Delhi

Dense fog enveloped the national capital Wednesday morning, delaying trains, and flights. The traffic here crawled.

According to the India Meteorological Department (IMD), visibility dropped to less than 50 metres in some parts of the city at 8.30 a.m.

As a result, over three dozen incoming and outgoing trains were delayed or had to be rescheduled.

“There are 37 trains which are running late by two to 11 hours and one has been cancelled,” said Northern Railway official.

Dengue cases in Delhi and the adjoining areas of the National Capital Region reached 5,546, a municipal health officer said Monday.

Most cases have been reported from the north corporation zone (2,170), followed by the south (1,646) and the east (1,515) zones.

This year, the vector-borne disease has killed six people in the capital.

After having surpassed the 2012 figures, the number of cases this year is nearing the 2010 tally (6,229).

Many diabetic children from the economically weaker sections of the society in the national capital will be provided insulin free of cost, said a Delhi based diabetic centre Sunday.

Delhi Diabetic Research Center (DDRC) will provide insulin free of cost to 150 poor children suffering from Type 1 diabetics.

The initiative was announced by DDRC at a day-long event at Talkatora Stadium here.

The Chief Electoral Office (CEO) of Delhi has started a drive to enrol new voters in the national capital, officials said Tuesday.

Ankur Garg, the chief nodal officer of Delhi, told IANS: “People who want to enrol themselves in the electoral list can apply by filling up the form No.6 either by taking it from the office of the chief electoral office or filling it online.”

He said that the voters, who are already on the electoral list, can check the rolls and apply for any changes to be made in their names, address or any other data if required.

Dense fog Tuesday enveloped the national capital, delaying flights and trains.

“Trains arrival and departures were delayed as visibility was poor…,” A.S. Negi, a Northern Railway spokesperson told IANS.

Many trains have been rescheduled and the passengers have been informed via a sms.

“Passengers can contact (Delhi telephone number) 23747110, the new helpline number started by the Northern Railway,” he said.

Delhiites woke to a nippy and foggy Monday morning with visibility dropping to around 400 metres. Dense fog led to diversion and delay of flights. Trains pulling into Delhi were also running behind schedule.

“Some flights were delayed and some diverted because visibility at the airport runway fell below 50 metres,” an airport official said.

According to an update from airport officials at 12 noon, nine flights with destinations to Jaipur, Ahmedabad and Lucknow were diverted.

Even a few trains coming to Delhi were running behind schedule, slowed down by dense fog.

The number of reported rape cases has doubled and sexual assault cases increased fourfold in the national capital after the Dec 16, 2012, gang rape, an international human rights organisation said Monday.

The conviction rates have conversely dropped from 41 to 24 percent between 2001 and 2012.

“The extremely low conviction rates send out a signal to perpetrators that they are free to act with impunity and can deter women from reporting rape and other crimes of sexual violence,” said Sehjo Singh, director of programmes and policy, ActionAid India.

Delhi witnessed the first fog of the winter season on Monday which delayed the schedule of over 25 domestic and international flights at the IGI airport here.

The flights were delayed as the runway visibility dropped to less than 50 metres, bringing landing and take-off to a halt for over an hour, an airport official said.

This is the first fog of the winter season, which started to descend at the airport early in the morning, but as the day progressed it become dense.

The tenant of a 65-year-old handicapped widow in Nizamuddin, New Delhi, was served eviction orders by a Delhi court Saturday. The tenant was also told that he could not suggest ways in which his landlady might use her space.

Additional Civil Judge M.P. Singh’s order came as a relief to Femida Begum who had sought the court’s intervention for the eviction of her tenant Mohammad Ahmed.

Begum is 80 percent handicapped. She owns a building with two floors and lives on the first floor with her two daughters and son Firoz.

A day before the declaration of assembly election results, Delhi Chief Minister Sheila Dikshit said Saturday that she did not believe in exit polls and surveys.

“We don’t work on the basis of surveys. I would say respectfully, I don’t believe in these surveys,” Dikshit said in response to a question about surveys that are indicating a tough fight for the New Delhi seat from where she contested.

Three-time chief minister Dikshit is up against Bharatiya Janata Party’s Vijendra Gupta and Aam Aadmi Party’s Arvind Kejriwal for this seat.

BJP is projected to emerge as the single largest party in the Delhi Assembly elections winning between 32 and 42 seats in the 70 member House, said a post poll survey today.

The poll conducted by CNN-IBN-CSDS-The Week said the Sheila Dikshit-led Congress party would receive a major drubbing getting only between 9-17 seats and debutant AAP notching 13-21 seats.

With the Supreme Court washing its hands off the issue, the Delhi Police today asked the woman law intern to record her statement in the sexual harassment complaint she had made against retired Justice A K Ganguly who has been indicted by an apex court panel.

“We have sent an email to her and we are waiting for her response…We have requested her to indicate the time and place where her statement can be recorded,” Joint Commissioner of Police (New Delhi) M K Meena told reporters in Delhi.

A Delhi Police statement said it was awaiting her version of the incident.

Delhi will experience a clear and warm weather Friday, forecasts the Met Office. The minimum temperature was recorded at 10 degrees Celsius, a notch above season’s average.

“The day will remain clear with shallow fog in the morning. The maximum temperature is likely to hover around 25.5 degrees Celsius, a notch above season’s average,” said an India Meteorological Department (IMD) official.

Humidity at 8.30 a.m. was recorded at 79 percent.

Thursday’s maximum temperature was a notch above season’s average at 25.5 degrees Celsius, while the minimum was 10.1 degrees Celsius. (IANS)

Delhi shattered previous records as it registered 65.86 percent voting in Wednesday’s assembly elections, an Election Commission official said Thursday.

“Delhi recorded 65.86 polling percent. Voting continued till 8 p.m. Wednesday,” the official told IANS.

Officially voting ends at 5 p.m., but seeing the surging enthusiastic crowds at many polling stations, the state election commission extended the voting time.

The Matia Mahal polling station in the walled city was the last to close at 8 p.m.

Notwithstanding their physical limitations and absence of facilities, elderly and differently-abled people turned up in large numbers at the polling stations across Delhi to exercise their franchise today.

Many came to the polling booths with the aid of walking sticks and some even on wheel-chairs, with the help of their kin.

79-year-old Suk Bir Singh, who is visually impaired, had come with his six-year old grandson to cast his vote.

The Lieutenant Governor of Delhi, Najeeb Jung, cast his vote on Wednesday, and said the high turnout in elections is proof of India’s democratic nature.

“After every five years, we get to exercise our electoral right, and this proves that people are living in a democracy. The voter turnout percentage in other state elections shows us that India is a successful democracy,” he said after he cast his vote.

Responding to low voter turnout in past election in Delhi, he said Delhi being the National Capital, should vote in good numbers.

Vice President Hamid Ansari, Aam Admi Party Chief Arvind Kejriwal and Delhi’s Chief Electoral Officer Vijay Dev were among the first few to cast their votes in the Delhi Assembly election today.

Ansari reached New Delhi constituency’s polling booth no 8586 at Nirman Bhavan at around 8:10 AM in

He was among the first few citizens to vote at the booth, where other high-profile voters like Congress chief Sonia Gandhi and Delhi Chief Minister Sheila Dikshit are to also cast their ballot.

It is not a full-fledged state and has only 70 assembly seats but polls in Delhi are keenly watched as it is the centre of the country’s political power and has, many times in the past, served as a pointer to the Lok Sabha polls.

The BJP, keen to end its 15-year power drought in the national capital, threw in all its might with the party’s prime ministerial candidate and lead campaigner Narendra Modi holding five rallies in the metropolis. Party sources said that 230 public meetings were held by its leaders in the past 10 days.

Police chiefs of India and the United States will be attending a conference on December 4 and 5 here. Union Home Minister Sushil Kumar Shinde will inaugurate the conference, which will be attended by U.S. delegation consisting of police chiefs from major cities and their technology partners.

Delhi’s Lt. Governor Najeeb Jung has declared December 4 as a public holiday in view of the assembly polls to be held in the national capital.

In a notification, Jung said all government offices, local bodies, autonomous bodies and public sector undertakings under the government of National Capital Territory of Delhi will observe a public holiday on account of the election to the legislative assembly of Delhi. (ANI)

It was a pleasant morning in the capital Tuesday with the minimum temperature recorded at 9.2 degrees Celsius, average for this time of the year. The Met Office forecast a clear day ahead.

“The day will remain clear though the city witnessed shallow fog in the morning,” said an India Meteorological Department (IMD) official.

Humidity at 8.30 a.m. was 80 percent.

The day’s maximum temperature is likely to hover around 28 degrees Celsius.