The Delhi High Court on Wednesday issued notices to the Delhi Chief Secretary and the State Transport Commissioner on a contempt of court petition by a non-government organisation alleging that that they had violated the Court orders allowing plying of other vehicles in the BRT corridor till disposal of a petition for opening up the dedicated bus carriageway for three-wheeler and four-wheeler traffic as well.

The petitioner, non-government organisation Nyaya Bhoomi, submitted that despite the Court orders of May 30 and July 5 that the trial-run of vehicles other than buses would continue in the corridor till disposal of the petition, the Government had disallowed those vehicles from entering into it.

“By putting off a cost reflective tariff and extending subsidies, we may seem to help the consumer, but what we are actually doing is bleeding the State electricity boards and eventually burdening the consumer with surcharge after the losses become untenable,” said an official of the power department explaining why reforms in the power sector must begin with a realistic power tariff, curtailing losses and replacing short-term sops with long-term schemes.

Dissecting the causes for the grid collapse that left the city powerless on Monday and Tuesday, officials of the power distribution companies as well as the government’s power department were unanimous that the State electricity boards have been pushed to withdraw spending on system up-gradation because of their poor financial condition.

Power cuts triggered by the grid collapse on Monday and Tuesday have flagged the need for investing in the power systems. The Delhi Government on Tuesday decided to act on the warning that the grid collapse turned out to be and set up a committee to enforce system strengthening and maintenance.

The city had to face power cuts through the day on Tuesday, after the country’s three grids, the Northern, Easter and the North-Eastern grids collapsed. A prolonged meeting chaired by Chief Minister Sheila Dikshit ended with the Principal Secretary Power being appointed chairperson of a committee that has been set up to ensure that all the State-owned generation units and the discoms spend money on improving the systems

A city court has ordered the Centre and the DMRC to raise by over `1.26 crore the compensation to a firm for acquiring its 541 square metre plot to build Barakhamba Road Metro Station.

Additional district judge Nivedita Anil Sharma asked the Union government to pay the compensation to Jetways Travels Pvt Ltd, at an enhanced rate of `81,429 per square metre, terming its earlier compensation at the rate of `57,960 as “inadequate” and “unreasonable”.

Almost entire Delhi went without power for about eight hours on Monday due to the collapse of the Northern Grid, putting people to misery on a humid day when water distribution and Metro services were largely affected.

Top Delhi Power Department officials said the technical failure near Agra resulted in the collapse of the Northern Grid, which supplies electricity to Delhi, Uttar Pradesh, Punjab, Rajashtan, Haryana and Himachal Pradesh. The main casualty of the power failure was the water distribution system as well as Metro services but operations at the airport remained largely unaffected as diesel generating back-up system was put to use.

The temperature in the city is rising and the matter is of grave concern. If not attended to now, it will lead to some irreversible damage and leave us with no natural resources for the next generation.

According to a study by the Faculty of Natural Sciences, Jamia Millia Islamia, the temperature in Delhi has risen by an average of 1-1.5 degree Celsius from the year 2001 to 2009. The rise is even more in the high-density areas like Chandni Chowk, Laxmi Nagar, Dhaula Kuan and Mayur Vihar Phase 1, where a rise of 2-2.5° Celsius has been recorded on the heat map developed by the faculty.

The Delhi government on Monday dismissed as “irrational and unconstitutional” the report prepared by the Central Road Research Institute (CRRI) criticising the 5.8 km BRT corridor between Ambed-kar Nagar and Moolchand.

In its reply filed before the Delhi high court on Monday, the transport department said that the Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) corridor has proven beneficial for a majority of the population dependent on public transport rather than a fraction of the people who travel by personal vehicles.

Plea to ban installation of towers on residential buildings

The Delhi High Court on Monday issued notices to the Union Government, the Delhi Government and Hutchison Essar Mobile Services Limited on a petition by a man seeking a direction to stop installation of mobile towers on residential buildings and at public places, submitting that the radiation emitted by them was carcinogenic and his son had recently died due to it.

Referring to the Supreme Court opinion on the scope of judicial review in policy matters, the Delhi Government has urged the Delhi High Court to refrain from interfering with the BRT corridor issue.

In an affidavit filed through R. P. Meena, Additional Commissioner of the Transport Department, urging the Court to maintain the sanctity of the BRT corridor, the Government said: “Maintain sanctity of the BRT corridor because if any other vehicles are allowed in BRT corridor, no bus will be able to reach designated platform for proper embarkation and disembarkation of passenger.”

People in the national capital are the least interested in stubbing out their smoking habit compared to other states in north India.

A new analysis on tobacco burden in north India has revealed that attempts to quit smoking have been the least in Delhi as compared to any other state in the region. Launched on Friday by Joint Secretary, Health Ministry, Shakuntala Gamlin, the analysis reveals that Haryana has the maximum number of cigarette smokers who made an effort to quit at some point or the other. While attempts to quit smoking were highest in Haryana at 34.2 per cent, Delhi recorded the least at just 12 per cent.