Page 85 - Delhi

US Secretary of State Blinken arrives in Delhi for 2+2 Ministerial Dialogue

Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) Official Spokesperson Arindam Bagchi said Blinken's visit will give further boost to India-US Comprehensive Global Strategic Partnership

Delhi zoo soon to start accepting int'l ATM cards for foreign tourists

The National Zoological Park in Delhi soon will have the facility to accept international Master and Visa cards for the foreign tourists, officials said on Thursday. Akanksha Mahajan, director of National Zoological Park, said this facility will attract more foreigners to come to the zoo. "We have seen that the foreign nationals, who visit zoo without tourist guide, faced difficulty while doing payment at the ticket counters and later turn back. Most of the foreign tourists come to the national capital during winter season and we want them to visit the zoo as well. For that we have asked the bank officials concerned to update the facility so that tourists having international Visa or Master cards can use it to buy the tickets," Mahajan said. Apart from this, the zoo will also provide unified payments interface (UPI) facility since the digitisation is underway and the society is rapidly moving towards the cashless transactions, she said. "People also requested us to provide them the

Delhi pollution: AAP holds meet to ensure compliance with SC instructions

Prior to the meeting, Rai said that the AAP government will follow the guidelines of the Supreme Court on Delhi pollution

Air India faces flak for leaving passengers stranded at Delhi airport

The Air India flight AI 762 was scheduled to take off from Delhi for Kolkata at 9 pm IST but was delayed until 11:55 pm. This led to a chaotic situation at midnight.

AAP misled, lied to people in matter of odd-even scheme: Delhi LG's office

"The file to this effect clearly shows that the decision to implement the odd-even scheme as a part of measures under GRAP-IV was not approved by Minister (Environment) Gopal Rai," LG's Office said

'Don't know how, but it must stop': SC pulls up Punjab over stubble burning

The Supreme Court directed Rajasthan and other states to follow its earlier order on the issue relating to firecrackers during the festive season

Delhi air pollution: Several areas in national capital in 'severe' category

The air quality in several areas of Delhi was recorded in the 'severe' category on Saturday as a thick toxic haze lingered over the city for the fifth consecutive day. According to the India Meteorological Department (IMD), the city's maximum temperature stood at 29.5 degree Celsius, a notch below the season's average. The city recorded a minimum temperature of 16.6 degree Celsius, one notch above the normal. The humidity oscillated between 88 per cent and 72 per cent, the IMD said. The air quality index (AQI) at many places in the National Capital Region (NCR) crossed the 450 mark. The national capital recorded an AQI of 433 at 7 pm, according to the Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB). The AQI at Anand Vihar was 488. It was 487 at Shadipur, 474 at Wazirpur, 465 at Punjabi Bag, 454 at Dr Karni Singh Shooting Range, 463 at Bawana, 448 at Okhla and 459 at Rohini, the CPCB data showed. In Delhi-NCR, the AQI in Greater Noida stood at 498 at 7 pm. It was 408 at Ghaziabad, 441 at .

Court grants Delhi cops time to reply to NewsClick HR head's bail plea

A Delhi court on Saturday granted the city police time till November 17 to respond to the bail application of NewsClick human resources department head Amit Chakravarty in a case lodged under anti-terror law UAPA over allegations that the news portal received money to spread pro-China propaganda. Special Judge Hardeep Kaur adjourned the matter following a request made by the police. The Special Cell of Delhi Police had arrested Chakravarty along with NewsClick founder and editor in-chief Prabir Purkayastha on October 3. Both are currently in judicial custody. According to the FIR, a large amount of funds to the news portal came from China to "disrupt the sovereignty of India" and cause disaffection against the country. It also alleged Purkayastha conspired with a group -- People's Alliance for Democracy and Secularism (PADS) -- to sabotage the electoral process during the 2019 Lok Sabha polls. Raids were conducted at 88 locations in Delhi and seven in other states on October 3 on

DTC electric bus rams into over a dozen vehicles in Delhi, one killed

A Delhi Transport Corporation (DTC) low-floor electric bus rammed into more than a dozen vehicles in Rohini South here on Saturday, killing a man, police said. The accident occurred around 2.45 pm near Vishram Chowk in Awantika. The bus hit a car, then an e-rickshaw and two-wheelers parked on the side of a road, they said. Police have the CCTV footage of the crash. A man died on the spot while another was injured, police said, adding that it seems the bus driver lost control of the vehicle. The injured was hospitalised and further investigations are underway, they said.

Sri Lanka cancels cricket training due to 'severe' air pollution in Delhi

After Bangladesh, Sri Lanka were forced to cancel their opening training session in the national capital on Saturday due to "severe" air pollution. Bangladesh, who arrived here on Wednesday, had decided against practising on Friday as the pollution levels in the city hit the "severe plus" category. Sri Lanka followed them into staying indoors on Saturday when the Air Quality Index stood at 407 in the morning. "It was cancelled owing to the air quality issue," said a SLC source, referring to the Saturday's training session. However, Bangladesh are likely to brave the pollution two days before the game on Monday. They are scheduled to train on Saturday from 6 PM. An AQI between zero and 50 is considered "good", 51 and 100 "satisfactory", 101 and 200 "moderate", 201 and 300 "poor", 301 and 400 "very poor", and 401 and 500 "severe". It is unlikely that the International Cricket Council (ICC) will shift the game out of Delhi but the call on whether the match will go ahead will only be

First section of Delhi Metro phase-IV to open by July 2024, says DMRC chief

Due to impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, "fresh targets" have been set for Ph-IV project of the Delhi Metro, and the first section of a priority corridor is planned to be opened by July 2024, DMRC chief Vikas Kumar said. In an interview to PTI, Kumar also said that besides commissioning of a small 2.5-3 km segment of the Janakpuri West-R K Ashram Marg corridor, the whole Majlis Park-Maujpur corridor is planned to be opened by March 2025. The managing director of the Delhi Metro Rail Corporation (DMRC) said the construction of the Ph-IV has brought many firsts for the country, and "beam technology-enabled TBMs" are being used in the phase to assess strata layers in advance so that "there are no surprises" during the drilling process. The work on Ph-IV, which had begun in December 2019, was hit due to the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic in March 2020 in Delhi. At present, the DMRC is undertaking construction work on 65.2 km of three priority corridors spanning 45 stations under the

Mother Dairy's Safal outlets to sell buffer onion at Rs 25 per kg

Stepping up measures to provide relief to consumers from rising onion prices, the Centre on Saturday said Mother Dairy's Safal outlets will also sell buffer onion at a subsidised rate of Rs 25 per kg from weekend in Delhi-NCR, while Hyderabad Agricultural Cooperatives Association is doing so in Telangana and other southern states. Already, cooperative bodies NCCF and Nafed are retailing buffer onion at subsidised rate on behalf of the central government. While Nafed has so far set up 329 retail points consisting of mobile vans and station outlets in 55 cities across 21 states, NCCF has set up 457 retail points in 54 cities in 20 states, it said. Kendriya Bhandar too has started retail supply of onion through its outlets across Delhi-NCR from November 3. "Safal Mother Dairy will start from this weekend. The retail sale of onions to consumers in Telangana and other southern states is being taken up by Hyderabad Agricultural Cooperatives Association (HACA)," the consumer affairs minist

MHA relaxes regulatory requirements for live performances in Delhi

The Ministry of Home Affairs has issued a notification relaxing regulatory requirements for live performances such as skits, comedy shows and poetry sessions at public amusement places in the national capital, officials said on Friday. Earlier, details such as scripts and contents of live performances at public places were required to be approved by the police but now it would not be needed provided the performers maintain public order, morality and decency, they said. The Licensing of Places of Public Amusement and Public Amusement Performances (other than Cinema), 2023, was notified on October 31. Delhi Lieutenant Governor V K Saxena had pushed for rationalising and easing licensing requirements and procedures for public performances in line with the motto of "ease of doing business". A key feature of the revised regulations is that the entire process of licensing is now online. Provisions related to performance hours and music have been clearly laid down and the chapter on ...

Will stay focused on Delhi & Bengaluru, open charging hubs for biz: Jaggi

Jaggi also won't mix the electric DNA of the company with either hybrid or any other fuel cars. But he has other plans to improve revenue

Besides Delhi, NCCF to sell subsidised onion at Rs 25/kg in other states

Besides Delhi-NCR, cooperative body NCCF on Friday said it will retail onion at a subsidised rate of Rs 25 per kg in other states too in order to provide relief to consumers from the high prices of the key kitchen staple. On behalf of the central government, the National Cooperative Consumers' Federation of India (NCCF) started retailing onion at a subsidised rate from September 9 at 100 different locations in and around Delhi. "In addition to Delhi-NCR, we have increased our coverage to all states from Jammu and Kashmir to Kerala," NCCF said in a statement. The cooperative body has been selling onion online for the last two weeks through the Open Network for Digital Commerce (ONDC) platform through Paytm, MagicPin and MyStore in Srinagar, Jaipur, Varanasi and Delhi-NCR, it said. So far, 416 vans are plying and have sold 2,219.61 tonnes onion in the retail markets, it added. Retail onion prices have shot up in the last two weeks up to Rs 80 per kg in different parts of the country

Air pollution situation extremely worrisome: Delhi LG calls meeting with CM

Delhi Lieutenant Governor V K Saxena Friday said the air pollution situation in the city is "extremely worrying" and called a meeting with Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal and Environment Minister Gopal Rai at Raj Niwas. In a series of posts on X, Saxena appealed to people to remain indoors and not to expose themselves and especially children and elderly to the hazardous ambient conditions. The LG has also cancelled his public engagements at Yogmaya Mandir and Urs of Khwaja Nizamuddin Auliya. "The situation arising out of air pollution in the City is extremely worrying. I have asked Hon'ble CM & Hon'ble Minister (Environment) for a meeting at Raj Niwas at 06:00 PM today, to take stock of the situation," he posted on "I appeal to the people to remain indoors as much as possible and to not expose themselves- especially children & elderly to hazardous ambient conditions wherein AQI has reportedly crossed 800 at places," he said in another post. Delhi's air quality plummeted to the .

Congress seeks total revamp of Air Pollution Act amid rising AQI levels

The Congress on Friday voiced concern over rising air pollution in the country and called for a total revamp of the Air Pollution Act and air quality standards to make them stringent and effective. The demand came amid rising air pollution levels in the national capital and other parts of the country. Congress general secretary Jairam Ramesh said The Air Pollution (Control and Prevention) Act came into being in 1981. Thereafter, ambient air quality standards were announced in April 1994 and later revised in October 1998, he noted. In November 2009, after a thorough review by IIT Kanpur and other institutions a more stringent and wide-ranging National Ambient Air Quality Standards (NAAQS) was put into effect. This covered 12 pollutants considered very detrimental to public health, he said, while sharing the press note that accompanied the implementation of NAAQS which reveals the thinking for the significant shift that took place then. "It is now time for a revisit and a total reva

Metro to run 20 extra train trips from Nov 3: DMRC after Grap-III

Delhi Metro will run 20 extra train trips across its network starting November 3 in view of the measures taken by pollution control authorities on Thursday to encourage more and more people to use public transport in Delhi and neighbouring cities, officials said. Delhi's Air Quality Index (AQI) stood at 402 at 5 pm, prompting the Centre's pollution control panel imposed Stage III of the Graded Response Action Plan (GRAP) that is implemented in the region during the winter season. "In view of the implementation of GRAP-III stage to combat pollution in Delhi, the DMRC will be further adding 20 extra trips across its network starting tomorrow i.e, 3rd November 2023 (Friday)," the DMRC said in a statement. Delhi Metro is already running 40 additional train trips on weekdays (Monday-Friday) from October 25 onwards when GRAP-II stage had come into force. "Thus, from tomorrow, the DMRC will be running a total of 60 additional trips as part of its measures taken under GRAP to encourage mor

Primary schools in Delhi shut for 2 days in view of rising pollution: CM

All government and private primary schools in Delhi will remain closed for the next two days in view of rising pollution levels, Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal announced Thursday night. Pollution levels in the national capital entered the "severe" zone for the first time this season on Thursday, with scientists warning of a further spike over the next two weeks. In a post on 'X', the chief minister said, "In light of the rising pollution levels, all govt and private primary schools in Delhi will remain closed for the next 2 days." At least 18 out of 37 monitoring stations in Delhi recorded Air Quality Index (AQI) in the severe category. The areas where AQI breached the 400-mark are - Anand Vihar (450), Bawana (452), Burari Crossing (408), Dwarka Sector 8 (445), Jahangirpuri (433), Mundka (460), NSIT Dwarka (406), Najafgarh (414), Narela (433), Nehru Nagar (400), New Moti Bagh (423), Okhla Phase 2 (415), Patparganj (412), Punjabi Bagh (445), R K Puram (417), Rohini (454), Shadipur .

Wait time for getting appointment for B1, B2 US visas 37 days in Delhi

The waiting period for getting an interview appointment for a US visa in the B1 and the B2 categories (business and tourism) currently stands at 37 days in Delhi, according to official data. The US State Department on its website has shared the estimated wait time to receive an interview appointment for visas at a US embassy or consulate. According to the data updated November 1 on the website, the current waiting period for getting an interview appointment for an American visa in the B1 and the B2 categories stands at 37 days in Delhi, 322 days in Mumbai, 126 days in Kolkata, 341 days in Chennai and 511 days in Hyderabad. Visitor visas are nonimmigrant visas for persons who want to enter the US temporarily for business (visa category B1), for tourism (visa category B2), or for a combination of both purposes (B1/B2). The US Embassy in India on Wednesday had posted on X that over the weekend "we opened over a quarter million nonimmigrant visa appointments". "It was a busy weekend f