As the tragedy of the building collapse in east Delhi unfolded, a blame-game has begun between the Delhi government and Municipal Corporation of Delhi. Chief Minister Sheila Dikshit directly putting the onus on the civic body for the accident and the Bharatiya Janata Party-ruled agency denied the charge.
The announcement to end the stir, which began on January 27 to press for payment of their dues, was made by the Swatantra Mazdoor Vikas Sanyukt Morcha -- an umbrella body of 38 unions of sanitation workers and class IV employees of East and North Delhi Municipal corporations.
At least five persons were killed and 25 injured on Tuesday night when a 70-year old three- storeyed building collapsed near Old Delhi's Jama Masjid, prompting Municipal Corporation of Delhi to initiate an inquiry into the incident and on dilapidated structures in the area.
With Centre, state and municipal governments passing the buck on issues as critical as sanitation, Aditi Phadnis looks at the revolving door politics that is often played with the running of local self government
The poll promise is an attempt to woo the middle-class and rich voters in the wake of the party's growing unpopularity.
Several BJP leaders had earlier hinted that the party might go for the mayor's post despite losing the civic polls.
"In the last 60 hours, no incident has taken place. We have made arrangements as there are Friday prayers today. Through the extensive outreach programme done by us and the interaction with the people, we get to know that everybody wants peace. We are moving fast towards normalcy. In the Aman Committee meetings everybody has said that they will work for maintaining peace," the special commissioner said.
Interacting with locals, he observed that the situation is gradually improving day by day, and urged them not to pay attention to rumours and avoid circulating unconfirmed messages.
Polling for the municipal elections in Delhi will be held on December 4 and votes will be counted on December 7.
Protesters raised slogans against the BJP-ruled South Delhi Municipal Corporation as well as the central government and demanded to stop the action.
A day after accusing the Bharatiya Janata Party of "hatching a conspiracy to assassinate" Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal, fearing poll defeats in Gujarat and the Municipal Corporation of Delhi, his deputy Manish Sisodia Friday demanded a probe into it and said a complaint will also be submitted to the Election Commission.
Hemmed in by barricades and police and paramilitary swarming all over the place, the troubled Jahangirpuri on Friday showed signs of returning to normalcy, with the local peace committee calling for communal harmony and members of the warring communities embracing each other, agreeing to let bygones be bygones.
A four-storeyed building collapsed in east Delhi's Jafrabad area in the wee hours on Saturday leaving one dead and more than a dozen people injured.
Twelve people died of dengue and over 1,900 fresh cases have been reported in the past one week.
I watched from my balcony and found that during the next eight hours up to 5.30 pm, not one prospective voter was seen to go to the Congress table, notes Rashme Sehgal. The rush was all around the BJP table.
At least 1,158 cases of dengue have been reported in the national capital with nearly 390 of them being recorded in the first 10 days of September, the month in which the vector-borne disease begins to peak.
The police said Ajay, a native of Jaunpur in Uttar Pradesh who lived in Ghaziabad, was working as a peon at the Municipal Corporation of Delhi-run school for the last 10 years.
Prohibitory orders imposed under Section 144 of the CrPC will be relaxed for a total of 10 hours on Friday in view of improvement in the situation, the ministry said.
A total of 27,920 people have been cured of the disease with 1,685 in the last 24 hours, taking the recovery rate to 34.06 per cent, the ministry said.
After the alteration of the boundaries, the BJP assessed the wards afresh to see what changes in strategy were needed
Atishi, Raghav Chadha and Dilip Pandey are among the first-time MLAs. Atishi, who was fielded from Kalkaji, won the seat by defeating Bharatiya Janata Party candidate Dharambir Singh by a margin of 11,393 votes. Chadha, who had also registered victory from Rajinder Nagar, defeated his BJP rival Sardar R P Singh by a margin of 20,058 votes.
In a setback to the Bharatiya Janata Party which dominated the Municipal Corporation of Delhi, the party managed to win only from three seats while the Aam Aadmi Party made its debut by winning five seats and the Congress wrested four seats in the bypolls to 13 wards.
The strong words came after the ASG said that the MCDs and the other agencies need to work together in an integrated and synergetic manner to handle the problem.
The Delhi Police has asked commuters to avoid Rajpath and its connecting roads on Friday morning as nearly 30,000 people are expected to throng the Red Fort on the occasion of International Day of Yoga, traffic officials said.
Giri, meanwhile, continued for a second day his hunger strike outside the residence of Kejriwal, demanding that he prove his allegations regarding the murder of Khan.
An elated Aam Aadmi Party after winning the Municipal Corporation of Delhi polls on Thursday vowed to improve civic amenities in the national capital while the Bharatiya Janata Party thanked voters for "recognising" its work as it took solace in securing over a hundred seats despite exit poll predicting its rout.
Delhi CM Arvind Kejriwal said the govt will extend a loan of Rs 551 crore to two civic bodies; and alleged a situation was being created through the ongoing strike to prepare grounds for imposition of central rule.
Bankrupt Infrastructure Leasing & Financial Services (IL&FS) has sold the entire stake in the waste management arm IL&FS Environmental Infrastructure & Services (IEISL) and its subsidiaries to EverEnviro Resource Management (EverEnviro), an arm of the PE major Everstone Group, the companies said in separate statements. Though the value of the deal was not specifically disclosed, the crippled IL&FS -- which is under bankruptcy proceedings in NCLT -- said the sale will reduce its overall debt by Rs 1,200 crore, which is the combined debt of entities under the group's environment businesses. IL&FS Environmental Infrastructure & Services (IEISL) is one of the leading integrated waste management companies that is into municipal solid waste management apart from presence across various segments including construction and demolition, collection and transportation and waste to energy and currently manages over 8,400 tonnes per day solid municipal waste.
India is playing its South China Sea card by restarting oil exploration off Vietnam coast despite China's objections as a calculated geopolitical move to force Beijing to make "compromises" on border issue and its close ties with Pakistan, a state-run Chinese think-tank has said.
Warning of a looming epidemic, the Delhi High Court on Friday directed the city government to ensure an immediate release of funds to the East Delhi Municipal Corporation to pay dues to employees for May and observed it should "call an emergency session" of Assembly as it was a "serious" issue.
The Municipal Corporation of Delhi said it has given special instructions to its Safai Sainiks to collect dishevelled or soiled flags separately.
Nearly 7,000 paramilitary forces have been deployed in the affected areas of the northeast district since Monday.
Bharatiya Janata Party Member of Parliament Meenkashi Lekhi believes that the existing name, Race Course Road, "does not match with Indian culture".
Stinking politics will only sink the party which practices it, feels Vikas Khanna
The aggregate score read 4-2 in favour of the Blues who will now look to land their first ever ISL title on Sunday.
If Kejriwal is arrested, it will take very little for Lieutenant Governor V K Saxena to summon a meeting of the assembly, direct it to elect a new leader of the House, and, if it doesn't, dissolve it and impose President's Rule, predicts Aditi Phadnis.
With the national capital witnessing a spurt in dengue cases, the role of civic bodies is being questioned by residents who feel the outbreak of the vector-borne disease has exposed the "ill-preparedness" of the MCD in dealing with the menace.
The Bharatiya Janata Party swept three of the four wards in the Patparganj assembly segment and all three in the Shakur Basti constituency held by senior Aam Aadmi Party leaders Manish Sisodia and Satyendar Jain -- both targets of sustained attacks over corruption by the saffron party -- in the MCD elections.
The reshuffle is aimed at speeding up the implementation of the government's ambitious programmes like the SmartCity project and focus on key sectors like Mines, Information Technology and Road Transport.
The second and third positions in the category were grabbed by Surat and Navi Mumbai respectively.