'Mission Begin Again': Mumbai remains shut while India begins to unlock

Maharashtra and Rajasthan turned out to be the outliers.

A day after the Centre suggested opening up of most activities outside of the nearly 6,000 containment zones across the country, Maharashtra and Rajasthan turned out to be the outliers as they ordered places of worship, hotels, restaurants, and malls to remain shut.

In another departure from the Centre’s guidelines, which permitted unrestricted inter-state movement, the Delhi-Noida border will not be opened for public amid rising number of coronavirus cases in the national capital, according to the Uttar Pradesh government. Most other states extended the lockdown in containment zones until June 30, but issued guidelines consistent with that of the Centre’s, allowing nearly all economic activities in areas outside these zones.

In its guidelines, ‘Mission Begin Again’, issued on Sunday, Maharashtra departed from the Centre’s guidelines. CM Uddhav Thackeray said the state needed to tread cautiously now that monsoon was round the corner. It said intra-district bus services can operate, but inter-district bus operations will remain restricted.

The state said places of worship, restaurants, hotels, malls, and salons would remain shut. The state, however, allowed shooting for films and serials. Maharashtra has allowed all private offices to operate, but with only 10 per cent strength, from June 8, and markets and shops can open from June 5 on odd-even basis. In shops, Maharashtra has asked trial rooms to be kept shut.

Delhi govt issues guidelines for domestic travel: All you should know

Some trains to ferry stranded migrants and others have already started running while domestic air services resumed from Monday.

The Delhi government on Monday issued guidelines for domestic travel -- air/train/interstate bus -- in the wake of coronavirus outbreak.

According to the guidelines, asymptomatic passengers will be permitted to go with advice that they shall self monitor their health for 14 days. In case, they develop any symptoms, they shall inform the concerned Delhi Disaster Management Authority (DDMA) or state helpline number.

"All passengers shall be advised to download the Aarogya Setu app on their mobile devices. Those having moderate or severe symptoms will be admitted to dedicated Covid health facilities. Those having mild symptoms will be given the option of home isolation or isolated in the Covid Care Centre, both public and private facilities," the guidelines said.

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Some trains to ferry stranded migrants and others have already started running while domestic air services resumed from Monday after two months. The Railways will operate 200 passenger trains from June 1.

Meanwhile, the DDMA directed all District Magistrates to appoint a Sub-Divisional Magistrate (SDM) level officer as nodal officer with a sufficient number of team members for facilitating home isolated persons, with a dedicated mobile number in each district.

1,000 swine flu cases in Delhi this year; hospitals report 13 deaths

The Delhi government recently said that all government hospitals in the city are equipped with necessary logistics required for the management of the disease.

One death due to swine flu and 124 fresh cases of Influenza A (H1N1) was Tuesday recorded in Delhi, taking the total number of people affected by the disease in the city this year to 1019, according to a report.

The city had recorded 895 positive cases of swine flu till Monday, which included 712 adults and 183 children, the latest report by the city's Directorate General of Health Services said.

As many as 104 fresh cases of adults, 20 of children and one death was recorded on Tuesday, it said. Till Monday, Delhi government had not recorded any death due to swine flu.

However, two Centre-run hospitals here have reported 13 deaths due to swine flu this year. According to senior officials at Safdarjung Hospital, three deaths due to swine flu have been recorded this season, while RML Hospital has reported 10 fatalities.

Nine of the 10 people who died at RML Hospital were from Delhi, and the other one was from outside the city, officials said.

After holding a state-level review meeting on Influenza A (H1N1), the Delhi government recently said that all government hospitals in the city are equipped with necessary logistics required for the management of the disease and drug Oseltamivir along with personal protective equipment (PPE kits) and N95 masks are also available.

Recent guidelines from the Union Health Ministry on case diagnosis, management, vaccination, isolation criteria, risk categorisation and preventive measures have been circulated among all hospitals and health facilities.

"All hospitals have been asked to keep ventilators ready, and also told to disseminate information on the prevention of the disease," the Delhi health department official said.

Health advisories, in English and Hindi, on seasonal Influenza A H1N1 (swine flu) have been prepared and issued for general public in leading newspapers.

Patients with co-morbid condition like low immunity, on immune-suppressant, blood cancer, renal transplant, diabetes, heart disease are at high risk of getting infected with swine flu.

For any query on swine flu, people can seek assistance on the 24X7 helpline number at DGHS (HQ): 011-22300012, 22307145.

Business Standard

Delhi air pollution: Know govt's emergency plan to avoid smog filled winter

Authorities have predicted further deterioration of air quality in the coming days.

Delhi Air Pollution : Last winter, the Delhi-NCR suffered one of the worst bouts of pollution. The entire region was in the grip of haze and smog. Now, the dreadful pollution is back to the national capital and its nearby states. Meanwhile, recent satellite images from the NASA showed that farmers in Punjab and Haryana have started burning crop residue earlier this month.

On Sunday, the air quality in Delhi remained poor, as the overall air quality index (AQI) recorded at 10 am Sunday stood at 208 which falls in the poor category, according to Centre-run System of Air Quality and Weather Forecasting and Research (SAFAR).

The PM10 level (presence of particles with diameter less than 10 micrometres) in Delhi stood at 183 and the PM2.5 level was recorded at 93, according to the data.

Authorities have predicted further deterioration of air quality in the coming days.

An emergency action plan has been implemented from Monday to combat air pollution that has begun to show a trend towards poor category. (Business Standard )

ALSO READ: Delhi air pollution: Emergency plan to kick in from Monday

Here are the emergency measures that will be taken under Graded Response Action Plan (GRAP)

1. Air Quality in moderate poor category

If the air quality lies in moderate to poor category- measures like stopping garbage burning in landfills and other places, and enforcing all pollution control regulations in brick kilns and industries would be implemented.

2. Air Quality in poor category

If the air quality falls in the very poor category, additional measures of stopping use of diesel generator sets, enhancing parking fees 3-4 times and increasing frequency of metro and buses would be implemented.

3. Air Quality in severe zone

If the air quality falls in the severe category, additional measures would be implemented of increasing frequency of mechanised cleaning of roads, sprinkling of water on roads and identifying road stretches with high dust generation.

4. Air Quality in severe plus

If the air quality falls to severe plus emergency category, then measures like stopping entry of trucks into Delhi (except essential commodities), stopping construction activities and appointment of task force to take the decision on any additional steps, including shutting of schools, are implemented.

Meanwhile, South Delhi Municipal Corporation (SDMC) has asked the state-run NBCC, which is building a world-class convention-cum-exhibition centre at the site of the Pragati Maidan.... Read More

Delhi Metro Pink Line: All the details about the 'corridor for shoppers'

The metro network in the national capital has expanded to 296 Km through 214 stations.

The Metro service on the Durgabai Deshmukh South Campus -Lajpat Nagar section of phase III of the Delhi Metro network opened on Monday, August 6. The 8.10 km-long stretch has interchanging facilities at INA (with Yellow Line) and Lajpat Nagar (Violet Line). The service began for passengers at 1 pm.

Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal and Union Housing and Urban Affairs Minister Hardeep Singh Puri jointly inaugurated it at the Metro Bhawan. The new stations are -- Sir Vishveshariah Moti Bagh, Bhikhaji Cama Place, Sarojini Nagar, INA, South Extension and Lajpat Nagar. Only Sir Vishveshariah Moti Bagh station is elevated, and the rest all are underground.

The stretch is named ”corridor for shoppers” as it will be connecting four major markets of the city Sarojini Nagar, INA, South Extension and Lajpat Nagar (Central Market). This one stretch of the network will also cut travel time for commuters by up to 20 minutes.

This stretch is part of the 59 km-long Majlis Park-Shiv Vihar corridor (Pink Line) which falls under the Phase-III network of the DMRC. A total of 23 trains will be put into service, with a frequency of 5 minutes and 12 seconds during peak hours and 5 minutes and 45 seconds during non-peak hours, the senior official said.

The operational span of the Pink Line from Majlis Park to Lajpat Nagar will become 29.66 km and the entire operational span of the DMRC will reach 296 km with 214 stations.T he travel time between INA and Rajouri Garden stations would reduce from 40 minutes to 23 minutes; Lajpat Nagar-Rajouri Garden stations from 45 to 28 minutes and Lajpat Nagar and Netaji Subhas Place (Red Line) from 47 minutes to 39 minutes.

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Soon, e-challans for Delhi traffic violators, more fine on repeat offenders

Errant vehicles will now be easily prosecuted for polluting, overloading or violating traffic and road safety norms.

Come August 1, you will be fined with an e-challan (electronic traffic ticket) if you violate traffic lights or speed limits on Delhi roads. The Delhi Traffic Police will no longer be the sole enforcement agency utilising technology to make the streets of the national capital safer. To control traffic violations, the Delhi government’s transport department will start issuing e-challans to traffic violators instead of manual challans from next month. 

An integrated e-challan system is expected to bring in more transparency in the prosecution of vehicles violating the Motor Vehicles Act. As soon as an e-challan is issued, the owner of the vehicle will get an SMS. The e-challan is especially intended to catch repeat offenders, who are liable to pay higher fines, according to a Times of India report.

With an e-challan system in operation from August, errant vehicles will be easily prosecuted for polluting, overloading or violating traffic and road safety norms.

According to The Times of India, the transport department has procured handheld devices or e-challan tabs, one for each of its enforcement wing teams. 

These devices will be technologically more advanced than the ones being used by the traffic cops at the moment and can act as POS (point-of-sale) machines that would accept fines through credit or debit cards and issue a challan on the spot. There are approximately 200 personnel in the transport department’s enforcement wing.

The e-challan tab will be synced with the central database of the transport department and will immediately identify an offender, who will be issued an on-the-spot fine. The e-challan device will have a portable printer for immediate issuance of e-challans. It will also have an attached portable camera to take a picture of errant drivers and vehicles and send them to the central database. 

The major benefit of these ‘smart’ e-challan tabs would be in identifying and prosecuting repeat offenders, on whom heavier penalties will be imposed. Also, traffic cops would be able to easily identify antecedents of a vehicle owner by entering the registration number of car in the device and it would become easy to find out if the vehicle concerned was ever involved in a similar incident in the past, reported ToI.

Moreover, the enforcement wings would be armed with “body cameras” which would live stream the interaction between an offender and the traffic cop to the department’s control centre in real time, according to a report.

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