Declaring that the first in-situ slum rehabilitation project undertaken at Kathputli Colony in his New Delhi parliamentary constituency was close to his heart, Union Housing and Poverty Alleviation Minister Ajay Maken said on Tuesday that more such projects would be planned to rid the city and other urban areas across the country of slums.

Speaking after assuming charge of the new Ministry, Mr. Maken who has been elevated to the Union Cabinet rank now, said he would also be working on expediting the process of redevelopment of slums. “At the time of the 1982 Asian Games when construction of various projects was undertaken, little thought was paid to the need of housing for the workers

‘Award of work for revamping water supply violates rules’

A non-government organisation working in the water sector has alleged misappropriation of funds by the Delhi Jal Board in the award of work for improvement and revamping of existing water supply, transmission and distribution network under the Nagloi Water Treatment Plant. Comparing the size and the scope of the project with design, construction, installation, commissioning, operation and maintenance of intake of a 50 MGD WTP and water supply distribution network in the city of Patna, the NGO has claimed that over Rs.1,000 crore are being misappropriated through the execution of the project in Nangloi.

The Delhi Metro Rail Corporation has been awarded the Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) President Award for 2012 for its outstanding contribution to the development of human resources, society and economy of India and also for promoting mutual understanding between India and Japan.

At a function organised at Metro Bhawan here on Monday, the award was formally presented to DMRC Managing Director Mangu Singh for the Delhi Mass Rapid Transport System Project (I) – (VI) in the presence of JICA chief representative Shinya Ejima, senior representative Hiroshi Suzuki and others.

A blanket ban on manufacture, sale, storage and use of plastic bags in the Capital will come into effect from November 22.

Despite the heavy pressure from the “plastic lobby”, the Delhi government has notified the blanket ban on plastic bags. A senior Delhi government official on Thursday confirmed that the notification regarding blanket ban had been issued on October 23.

“The ban had been notified on October 23 and the process of implementation of the decision is on. Very soon Delhi will become the first plastic bags free state,” the official said.

A day after several hundred idols were immersed in the Yamuna on the last day of Durga Puja overloading an already polluted river, the Delhi Government’s Environment Department started the process of cleaning up and decongesting it on Thursday. The work is expected to end by early next week.

Delhi Environment & Forest secretary Sanjiv Kumar said: “This year the department began the work of ensuring that the river was put under as little stress as possible because of the immersion and we had regular meetings with the registered Puja committees asking them to use only environment-friendly material which does not harm the river further. As a follow-up to the exercise we also interacted with various stakeholders early this week to review the measures put in place for idol immersion in the Yamuna during Durga Puja.”

There seems to be no end to their quest for clean, drinking water, but residents of the resettlement colony in Bhalaswa are not ready to give up yet. On Thursday, after a joint inspection to identify the locations for provision of water tankers failed to reach an agreeable decision, the residents decided to continue their struggle for potable water.

Residents of the resettlement colony have been complaining against unavailability of safe drinking water in their area. The Delhi Jal Board which supplies water to the city through a piped network sends tankers to Bhalaswa to meet the demand for water.

There was no let up in dengue cases in the capital with 33 patients testing positive on Tuesday, taking the total to 685.

Two children have so far succumbed to dengue ever since the disease began spreading in the capital early this month. Thirty cases were reported from three municipal corporations while two were from the VVIP areas of the capital. One case originated from outside the capital.

“Need to replace buses that have outlived their service years”

The Delhi Cabinet on Tuesday approved the purchase of 1,100 more buses for the Delhi Transport Corporation. This purchase is over and above the procurement of 625 non-air-conditioned low-floor CNG buses which had earlier been approved of. Chief Minister Sheila Dikshit said that to provide a reliable, punctual, comfortable and dependable public transport service in the Capital, the fleet of DTC buses is being augmented. She said there was an urgent need to replace 1,886 standard floor buses which have outlived their service years.

Bowing to public sentiment, the Delhi Electricity Regulatory Commission on Monday announced a correction in the billing exercise that will lower the monthly electricity bills by one per cent to 22 per cent for different categories of consumption.

The DERC has restored the consumption slabs to 0-200, 201-400 and 400 units and above and changed the per unit price of power in the slabs 201-400 and 400 and above.