A loop in the under construction Signature Bridge to Wazirabad was thrown open to the public earlier this week in order to ‘honour’ its chief engineer on his last day in office.
According to insiders, the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) government received various informal representations from the Delhi Tourism Department for the purpose.
Jose Kurian, the said chief engineer, was given an extension for the express purpose of completing the project as his last service to the Department in 2007. He had retired in 2005 but was kept on.
“We made several representations to Tourism Minister Jitendra Singh Tomar’s office for the purpose,” said a source.
“He was requested to ensure that the loop, at least, was inaugurated under Mr. Kurian’s watch — and it was done, too, on the last day of the period of the latter’s extension,” the source added.
As much as 850 metres long, the said loop is expected to cut travel time for commuters by 20 minutes.
The Delhi Government is understood to have requested Mr. Kurian to stay back as advisor which he has reportedly declined.
The event was to take feedback from school principals to revamp school education, but Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia had to face an unlikely question about a school principal ‘misbehaving’ with a journalist.
Mr. Sidodia, however, gave an evasive answer to the question from the journalist.
At the recently held interactive session with principals of government schools, a reporter asked Mr. Sisodia whether he will take action against the principal. Mr. Sisodia asked the journalist to first check if the reporter in question behaved properly with the principal and added that he cannot ask any official to behave in a certain manner.
The minister’s response came for a principal who allegedly had thrown a reporter’s press card at his face asking him to get out of the school.
Farmers in the rural areas of the Capital have appreciated the Delhi Government’s compensation scheme for loss of their crops due to unseasonal rains earlier this year. A delegation of farmers from Uttam Nagar area, which met Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal, described it as a “landmark decision”.
The delegation thanked Mr. Kejriwal for supply of water to their area, which was a long-pending demand. Farmers also said they were satisfied with the State Government’s measures taken on the power and water fronts.
The State Government, which will start distribution of compensation from May 8 onwards, has evolved a formula for distribution of money by dividing the compensation into two slabs of Rs.20,000 per acre and Rs.14,000 per acre, depending on the percentage of crop loss.
Uttam Nagar MLA Naresh Balyan accompanied the delegation. Mr. Kejriwal told the farmers that the State Government would ensure that every agriculturist gets his due as compensation and do whatever was required for it.
By Jatin Anand, Kritika Sharma Sebastian and Mohammed Iqbal
