By Sidharth Mishra

Last weekend Prime Minister Narendra Modi took out time from his busy schedule to inaugurate the six-lane Pragati Maidan underpass integrating Ring Road with the Outer Ring Road on the eastern periphery of the city. After missing six deadlines, the corridor project, which includes a 1.4-km-long tunnel under the Pragati Maidan and six underpasses -- five of them on the busy Mathura Road, has been finally opened for vehicular movement.

While inaugurating the project Prime Minister was at pains to underline that the project built at a cost of Rs 920 crore was entirely funded by the Central Government, lest the competitive politics make the Arvind Kejriwal-led state government claim the credit for the project. This is the first major infrastructure addition to the city after the Commonwealth Games (CWG), which was held in 2010. Inauguration of projects like the Signature Bridge among others were only the completion of delayed CWG 2010 legacy projects.

Prime Minister's subtle elucidation and the newly-appointed Lieutenant Governor of Delhi, Vinai Kumar Saxena’s actions are clear indications of the fact that the Centre was now in no mood to pow-pow the state government. The suspension of an official posted in Delhi Chief Minister's office later in the week on corruption charges, albeit during an earlier assignment, also concretizes the feeling that the Centre was only going to toughen its stand vis-a-vis the state government in the matters of governance of Delhi.

By Sidharth Mishra

Whenever a discussion on public safety is held, the mention of Uphaar tragedy invariably crops up. Last week was the 25th anniversary of one of the most gruesome events to have taken place in the national Capital.

June 13, 1997 was a Friday and film ‘Border’ was released at Uphaar Cinema in Green Park area of South Delhi. During matinee show, a fire started in the basement of the cinema hall and the smoke spread to the theatre trapping people inside, as the doors were locked. In the veritable gas chamber 59 people died of asphyxiation, while 103 were seriously injured, many in the stampede which followed.

This event would have vanished from public memory in the times to come but for the next of kin of those who died in the tragedy. They fought a vehement battle against a system and the wealthy accused to get justice for the dead, who had fallen prey to government apathy and a compromised system.

By Sidharth Mishra

Crime in Delhi has travelled a long way from rustic law-breaking of 1990s to the glamorous gang wars of today. At the turn of the century when then Police Commissioner Ajay Raj Sharma had persuaded central government to extend Maharashtra Control of Organized Crime Act (MCOCA) to the national Capital, it had raised many an eye brows as Delhi was not known to have any organized gang.

Other than the terror-related cases, the outskirts of the national Capital and then emerging satellite hubs of Noida and Gurgaon were known for crime committed by the de-notified criminal tribe gangs. Sharma, who had vast experience of policing interiors of Uttar Pradesh found that the offenders after committing crime in the city easily escaped to the neighbouring states of UP and Haryana, shielding themselves from the Delhi Police.

To chase these gangs into the hinterlands and neutralize them could be done only by empowering Delhi Police with MCOCA. Sharma had realised that though Delhi did not have glamorous crime syndicates like the Mumbai underworld, it did have gangs which had roots in history and social topography of the region – the gangs associated with the tribes which had been notified under an act by the British as criminal tribes. Post-independence this act was de-notified, thus these tribes came to be known by the acronym DNT.

By Sidharth Mishra

This was followed a popular column on Delhi in a Hindi newspaper mentioning that KK joined Kirori Mal College because of its music and theater traditions. Poet William Wordsworth once wrote, “Bliss it was in that dawn to be alive; But to be young was very heaven.” He did not write this about Delhi University but those who passed through its portals in 1980s-90s would swear by Wordsworth’s words.

By 1980s, the story of Delhi University was not only about St Stephen’s College on the main avenue and the one opposite to it – the Hindu College. It had travelled further down the road spread to Ramjas, Kirori Mal and Hansraj colleges

By Sidharth Mishra

The newspapers last fortnight carried headlines of the newly-appointed Lieutenant Governor of Delhi Vinai Kumar Saxena meeting chief minister Arvind Kejriwal, and two agreeing to work together for the benefit of the people. That the occupants of the two offices, mandated to work together, had to declare that they would work together reflects on failed governance in the national Capital in the past nine years.

Bureaucrats holding the office of Lieutenant Governor, staying put in their ivory tower of Raj Niwas, have always found themselves at the receiving end of the competitive politicking. With the new L-G hitting the turf running and giving clear signals that he would not restrict himself to the four-walls of his office, Kejriwal could have quite a challenge at hand.

By Sidharth Mishra

A few days back newspapers rightly went to town on a bureaucrat couple getting the Thyagraj statdium in the heart of Delhi emptied of the practising sportspersons to walk their dog. The bureaucrat couple has faced the music and have been separated by being sent on punishment postings of Ladakh and Arunachal Pradesh.

Given to his wont for opportunity for publicity under any circusmtances, Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal was quick to announce that the stadium would remain open for practise by sportspersons till late in the evening.

Now would somebody tell Kejriwal that why did he keep this sports complex shut for days together ahead of Diwali last year for a political event. Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal with his wife and cabinet colleagues had offered prayers at the replica of Ayodhya Ram Mandir built at Thyagraj Stadium in Delhi.

By Sidharth Mishra

Union Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan has visited the Delhi University twice in less than a month’s time. On the first occasion, he accompanied Vice President M Venkaiah Naidu at the function to declare the centenary celebrations of the university open. The second time he came to give company to Union Home Minister Amit Shah at a seminar on political science.

The minister’s presence at the various celebrations to commemorate 100 years cannot be contested, it should rather be welcomed. However, the worry at hand is whether Pradhan is also aware of the challenge of Balkanization being faced by the hallowed university. Pradhan’s tenure in history should not be recorded as the one which saw maiming of the hoary campus.

The issue at hand is the move by the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) government, cocking a snook at the Delhi University, to take over the prestigious College of Art and merging it with state government-run Ambedkar University of Delhi (AUD). Despite protest by students and teachers, a supine Delhi University administration and Delhi University Teachers Association (DUTA), both controlled by the Rashtriya Swayamsewak Sangh (RSS), have not decided to contest the AAP government move.

By Sidharth Mishra

About quarter of a century ago, a very revered editor of a big national daily was caught plagiarising. His famous weekly column called ‘musings’ was found to be copied from foreign newspapers. Those were the non-internet days and access to foreign newspapers was limited to a very few.

A rival daily, which broke the story, had given the headline, “Musing on borrowed plumes.” If the focus and content of deliberations at the Chintan Shivir of the Congress party currently on at Udaipur, it could be easily summed up with the headlines, “Musing on the borrowed plumes.”

The ‘great thoughts’ emerging at the Udaipur deliberations are literally borrowed from the presentations made to Congress president Sonia Gandhi by poll strategist Prashant Kishor some days back. While Kishore has been side-stepped in the run-up to the introspection session at Udaipur, his papers have been adopted.