Whats going on in Delhi amongst the School Kids ? Read Below :

with thanks : Hindustan Times : original link above.

Just think !!!!! What will happen in Delhi, in case of any natural calamity as the Disaster Management plans are still on paper ?

Disaster management non-starter

Plans On Paper But Capital Not Prepared To Handle Calamity

Rumu Banerjee TNN

New Delhi: Three years after the state government notified the Delhi Disaster Management Authority (DDMA), the city seems prepared to face any emergency. In theory, that is. The draft disaster management plan, which state nodal officer, divisional commissioner (revenue) DM Spolia says has been approved by the Lieutenant-Governor, is an elaborate document complete with specifications of the scope of work that district-level teams would have in an emergency. 

The reality is far different. From an acutely slow pace of implementation to the lack of a robust chain of command, the much-vaunted DDMA seems to be floundering even before it gets off the ground. 

The facts speak for themselves. Three years after inception, DDMA has no dedicated staff, with the government appointing district project officers and project coordinators as late as January this year. Insiders claim that key positions like that of disaster management experts, monitoring and evaluation officer as well as capacity building officers remain vacant. And though Spolia insists that his officers in the revenue department are “more than adequate”, the fact is that the lack of a dedicated team is taking its toll.

Says Dr Santosh Kumar, an expert from the National Institute of Disaster Management (NIDM), “Abroad, in countries like Japan and the US, a dedicated cadre has been established for disaster response and management.” The immediate impact of a work force that only undertakes disaster management part-time is in implementation, said Dr Kumar.

“Though the state disaster management authority has initiated some community based projects and laid down a framework, much more needs to be done. The disaster management guidelines need to be translated on the ground soon,” adds the expert. 

Acase in point is the capacity building of citizens. With Delhi facing fairly high chances of complex emergency situations like the one in Japan, awareness amongst Delhiites about disaster management and how to respond in such a scenario is crucial. 

 “An aggressive awareness campaign needs to be launched so that citizens get to know how to respond in an emergency. It’s patently lacking at the moment,” adds Dr Kumar. The city, he adds, is especially vulnerable because of the high densification and frail construction. “In Japan, people knew what to do in such a situation, and that saved many lives,” said an official. It’s not just lack of awareness that is lacking in the government’s disaster management planning. While a rudimentary emergency operations centre (EOC) has been established at state and district levels, the absence of staff, training and equipment are sore points. Government officials admit the EOCs are basically a two-man show, especially at the district level. Training is sporadic even as mock drills have become routine features. 

“Since the mock drills are planned, everyone knows what needs to be done. Surprise drills are few, if any, so that we have no actual quantification of the level of preparedness,” said an official. The quick response teams, that are the first line of defence in disaster management plan, are yet to be set up in all districts, add sources. 

 That’s not all. Equipment, which Spolia says is to be provided by the support agency (like PWD or Metro depending on the rescue team), is also an issue. Sources say that the few equipment that have been bought are laying waste in store rooms. “A human detector that was bought two years ago is kept in the store room, as there’s no trained manpower. It was only used once during the Zamrudpur collapse,” added the source. 

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

RWA members in the MCD ward committees from April !

With thanks : Mr D K Gupta, VP, EDRWAsJF

Krishna Nagar being brought under "Aapsi Rakhwali Yojna"

DCP East Mr Mishra has informed that Krishna Nagar is being brought under the "Aapsi Rakhwali Yojna". All the houses in this locality will be connected by electric bells i.e. every house will have a bell connected in the nearby house and as a result all the houses will be connected with one another. 

In case of any emergency, one has to just press the bell and the neighbours will check immediately the reason and on any suspicious movement can call the Police & public immediately. In adition, Machans are to be built at some selected locations with additional patroling on motor bikes covering entire locality. Installation of CCTV cameras is also being considered by the Lal Quarter Traders Association.

Krishna Nagar, The first DLF colony is a biggest retail market in East Delhi. While Lal Quarter has all type of routine shops, Chachi building is well known for woolens. Main Road has all the prominent Banks such as HDFC, ICICI, SBI, PNB, SBI(B&J),UCO, Axis, Bank of Baroda etc. along with many shops of Fridge & TV items. Central park has All the prominent Jewellers on one side & nearby. Mandir marg has become a known place for night wears.

 

Brace Up For Power Shortage

The approaching summer season may come as a harrowing experience for the people of Delhi with power officials predicting peak power demand to shoot up to 5,100 MW.

Not only this, the discoms have also warned of power cuts due to shortage in the power supply. "Delhi's ever-increasing power demand in range of average 10 per cent increase year on year, especially during summer, has been setting new records, almost every year," said a senior official of the power department.

"As per the Central Electricity Authority (CEA) Power Demand Assessment Report, Delhi's power demand is likely to touch 8,729 MW by 2016 up from the peak of 4,720 MW in June 2010. According to estimates, Delhi's power demand this summer is all-set to cross 5,100 MW," he said.

Although the Delhi discoms have made adequate tie-ups, the final supply position will depend to a large extent on the availability of power from new power projects of Damodar Valley Corporation (DVC) (Chandrapura, Mejia, Koderma and Durgapur, and Maithon), NTPC Jhajjar and Bawana. Most of these plants, were supposed to have been commissioned before the Commonwealth Games. "In fact the DVC power plants were supposed to have been commissioned two-three years ago, but have been getting delayed due to one reason or the other," said the officer.

with thanks : Tribune : link above for detailed news.

Re. : Earthquake in Japan .....

Sir,

India and delhite may be safe from killer waves of TSUNAMI  and the earth quake which unfortunate japan had faced. But our worthies of MCD AND DDA are continuously in search of ways and means to give us shock by their acts of defiance of even COMMISSIONER LAND DDA, COMMISSIONER MCD and CHAIRMAN PGC.

Example :

Commissioner land DDA, ordered that no officer below the rank of deputy director  or EXECCUTIVE ENGINEER shall continue joint survey and reach conclusion whether 15ft road of madhuvan behind houses 68 to 77 exists or not.

DDA AND MCD WERE REQUIRED TO BRING CERTIFIED COPIES OF LAYOUT CUM SET BACK PLANS OF MADHUVAN AND PREET VIHAR. None brought any record.

I am constrained to say that they brought MY PERSONAL FILE OF HOUSE NO 78 which has been under dealing in DDA office for conversion from sublease to free hold and my application has been pending since 2008 till date.

I OBJECTED that my personal property case has no connection with this case. BUT MY OBJECTION had no meaning to them. Commissioner had recorded in his order that NON PRODUCTION OF RECORDS SHALL BE REPORTED TO VICE CHAIRMAN DDA AND COMMISSIONER MCD.

Hearing is slated on 14^th march 2011 at 11 am in the chamber of chairman PGC IN IP ESTATE. EXCEPT CITY PLUS no press wala has guts to write about this case.

Kindly pray that our more than twenty year old case of restoration of 15 ft road used by residents of MADHUVAN, NIRMAN VIHAR AND PREET VIHAR IS RESTORED BACK FOR PUBLIC USE.

KK GHEI   SENIOR VICE PRESIDENT EDRWAJF

Re. : Water Shortage .....

Water shortage in delhi is man made. Almost all dda developed colonies or societies developed colonies were having tube wells besides ranny wells in river beds. Due to certain decisions, all of these water resources have been closed.

DELHITES ARE SHAMED THAT EVEN AVAILABLE DRINKING WATER IS NOT FIT FOR DRINKING. 

KK GHEI  SENIOR VICE PRESIDENT  EDRWAJF

Post Office Goes Online

India Post today announced launch of online portal `e-post office' to provide postal transactions and tracking service online. This portal will provide electronic money order (eMO), instant money order (iMO), sale of philatelic stamps, postal information, tracking of express and international shipments, PIN code search and registration of feedback and complaints online.

 Union Communications and IT Minister Kapil Sibal with Minister of State Sachin Pilot launching the `e-Post Office' in New Delhi on Wednesday. 

"A user can use his debit or credit card to send eMO or iMO online. This will enable one to send money to person at home anywhere in the country," said Radhika Doraiswamy, secretary, Department of Post, during the launch.

Through this portal, DoP will also sell products, handicrafts and other products made by small-scale industries. "Earlier consumers used to go to service providers but now services providers are going to consumers. This is the future of the 21st century.

 with thanks : Tribune : link above for detailed news.

Projects Stuck, Delhi Stares At A Water Crisis

Neither Munak Canal Nor Renuka Dam Will Provide Water This Summer.

The capital is staring at a grim water situation this summer. The city government had been banking heavily on the Munak canal for supply of an additional 80 million gallons per day (MGD) and had hoped that work on Renuka dam would commence, assuring the city of a fixed supply in the coming years. But both projects have got stuck and officials have started advocating water conservation measures.

Delhi has an installed treatment capacity of 755 MGD through eight water treatment plants. An additional 100 MGD is extracted from the ground. "We have a demand of about 1,080 MGD. There is a shortfall of about 250 MGD. We are also expecting the capital's population to grow to 230 lakh in the next 10 years. So far, we have not been able to identify any other alternate source of water. Delhi unfortunately is almost entirely dependant on its neighbours for raw water supply," said a DJB official.

Those working on waterrelated issues in the city say that there is a large population that is not on the DJB's radar at all. These people, mostly living in unauthorized colonies and slums, have to turn to the tanker mafia or survive on groundwater. "Only 27% of Delhi is authorized. If we work out a consumption of 100-300 lpcd (litres per capita per day), the total demand comes to about 1,500 MGD," says Jyoti Sharma of Forum for Organized Resource Conservation and Enhancement.

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

www.RWABhagidari.blogspot.com

18% of City Water Unfit For Consumption, 111 Out of 616 Water Samples Not Suitable For Drinking

Every fifth person in Delhi is at the risk of getting water-borne diseases, such as typhoid, cholera, gastroenteritis, jaundice, hepatitis A. The figures say it all.

 

In December, 2010, the Public Health department of MCD had sent tap water samples supplied by the Delhi Jal Board (DJB) to be tested in a government lab.

Results of these samples have revealed that 18% of the city's water is contaminated with disease-causing bacteria.

Out of the 616 water samples tested, 111 were found to be unfit for drinking.

Most number of contaminated samples -21 and 18 respectively -were found in the south and central zone, that has areas such as Green Park, Malviya Nagar, Vasant Kunj, Vasant Vihar, Greater Kailash-I, East of Kailash, CR Park.

"This is a gross health hazard. We keep telling the public to consume tap water. But if this is the quality of drinking water available, how can we prevent the outbreak of waterborne diseases," said VK Monga, chairman, Public Health Committee, MCD.

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

www.RWABhagidari.blogspot.com

Massive Earthquake of 8.9 magnitude shocks Japan !

A massive Earthquake of 8.9 Magnitude shook Japan today. Massive loss of property is reported due to the Earthquake as well Tsunami after that. We express our Deepest condolences to the people of Japan.

Being on Sisamic zone 4, we at Delhi must be ready to face any such natural Disaster.

But where is our Disaster Management Team ?
Are we ready to face any such problematic situation ?