Centre gives in-principle nod to Shivaji statue in Arabian sea

Mumbai: Nine years after Congress-led government in Maharashtra made an election-time promise of constructing a 312-feet statue of warrior king Shivaji off Mumbai shore, the Centre on Thursday gave in-principle approval.

Addressing a press conference here, Union Environment Minister Jayanthi Natrajan said the finalised site in the Arabian sea, a 18-hectare rock, was a safe place.

"Even during high tide, the rock stands 3 to 4 meters above sea-level," she said.

The project, which will come up in Coastal Regulation Zone-4 (where no construction is allowed), was approved in principle as a special case, the Union Minister said.

"We have studied the case thoroughly and are satisfied. No commercial activity is being allowed," she said.

Chief Minister Prithviraj Chavan said as many as 40 clearances of different kinds would be required. "We will now submit a detailed project report (to Centre)," he said.

PTI 

Delhi NGO opens office made of waste

 New Delhi: In a unique initiative on World Environment Day on Wednesday, a Delhi-based NGO has inaugurated its office created from waste sourced from scrap dealers and junk yards across the city.

Swechha - a voluntary organisation working in the areas of environment and social development - opened its new office made of waste in Khirkee Extension in South Delhi.

Everything in the new office, ranging from storage space and partitions to lamp shades, is made out of trash.


"We scanned junk markets across the city. Most of the trash was sourced from local junk dealers and the design was based on what we got from them," Vimlendu Jha, founder of Swechha, told IANS.

Jha, who designed the office, said the space is a manifestation of the organisation's commitment to providing green solutions to the problem of urban waste.

The two-storey office spread over a 36,000 square feet area has been designed at a cost of Rs.300,000.

"It usually would have cost not less than Rs.15 lakh. It is a way to communicate that trash can be useful too," he said.

He said that initially construction workers and carpenters were surprised when they came to know that they have to design a building using trash.

"But once we started working, it took us just 12 days to finish. We have done some touch-ups like painting certain objects with bright colours to make them look striking. We have not melted or changed anything to use it," he said.

Sweccha is ready to help people and organisations interested in building such places at economical cost, he added.

Delhi Metro commuters can now recharge smart cards online

In a bid to ease ticketing and recharge facilities for commuters, Delhi Metro today launched online recharge facility for smart card users.

"With this new facility, commuters will now be able to top up their smart cards using debit or credit cards. However, recharge using net-banking facility is not available yet," a DMRC official said.

Metro commuters can top up their smart cards through www.delhimetrorail.com and www.dmrcsmartcard.com.

After completing the top up process, the commuters will be able to check if their recharge was successful via Ticket Reader-cum-Add Value machines.

The first Ticket Reader-cum-Add Value machine was inaugurated on Thursday at the Barakhamba Road Metro station by DMRC Managing Director Mangu Singh.

Thirty-nine such touch-screen machines have been installed at 13 Metro stations -- Dilshad Garden, Shahadara, Welcome, Seelampur, Shastri Park, Pragati Maidan, Karkardooma, Nirman Vihar, Laxmi Nagar, Barakhamba Road, R K Ashram Marg, Jhandewalan and Rajendra Place, he said.

About a hundred such machines will be installed in the coming month, Singh said.

The machines will also provide commuters with information about balance in the smart card, last recharge details and the last five entry-exit transactions.

At present, about 69.75 per cent of Metro commuters use smart cards and about 17,000 smart cards are sold every day from various stations of the network.

Currently, one crore metro cards have been issued and are in circulation.

DMRC has partnered with ICICI Bank for the launch of this online automated fare collection process and the bank has integrated its payment gateway with the two websites for recharging smart cards through the internet.

A woman as Delhi Police commissioner?

New Delhi: With Delhi Police chief Neeraj Kumar set to retire end-July, a replacement is being actively sought and three names - including of two women - are doing the rounds.

Neeraj Kumar, a 1976 batch Indian Police Service officer of the AGMU (Arunachal Pradesh-Goa-Mizoram-Union Territories) cadre, had taken charge as Delhi Police commissioner from B.K. Gupta on July 1 last year.

The three names doing the rounds for the post are B.S. Bassi, the seniormost IPS officer after Neeraj Kumar, and two women IPS officers - Kanwaljit Deol and Vimla Mehra, highly placed sources told IANS.

Bassi is posted as Special Commissioner of Police (Administration), Kanwaljit Deol is posted as Director General (Investigation) at the National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) and Vimla Mehra is Director General (Prisons).

Bassi, a 1977 batch IPS officer of the AGMUT cadre, is the frontrunner for the post. He was previously Special Commissioner (Traffic).

Sources say he might be given the baton as he is the seniormost. Bassi, 57, successfully served as special commissioner (Vigilance), joint commissioner (Southern Range) and additional commissioner (Northern Range) of Delhi Police.


Kanwaljit Deol is the second most senior officer. A 1977 batch officer, Deol is presently on deputation to the National Human Rights Commission (NHRC). She is to retire on Oct 31, 2014. She was appointed as Director General of Police in Arunachal Pradesh in July 2010.

Though transfers and postings depend on seniority, the government may bypass this and give the charge to a woman officer, sources told IANS.

Vimla Mehra, a 1978-batch officer of the AGMUT, took over a

s Director General of Tihar Prisons from Neerraj Kumar in August 2012, pipping a male contender to the job. Prior to this, Mehra, 56, was special commissioner (security).

Mehra is the second woman officer, after IPS officer and social activist Kiran Bedi, to head Tihar.

Neeraj Kumar's tenure as Delhi's top cop was beset with troubles. The Dec 16, 2012 gang-rape and murder of a young woman and the police mishandling of the mass protests dented the force's image. Kumar faced the ire of the public and was also criticized by the Delhi government for initial inaction in the case.

The rape of a five-year-old girl in April and the police's callous handling of the case again fetched brickbats for the police chief. Protesters reached the police headquarters to demand his resignation over two officers allegedly offering Rs.2,000 bribe to the girl's poor parents to hush up the rape. Neerraj Kumar held a press conference and ruled out his resignation

Delhi auto drivers to face action for overcharging

The Delhi government today warned the auto-rickshaw drivers of punitive action if they overcharge commuters and refuse ply by fare meter.

At a meeting with various stakeholders, Transport Minister Ramakant Goswami asked enforcement wing of his department and police to come down hard on errant auto drivers.

Heeding to a long-standing demand of the auto-rickshaw and tax unions, the Delhi government last week hiked the fares by 25 per cent. The revised rates came into effect from last Saturday.

"We are determined to regulate plying of auto rickshaw. We will take action against those auto-drivers who refuse to ply by the metre," Mr Goswami said, adding that refusal to ply or misbehaving with commuters will also attract penalty as per license condition