Metro’s goal: football field
A football field versus a Metro station.
Delhi University’s Dyal Singh College is battling a plan to take over its football field to build a Metro station.
The Delhi Metro Rail Corporation, controlled jointly by the Delhi government and the Centre’s urban development ministry, had first sought the land in May.
College authorities had turned down the plea, but the corporation continued to bombard them with requests. Officials said they were afraid the government would pressurise them into relenting. “We will keep protesting,” N. Sachin, who teaches English at the college, said.
Chief minister Sheila Dixit has assured the college that the land would not be taken away without its consent, but the authorities are sceptical. “There are acres of vacant land just behind the college. This is used by the Border Security Force. Why can’t that be taken... why should education suffer?” a college official reasoned.
Even if the Metro withdraws its proposal, a fresh battle may erupt — this time between students and the administrators. The college authorities want the football field to make way for hostels under OBC quotas.
Andhra duels over Advani
The decision to name L.K. Advani as its prime ministerial candidate appears to have fired up the BJP in Andhra Pradesh.
Such is the party’s confidence that senior leader M. Venkaiah Naidu, who hails from the state, has been daring rivals to declare their prime ministerial nominees during his tours.
“Let the UPA make public who its candidate is, Manmohan Singh or Sonia Gandhi,” Naidu said, overlooking the Prime Minister’s jibe during the Gujarat poll campaign during which he reminded Advani his chair “wasn’t vacant”.
Naidu’s pep talk had its share of astrology, too. Other than forecasting mid-term polls, he took a swipe at railway minister Lalu Prasad, who had remarked that being Prime Minister wasn’t in Advani’s destiny. “Lalu Prasad should look into his own fate line and those of Manmohan Singh and Sonia Gandhi,” Naidu smirked.
Next in line: cool locals
This could be cool comfort for “torture-chamber commuters” who ensured Mumbai’s locals went empty early this month.
Western Railway is planning airconditioned coaches in locals, a move that would meet the demand of a section of the passengers. According to general manager A.K. Jhingron, the feasibility of starting AC trains is being considered. If the tracks are cleared for the plan, it could come as a big relief to many who have to sweat it out in the grimy compartments packed like sardines.
Protesters who had boycotted the trains recently said the locals were nothing short of “torture chambers”.
Railway officials said the AC trains would be run on a trial basis initially. The fares and the routes will be finalised once the railway board approves the idea in principle.
The plan for such trains isn’t entirely new, though. The railways had thought of introducing them a few years back but the proposal had to be dropped because of “technical problems”.
Ghost college
A government law college with 2,300 students and just four faculty members recently came under the high court’s glare.
Chief Justice Swatanter Kumar and Justice J. P. Deodhar issued notices to the Maharashtra Public Service Commission, which is supposed to fill the teachers’ vacancies.
Senior lawyers wrote to the chief justice seeking his intervention in the affairs of the college, whose principal resigned weeks back. The petitioners said the college doesn’t even have a permanent registrar or a librarian.
Mumbai: This Saturday, watch Buddha Hoga Tera Baap, a play about a man on the verge of turning 50 who refuses to acknowledge he’s growing old. The venue: Prabodhankar Thackeray Auditorium, Chamunda Circle Borivili (West). Show at 4.30pm. Call 28929333 for more information.
