If there was any doubt about the nature of relation the Delhi Police chief wanted to maintain with the Aam Aadmi Party government in the city, it was cleared by his decision to whole-heartedly support phase two of the odd-even scheme.
At the start of the scheme in mid-April, Police Commissioner Alok Kumar Verma had directed senior traffic officers to seek the help of the local police, if need be, to ensure that the rule was implemented.
In addition, unlike phase one of the scheme, this time round the Delhi Police regularly updated the media about the violations.
Also, the scheme passed off this time without a single confrontation or even a cold war between the police and the government. The last time, the police had asked the volunteers to create awareness and not get into the enforcement job.
Better security arrangements will be in place at an odd-even thanksgiving event to be organised here next week.
Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal, who had ink thrown at him at a similar function to mark the conclusion of the trial phase of the road rationing scheme in January, will preside over the proceedings on Wednesday too.
What has added to concerns regarding Mr. Kejriwal’s safety is an open invitation to Delhiites, who followed the scheme, to the Chhatrasal Stadium.
Civil Defence volunteers, who were credited with the success of odd-even part II by Transport Minister Gopal Rai on Saturday, traffic police personnel and representatives from other government departments will also be in attendance.
Security at the media centre at Delhi Secretariat has been upped after a disgruntled former AAP supporter threw a shoe at Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal this past month.
The media centre has a large room for press conferences as well as a separate room for journalists to file stories from. Access to the centre was never controlled, with only a basic metal detector and frisking at the gate of the secretariat deployed. During a press conference to announce round two of the odd-even scheme, a protester, who claimed affiliation with an AAP splinter group, chucked a shoe at Mr. Kejriwal. One of the fallouts of the incident was increased vigilance at the media centre. Now, media persons’ IDs are checked at the door.
“After what happened here we have been asked not to allow anyone without an ID,” said a member of the staff.
Delhi Police investigations may have provided the basis for suspension and then the eventual dismissal of Inspector Dinesh Kumar, but the action has not gone down too well with some of the other staff members who say it was a decision taken in haste. The list includes staff from the Vijay Vihar police station which Mr. Kumar headed before the suspension as well as his batchmates.
On the first day when the details of the inquiry were not known and the suicide note mentioning him was seen as the basis for the registration of the FIR, many were quick to point out how nearly a decade ago an inspector had killed himself blaming the then Police Commissioner and how the Delhi Police did not take any such action back then.
The Delhi Health Minister recently issued directions to all hospital staff to be polite to patients and their attendants.
While doctors and support staff have agreed to follow the directions, they also want to know what the government was doing to ensure that they were also treated with respect by patients and their attendants. There have been instances almost every day at all government hospitals that doctors, nurses and support staff are misbehaved with and sometimes even abused and beaten up by patients’ attendants.
( Contributed by Shiv Sunny, Jatin Anand, Damini Nath, Shubhomoy Sikdar and Bindu Shajan Perappadan )
