The Pioneer  25.11.2010

Staff Reporter | New Delhi

While former MCD deputy commissioner of Shahdara South zone has maintained two tainted junior engineers were not relieved because he did not receive the said orders, Municipal Commissioner KS Mehra on Wednesday assured the alleged transgression will be meticulously looked into.

The Pioneer on November 18 had reported how the then DC Brig Rajinder Singh of the zone scuttled the vigilance directive and allowed junior engineers Manoj Shah and SK Singh to continue in the post. Both were not relieved for 25 days and three months respectively despite their relieving orders. The duo allegedly facilitated regularisation of 57 of the 131 illegal buildings listed by the vigilance department.

When asked about their continuation in the service, at first Mehra said Shah and Singh were hired by the civic body on contract and after their contracts were over, they were relieved.

However, later he said, “The matter will definitely be looked into why they were not relieved from the service despite their relieving order and vigilance directives,”said he.

“The vigilance department had directed the DC for immediate suspension of the junior engineers responsible for mushrooming of illegal structures in ward numbers 231-232, but no action was taken,” sources said. The directive of the vigilance department of MCD also asked demolish 131 buildings that had been identified as illegal in ward numbers 231-232. The directive was issued on August 17, 2010.

The Pioneer  25.11.2010

Staff Reporter | New Delhi

The Delhi High Court on Wednesday directed civic agencies to install proper signs for auto stands in the city. A Division Bench of Chief Justice Dipak Misra and Justice Manmohan asked the MCD, NDMC, DDA, Delhi Cantonment and Public Works Department (PWD) to put up ‘Halt and Go’ signs at earmarked auto stands.

Appearing for Traffic Police, counsel Jyoti Singh said over 400 places have been earmarked for autorickshaws to halt and go and making them aware of the locations was the responsibility of the civic agencies. She submitted a status report which contained details of the measures taken by police to educate autorickshaw drivers about the “halt and go” locations and to ensure that they are polite and courteous to passengers.

The auto stand locations have been uploaded onto the Delhi Traffic Police website. Awareness camps for TSR drivers have been organised at Traffic Training Parks at ISBTs at Anand Vihar, Kashmere Gate and Sarai Kale Khan. Drivers at New Delhi, Old Delhi, Nizamuddin, and Sarai Rohilla railway stations also attended the training camps. According to the status report, 1472 TSR drivers have attended the workshops this year.

The Traffic Police also requested the petitioner NGO to inform auto-rickshaw drivers of the sites identified for Halt and go. The NGO was also asked to sensitise the drivers to provide good service to passengers and stop overcharging commuters.

The court also directed the city’s transport department and the traffic police to keep issuing badges to drivers for their easy identification. The transport department told the bench that licences have been issued to 29,391 auto drivers and badges were also issued to 16,438 persons. The court’s direction came on a public interest lawsuit (PIL) seeking a direction to the NCT government to issue licences to auto drivers after their proper verification.

The PIL is also seeking the court’s direction to the police against harassing honest auto drivers running their business with licences issued by states other than Delhi.