 per cent in developing Asia by 2030 and in some countries like India, demand may exceed supply by 50 per cent, says an Asian Development Bank (ADB) draft report.

The report said that India's aggregate gap of 50 per cent across all basins was driven by very rapid growth in agricultural, municipal and domestic demand. Aware of the acute water deficit India may face in future, the government hopes to bridge the gap by increasing level of efficiencies in water utilisation and conservation.

Parliamentary Affairs Minister Pawan Bansal told Parliament last week that average annual water availability for the country had been assessed as 1,869 billion cubic meters (BCM) with estimated utlilisable water of about 1,123 BCM

Increase in population had resulted in per capita water availability, Bansal said in a written reply in Rajya Sabha, adding that while in the year 1951 per capita water availability was about 5,177 cubic metre a year, it worked out to about 1,820 cubic metre a year on the basis of the 2001 Census.

Increase in population had resulted in per capita water availability, Bansal said in a written reply in Rajya Sabha, adding that while in the year 1951 per capita water availability was about 5,177 cubic metre a year, it worked out to about 1,820 cubic metre a year on the basis of the 2001 Census.

with thanks : Tribune : link above.

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All Property Transactions On Website ?

The Central Information Commission is contemplating to make public all the property transactions taking place in the national capital and has sought the views of the Delhi Government on it. 

The case relates to RTI applicant S P Manchanda, who sought to know from the revenue department of Delhi Government the registration details of a property traded by him in 2000 but was informed that they do not maintain the property-wise list.

The department informed him that it would be impossible to locate from the records when the particular property was registered.

Manchanda then approached the Commission and said he wanted to inspect the records himself to get the information.

He suggested to the Commission that details of property transactions should be made public and put on the website for easy access.

"The Commission has been informed by the Respondent that after 2006 all property transactions are being maintained on computers. The Commission directs the Divisional Commissioner to send his views on the subject of putting the details of property transactions on the website to the Commission before December 25, 2010," Information Commissioner Shailesh Gandhi said.

He also directed the department to allow Manchanda to inspect all the relevant files.

with thanks :  NDTV : link above.

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Govt proposes New RTI Rule: Ask, But Only In 250 Words, On Only One Subject

The government has proposed new rules that require a Right to Information (RTI) application to be restricted to 250 words and only one subject.

  There's no word cap currently, and applicants can seek information on any number of subjects in a single application.

The 250 words do not include addresses of the Central Public Information Officer and the appli cant. The proposed rules require the applicant to pay postal charges above Rs 10 incurred by authorities in replying to the application.

Applicants do not currently pay postal charges. They pay Rs 10 when filing the application.

The Department of Personnel and Training (DoPT) has uploaded a 10-page draft of the Right to Information Rules, 2010, on its website and has invited comments from the public by December 27, which is a procedural requirement before the rules can be enforced. Comments are invited to usrti-dopt@nic.in.
RTI activists said the proposed rules will dilute the landmark legislation. "By restricting the application to 250 words the government will make it difficult for the common man to seek information," said Noida-based RTI activist Lokesh Batra. "This act is meant even for illiterates, how can you expect people to follow such a tight word limit? Everyone is not capable of summarising thoughts so well."

Delhi-based Anil Sood said the proposal was a "clear attempt to create grey areas in a transparent law and allow scope for harassment of applicants". 

with thanks : Indian Express : link above.

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Cops See Red, Crack Down On Vehicles With Tinted Glasses

In view of the Sultanpuri rape incident, in which the accused drove around in a car with tinted glasses, the Delhi traffic police have decided to crackdown on vehicles with tinted glasses.

 

On Tuesday, the traffic police will carry out a massive drive against such vehicles across the capital.

Senior traffic officials say that this time around, they will not turn a blind eye to any government vehicles or low-floor Delhi Transport Corporation (DTC) buses fitted with tinted glasses.

"We will make sure that no vehicle with tinted glasses is spared being challaned.

The drive will continue till we ensure there is no such car left in the city," said Satyendra Garg, joint commissioner of police (traffic).

"Using tinted glasses is a violation of traffic norms and poses a threat to women's safety," added Garg.

with thanks : Hindustan times : link above.

www.RWABhagidari.blogspot.com

MCD Steps Up Its Demolition Drive In City

Stepping up its drive against illegal structures, the MCD on Monday sealed 28 properties and demolished eight unauthorised constructions in east Delhi, where 71 people lost their lives in a building collapse incident last month.

 

The Municipal Corporation of Delhi has been conducting special drives against unauthorised constructions in Shahdara (South) Zone, taking action against 143 properties in the past one week alone.

"Demolition has been taken against properties in Shakarpur J-Extension of Laxmi Nagar and Pandav Nagar. We will continue to take action against illegal structures," said a senior MCD official.

The MCD has put a renewed focus on curbing unauthorised constructions after a multistorey building -with two illegal floors -collapsed in Lalita Park in Laxmi Nagar on the night of November 15.

In the first day of the drive in Lalita Park and nearby areas last week, violence erupted in the locality in which residents allegedly thrashed the local municipal councillor.

With thanks : Hindustan times : link above


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