The Times Of India - Delhi, 11/23/2018 Cropped page Page: 2

--

TIMES CITY* THE TIMES OF INDIA, NEW DELHI | FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 23, 2018

STUDENT OUTFITS WANT ACTION AGAINST BUDDHISTSTUDIES DEPT HEAD OVER DELAY IN BAISOYA PROBE | 5

KEJRIWAL WRITES TO CEC, ASKS FOR ‘AUTHENTIC’AND COMPLETE DELETED VOTERS’ LIST | 8

New Delhi: At the Delhi Can-tonment railway station, visi-ted daily by around 20,000 pe-ople, the cleaning staff oftenrefuses to go to certain areasat night. Their reluctance isunderstandable becausedown the tracks is an illegalcolony of sorts, home to people with mischief on theirminds. So though some majortrains stop there, includingthe Delhi-Jaipur DoubleDecker, Jammu Tawi-AjmerSuperfast and Swarna Jayanti Rajdhani Express,this is not a particularly po-pular halt.

While the New Delhi rail-way station — as also those atOld Delhi, Nizamuddin andAnand Vihar — are in vario-us stages of revamp, the in-tention at Delhi Cantt stationis only now being visualised.And it was high time too. Forwhether it’s the platforms ingeneral or the benches in par-ticular, much of station hasbeen taken over by squatters.The problem has become sosevere that the cleaning staffdoes not venture near this “il-legal colony” at night.

Amit Kumar, a cleaningsupervisor, disclosed, “Snat-ching is quite common. Whena train approaches the stationfrom the direction of Delhi, itslows down and gives the cri-minals the opportunity to en-ter the compartments and po-unce on unwary passengers.Station workers, too, have be-en attacked in this manner inthe past.”

Praveen Bhardwaj, a tick-et checker, said a major lackwas fencing on one side of thestation. “People can, therefo-re, enter the station withoutplatform tickets,” Bhardwajexplained. Taps and copperwires are regularly stolenfrom the platform. The solefoot overbridge at the station

is bereft of users and whenTOI paid a visit the area re-cently, people could be seendragging their luggage on thetracks as they headed direct-

ly towards the exit. The entryto the station is perenniallyblocked by e-rickshaws andautos, making the journey anightmare for passengers.

Waiting for the radio cabsto pick you up from the sta-tion is usually a long affair be-cause they take time to traver-se all space on the narrow ro-

ad is taken up by autos and e-rickshaws looking for pas-sengers. Perhaps one respitewould be banning the e-ricks-haws from the station. They

are not, in any case, a modefor travelling longer distan-ces, but the authorities seemto be looking the other way atthe nuisance they can be insuch constricted spaces.

Some plans are in the of-fing, say officials. R N Singh,divisional railway manager(Delhi Division), said a newpedestrian bridge had beensanctioned and work on it islikely to be completed in sixmonths. “The overbridge willbe built where people have be-en seen crossing the tracks.We will also start the fencingprocess simultaneously. Thiswill ensure that the squattersare pushed back,” said Singh.“The main entrance has beenwidened and we have renova-ted the exteriors to give thestation a heritage look.”

Singh wasn’t certainwhether the land outside thestation belonged to the Can-tonment Board or PWD. Butthe problems of the stationhave been conveyed to both,as also to the traffic police.“We have informed the copsand civic agencies about thesquatting and congestion atthe access road,” said Singh.

Police have responded bycoming up with a plan to re-duce the traffic mess nearthe station.

They discovered that ve-hicles coming from west Del-hi take a U-turn towards theservice lane to reach the sta-tion instead of crossing overand taking the road under theJail Road flyover.

So now the stretch of theservice lane from the Carri-appa Marg-Pankha Road/JailRoad crossing till the under-pass below the flyover will bemade one-way.

The traffic cops have alsorequested the cantonmentauthorities to re-pave the ser-vice lane and make it moreusable because it is the only approach to the railwaystation.

DELHI CANTT: Squatters Lay Siege, Nearly 20,000 Visitors Grapple With Poor Infra Daily

A railway station that seems to tellpassengers: You are not welcome

Jasjeev.Gandhiok@timesgroup.com OFF-TRACK

IN THE WORKSA second FOB sanctioned, to be completed in 6 months

MAJOR TRAINS ORIGINATING OR STOPPING HEREDelhi- Jaipur Double Decker, Jammu Tawi Ajmer Superfast, Swarna Jayanti Rajdhani Express, Bareilly Bhuj Express, Ashram Superfast, Jaisalmer Ranikhet Express

20,000Daily footfall

1 Foot overbridge

4Platforms

88 trains stop daily

Delhi Cantt rly stationJail Rd

Jail Rd

HanumanMandir

BhoopSingh Park

Photos: Yogesh Kumar

New Delhi: Delhi high courtasked the New Delhi Munici-pal Council on Thursday tostate the source and extent ofwater supply need for the East Kidwai Nagar redevelop-ment project, even as an IIT re-port raised questions aboutpotential traffic congestionin the area.

Justice Vibhu Bakhru madeit clear to project operator Na-tional Buildings ConstructionCorporation (NBCC) that till thecourt was convinced its con-cerns about water supply andtraffic congestion were ad-dressed, it wouldn’t allow fur-ther allotment.

At the next hearing, thecourt will study a report pre-pared by IIT Delhi under professor Geetam Tiwari thatfound NBCC may have under-estimated vehicle use by thosewho will work/live in the redeveloped East Kidwai Na-gar as also the impact on traf-fic circulation in the areabecause it relied on a 2010traffic survey.

While the report says thatFAR for the project is within

the norms under the MasterPlan Delhi 2021, the parking ca-pacity is higher than recom-mended, thus incentivisingthe use of personal vehiclesover public transport.

The court’s questionscame after Delhi Jal Boardcounsel Sumeet Pushkarnasubmitted NDMC hadn’t as yetapproached it for water supply.Even if it does, DJB is already beset with logisticalconstraints and will be unableto give additional water,

Pushkarna said. Earlier,NDMC had conceded that itwas dependent fully on DJBfor water.

NBCC said it was install-ing an effluent treatment plantand could generate water be-yond the NDMC supply tomeet the needs of residents.The court, however, said itneeded to verify first howNDMC intended to supply wa-ter and if that entailed re-stricting supply to other areasin its jurisdiction.

When NDMC said it couldarrange 2,400 kilolitres per dayof water for the new commer-cial and residential complexwhile conceding the demandwould be for 3,700 kilolitres,the court asked, “What is yourscheme, where will you takeout the water from? How muchwas the supply to the area be-fore the project?”

“There is no clarity on howthe requirement of water willbe met and further the ques-tion about whether adequatearrangement for traffic hasbeen made also persists,” thecourt observed, while re-straining NBCC from goingahead with fresh allotments inthe meantime.

The court was hearing apetition filed by some resi-dents of South Extension,among them senior advocateAman Lekhi and advocate Ma-nali Singhal. They had chal-lenged “the reckless decisionsof the authorities to furtherdevelop the area by launchingnew large-scale residentialand commercial projects in analready saturated vicinity thathas no scope for further development”.

Explain where you’ll get water from orE Kidwai Nagar project a no-go: HC

WHAT IIT REPORT STATES➤ Master Plan 2021 complied with on mixed-land use and FAR

➤ Estimate of traffic impact not clear as 2010 vehicular estimates relied upon

➤ Personal motorised trips to Aurobindo Marg and Ring Road

➤ Poor connectivity to public transport

Abhinav.Garg@timesgroup.com

IIT REPORT RAISES QUESTIONS OVER POTENTIAL TRAFFIC ISSUES

New Delhi: A businessmanwas abducted and robbed ofRs 19 lakh by six men who claimed to be from Haryana Police.

The man, Sanjeev Kumar,stays in Hyderabad. On Octo-ber 31, he said, he went to a cli-ent’s house in Patel Nagar tocollect payment for a deliveryhe had made earlier. Around7.30pm, after he stepped out ofthe client’s house and got intohis car with three other col-leagues, three men held himby his collar and dragged himout. One of the men wasarmed with an AK rifle.Three other men were wait-

ing in an SUV nearby. They forced him to enter

the car and started thrashinghim. “They said they werefrom STF and had informa-tion about me being a smug-gler,” Kumar said. The menthen drove the car to an un-known location where theyasked him to hand over Rs 9lakh he had collected from the client. They put apistol on his temple andthreatened to shoot him if hedidn’t budge.

Kumar was then asked tocall a friend and borrow Rs 10lakh and get it transferred in-to his account. Kumar said hewas then driven around Ba-hadurgarh, after which hewas brought back to Delhi.

They stopped at a 24x7 storefor shopping. Kumar wasthen driven to a Rohini malland dumped there.

The businessman contact-ed a friend there and went tothe Ranjeet Nagar police sta-tion where he was allegedlyasked to settle the matter andnot proceed with a case. It was

only four days later that anFIR was lodged and that too af-ter Kumar met the home min-ister and moved court, Kumarclaimed. Police, however, de-nied there was any delay.

Kumar also said he wasnot informed about the FIR.“Neither the SHO or IO con-tacted me. They detained oneperson but let him off as hewas politically connected,”Kumar said.

Additional DCP (central)Amit Sharma said a case was registered and actionwould be taken once suffi-cient proof was available. Po-lice sources also suspectedthat Kumar’s abductorscould be members of Baha-durgarh STF.

Trader abducted, robbed of `̀19Lby men posing as Haryana cops

Somreet.Bhattacharya@timesgroup.com

One of them was armedwith an AK rifle. Threeother men were waitingin an SUV nearby. Theyforced him to enter thevehicle and startedthrashing him

New Delhi: A rickshaw-pull-er was killed and a woman in-jured after a man driving aHonda City drove through acrowded footpath near SubziMandi on Wednesday night.The car then hit a cow,crashed into a tree and turn-ed turtle.

Locals told police that thedriver managed to climb outof the vehicle and fled. Addi-tional DCP Jasmeet Singhsaid a case of causing deathdue to negligence and rashdriving was registered. Thevehicle was found to be regis-tered in Janakpuri.

The incident occurred onThursday morning. Witness-es said the car came at highspeed from Kamala NehruPark and hit the rickshawnear Barfkhana Chowk. Theimpact was such that the rick-shaw-puller, identified as Ri-yasat, was flung into the airand landed on his head.

But the driver didn’t stopthe car and drove through thefootpath, hitting a womannamed Rani. The car then hita cow due to which the vehicletilted to the left and crashedinto a gap between a tree andthe park wall.

Riyasat and Rani wererushed to Bara Hindu Raohospital by a PCR van whereRiyasat died during treat-ment. Rani suffered multiplefractures on an arm and leg.

The vehicle belonged toone Amrit Lal of Wazirpurbut police don’t know if hedrove it. He has been calledfor questioning. Sources saidLal tried to blame a driver hehired. The vehicle was foundto be over 14 years old. Policesuspect the driver was drunk.

Riyasat’s body was sentfor postmortem and his fam-ily that stays in Amroha, UP,informed.

The car was also sent for forensic analysis to findout if it suffered any me-chanical fault leading to the crash.

Car runs onto pavement;

one killed,another hurt

TIMES NEWS NETWORK

CITYWEATHER

29°

Friday forecast: Shallow fog.Minimum and maximum temper-atures will be between 11° C & 28° C

11.4°Shallow

fog

HIGH LOW

SUNRISE FRI | 6.50 AMSUNSET THU | 5.25 PMMOONRISE FRI | 5.03 PMMOONSET THU | 6.35 AM

Afire broke out on the thirdfloor of the Institute of

Chartered Accountants of Indiabuilding near ITO on Thursdaymorning and no casualties werereported. Fire officials said that acall about the fire was received at9.10am after which four firetenders and another vehicle weresent to the spot. The cause of thefire is yet to be ascertained. TNN

Fire at ICAI bldg near ITO

Jawaharlal Nehru University onThursday rebutted the students’

union’s charge of a 75% cut in thelibrary budget and said theallegations are a fabrication offacts. “Reports in the media thatthe annual budget for the Dr B RAmbedkar Library of JNU has beenreduced from Rs 8 crore to Rs 1.7crore are baseless,” JNU financeofficer Heeraman Tiwari said. IANS

Library fund cutnews bogus: JNU

Chief minister Arvind Kejriwalon Thursday asked the Delhi

Minorities Commission to bemore vocal and proactive toraise issues faced by theminorities and to redress theirgrievances in an effective andconcerned manner. TNN

Be more vocal:Kejriwal to DMC

Condemning BJP governmentand AAP government for failing

to curb pollution, Delhi Congress onThursday took out a protest marchat Connaught Place. Delhi Congresschief Ajay Maken alleged that 48%air pollution in Delhi was due tovehicles but the governments failedto find a solution. TNN

Cong protest onpollution in city

CCI NG 3.7 Product: TOIDelhiBS PubDate: 23-11-2018 Zone: Delhi Edition: 2 Page: TOIDCP2 User: suhina.bisaria Time: 11-23-2018 00:38 Color: CMYK

CID

a v

r

YOU'VE READ THEIR BOOKS.NOW READ THEIR MINDS.

It's the 4th year of Times Literature Festival Delhi and we have gathered some ofIndia's favourite writers for two days filled with stories, offering our readers anopportunity to meet and interact with the authors behind the books they love.

Allan Pease Barbara Pease Anand Neelakantan Ashwin Sang hi

Ravi Subramanian Ravinder Singh Prasoon Joshi Anuja Chauhan

TIMESDelhi 1" - 2nd Dec

BEYOND COVERS

Date: 1'& 2' Dec. 2018 1 Time: 11am onwardsVenue: Habitat World, India Habitat Centre, Lodhi Road, New Delhi

Entry is free for all. To register, give a missed call on 88001-44444.

FULL CIRCLE

i details, visit www.T0l.in/T1mesLlffest Delhl