Bala Sahib Hospital or the ruins of some old dynasty?

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Say No to Crackers - TOI

A penalty of Rs 10,000 per month on RWAs?

RWAs - SDMC has already issued notices to almost 300 RWAs and it may be your turn now. A penalty of Rs 10,000 per month on the RWAs for non-segregation and proper disposal of waste. It's SHOCKING. They can not give any empowerment to the RWAs but ready to impose penalties on RWAs.

Have you gone through this notice? Comments awaited.

It's strange. They want us to join hands with them without any empowerment and willing to levy huge penalties on us. Do they pay any penalty when they fail to do everything - potholes, waterlogging, sanitation, dengue, traffic jam, pollution, and a lot more, while they have all the powers. They are just fooling the masses. 

RWAs are just doing the selfless service to the society. We spend our own time, by spending from our own pockets, without any empowerment, and they want to levy penalties on us for no fault of us under the garb of joining hands with them.

Please raise the issue, else soon all of the RWAs will shut their doors as that will be the better option for them, instead of paying the huge penalties out of nothing.

Chat:

Ashutosh Dikshit  This is as per the rules and laws notified by gazette notification of 2016 and bye-laws for Delhi notified in 2018. Of course following the law is not really a well-known practice in the country.

Sanjay Gupta  This is going to be another big blow to RWA. The way rules are drafted, the whole onus will shift to RWA. Strange

Ashutosh Dikshit Not really Sanjay ji. The rules leave the responsibility on municipalities but ask for RWA partnership. In Delhi RWA and CGHS are legally positioned differently so their onus is also different. This responsibility could also be an opportunity for RWA to help in dealing with a citywide crisis.

Sanjay Gupta Ashutosh Dikshit ji however the rules says differently when interpreted. The biggest issue will be with colonies where RWA formation is not mandatory. Law is not making any apparent division leaving scope for interpretation.

Ashutosh Dikshit Sanjay Gupta Ji. We have discussed this with officers as well as studied the bye-laws notified. Will discuss with you to clear apprehensions

Rwa Bhagidari It's strange. They want us to join hands with them without any empowerment and willing to levy huge penalties on us. Do they pay any penalty when they fail to do everything - potholes, waterlogging, sanitation, dengue, and a lot more while they have all the powers. They are just fooling the masses.RWAs are just doing the selfless service to the society. We spend our own time, by spending from our own pockets, without any empowerment, and they want to levy penalties on us for no fault of us.

Ashutosh Dikshit Of course. Any RWA registered as a society under SRA of 1860 is in reality an NGO and the current laws cannot levy penalties on it. The MCD can levy penalty on the individual as prescribed in these by laws. So any RWA that does not want to participate in waste management can refuse but an individual citizen cannot. The citizen is duty and legally bound but the RWA is not. It will help of course if it becomes clear as to what power an RWA wants. All powers will carry corresponding liability as well.

Ashutosh Dikshit But I agree that the Municipal intent on waste and in being a responsible body is missing

Rwa Bhagidari Do they pay any penalty when they fail to do everything - potholes, waterlogging, sanitation, dengue, and a lot more while they have all the powers.

Rwa Bhagidari RWAs are willing to participate but no penalties as we don't have any empowerment

Ashutosh Dikshit By being made responsible, as well as liable RWA, are automatically empowered. It gives them a right to demand residents fall in line. Unfortunately, RWA is not seeing that.

Rwa Bhagidari HaHaHa. Where is the Empowerment? Is it written anywhere in the rules and laws notified by gazette notification of 2016 and bye-laws for Delhi notified in 2018?

Ashutosh Dikshit Yes empowerment is important. But so far very few RWA are able to clarify the exact power they want. What power should be given that would be satisfactory

Rwa Bhagidari RWAs are just doing the selfless service to the society. We spend our own time, by spending from our own pockets, without any empowerment, and they want to levy penalties on us for no fault of us under the garb of joining hands with them.

Rwa Bhagidari Please raise the issue, else soon all of the RWAs will shut their doors as that will be the better option for them, instead of paying the huge penalties out of nothing.

Have you gone through this notice? Comments awaited.

Why it's not a river but a dirty drain, back home?

We were at the Jim Corbett National Park in Uttarakhand and as usual, the visuals of the river were a pleasant surprise for our eyes, with neat and clean water and no pollutants at all.

My daughter had a very simple question that how this neat and clean water gets that much stinking and polluted that it resembles a drain? Why it's not a river but a dirty drain, back home? 





Truly, it's no more a river, no more a lifeline of Delhi as we have converted it into a dirty and a stinking drain. No doubt earlier, it was the lifeline of Delhi, but today you cannot go even nearer to it as it has the dirty and stinking water, the surroundings are covered with filth and garbage and you won't even get a feel of a river as now it resembles a dirty drain.



Hope you have viewed all the vids embedded above depicting the present status of the river Yamuna in Delhi. Don't you think that it's the right time to come forward to save the river Yamuna in order to save our Delhi? 

Shocking Train accident at Amritsar

SAD AND SHOCKING. A HUGE LAPSE ON THE PART OF THE CONCERNED AGENCIES HAS KILLED SCORES OF PERSONS AT AMRITSAR IN A TRAIN ACCIDENT. A FAST COMING TRAIN PASSED THROUGH HUGE LOT OF PERSONS CELEBRATING DUSSEHRA NEAR A RAILWAY TRACK. VIDEO RECEIVED FROM FRIENDS IN AMRITSAR. Unconfirmed reports say that over 150 - 200 persons have been killed, though official sources have announced over 50 deaths.

 

Early warning system for pollution kicks in

NEW DELHI: Delhi is again bracing for the air quality to plummet ahead of winter — a recurring phenomenon over the last few years. But thanks to an “early warning system” that will be able to forecast air pollution episodes three days in advance, the government may be slightly better prepared to tune its policies.

The air quality early warning system, developed by the Union ministry of earth sciences (MoES), will be able to predict the impact of say a dust storm emerging in the Gulf on the Capital’s air quality, officials said.

On Monday, IMD scientists shared their first forecast for October 16, 17 and 18 from the warning system with the Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB).

Scientists working on the model said the air quality on October 17 will continue to be in “poor” category, the wind direction may change from northwesterly to easterly and a light rain is expected in Delhi-NCR on October 18 which may marginally improve air quality.

The rain will be a result of a western disturbance across north-western India. “We are not seeing any major transport of dust from outside Delhi in the next three days, but the PM2.5 concentration is rising and that could be linked to crop stubble burning,” an India Meteorological Department (IMD) scientist working on the system said.

The system can forecast PM2.5 (fine, respirable particles), PM10 (coarse pollution particles), oxides of nitrogen (NOx), ozone (O3), sulphur dioxide (SO2) and carbon monoxide (CO). It can also provide data on fires based on satellite imagery, dust levels, and other factors.

But for now, this early warning system would not be accessible for the general public.

Officials said all forecast under the system will be password protected and shared with the CPCB, which will disseminate warning and tailor their pollution control measures like the application of Graded Response Action Plan (Grap).

The system uses an American (National Centre for Atmospheric Research) and a Finnish model to calculate air pollution levels in Delhi and NCR. “We have not spent money on these models. They are being shared by these countries through the World Meteorological Organisation (WMO). The full-fledged warning system will be up in a couple of days. We are still making some last-minute improvements,” said M Rajeevan, secretary, earth sciences.

CPCB officials said they have requested IMD to see if the forecast can be put out on CPCB’s website for the general public to view.

GOVT SAYS AIR QUALITY IS ‘IMPROVING’

Meanwhile, Union science and technology minister Harsh Vardhan on Monday said the number of “good”, “satisfactory” and “moderate” days were up this year compared to the same periods in 2017 and 2016. There was also a drop in “poor”, “very poor” and “severe” days.

Officials suggested that crop stubble burning cases are less this year compared to 2016 and 2017. The crop fires are 75% lower than last year in Punjab and 40% lower in Haryana, Vardhan added.

Officials, however, said they are expecting fires to pick up next week and last for 10 to 15 more days thereafter.

This is because of late harvest of certain varieties of paddy this year due to untimely rains in September.

with thanks: HT

Delhi's Biggest Thermal Plant Shuts As Pollution Plan Kicks In: 10 Points

NEW DELHI:  Delhi's biggest coal power plant has been ordered to be permanently closed from today and the roads will be swept with special machines as part of a set of emergency measures that have been put in place by the government to combat air pollution, authorities said. With the temperatures slowing dipping, Delhi air pollution levels have gone up with today's air quality tagged as "poor". The Central Pollution Control Board rolled out the emergency action plan which will be implemented from today.

Here are the top 10 updates on air pollution in Delhi.

1. The Badarpur thermal plant was due to permanently close from today because of its high contribution to pollution in the city. The emergency plan includes measures like mechanised sweeping of roads, deployment of traffic police to ensure smooth passage of traffic at vulnerable areas in Delhi and neighbouring areas, authorities said.
2. Authorities banned garbage burning and imposed pollution control measures at brick kilns and ordered the deployment of police to ensure smooth passage of traffic at vulnerable areas Delhi and the National Capital.  Region.
3. The use of generators have been banned in Delhi but not in the National Capital Region because of power supply situation in the area,  said Anumita Roychowdhury, a member of the Supreme Court-mandated mandated Environment Pollution (Prevention and Control) Authority.
4. If the air quality dips further to "very poor" category, parking fees will be hiked three to four times the current rates and the frequency of the metro and bus services will be increased, an official with the Central Pollution Control Board said.
5. When the air quality falls in the severe category, additional measures would be implemented like increasing frequency of sprinkling of water on roads and identifying road stretches with high dust generation.
6. If the pollution levels reach "severe+", a new category, authorities will stop the entry of trucks except those with essential goods and regulate the number of cars on the road.  In such a situation, They will also stop construction activities and appoint a task force to take the decision on any additional steps, including shutting of schools.
7. Delhi's civic body had also asked the state-run Navratna Central Public Sector (NBCC) to "immediately halt" all construction and demolition activities at its project site at central; Delhi's Pragati Maidan.
8. 41 teams have been deployed across the Delhi and neighbouring areas to monitor proper implementation of these norms enforced to prevent pollution at the source. An official said inspections will be intensified in the coming days.
9. Pollution in Delhi and neighbouring areas spikes around this time due to stubble burning by farmers after the harvest in Punjab and Haryana and Diwali firecrackers. Satellite images from the NASA have already showed increasing burning of paddy stubble in the two states.
10. Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal said he has taken up the pollution issue with the Chief Ministers of Haryana and Punjab. "We have been pursuing Central (government), Haryana and Punjab governments, yet no concrete action has been taken. Farmers are again helpless. The entire region including Delhi will again become gas chamber. People will again face difficulty in breathing. This is criminal," Mr Kejriwal tweeted on Saturday.

(With inputs from PTI and AFP)  ndtv link

#stubbleburning - Haryana & Punjab ?

Govt must provide adequate and low cost mechanism to check the stubble burning in neighbouring states. It must be a joint effort by @HardeepSPuri @ArvindKejriwal @ManojTiwariMP to save #delhi from the clutches of #pollution and to control the #environmental issues. pic.twitter.com/kG4pblT3D5

— B S Vohra (@RWABhagidari) October 14, 2018

Govt must provide adequate and low cost mechanism to check the stubble burning in neighbouring states. It must be a joint effort by @HardeepSPuri @ArvindKejriwal @ManojTiwariMP to save #delhi from the clutches of #pollution and to control the #environmental issues. pic.twitter.com/hFPPWyRCdS

— B S Vohra (@RWABhagidari) October 14, 2018