Moily Metro ride irks commuters

October 10, 2013

Moily_MetroNew Delhi, Oct 10: Petroleum Minister Veerappa Moily has kept his word to take public transport to work. He claimed that around 600 litres of fuel could be saved daily if others in the ministry followed his self-imposed austerity.

“My journey was pleasant. Hope it will start a movement,” he told a TV channel, little aware that several people were inconvenienced by his gesture. Commuters faced needless delays on their way to work. A 15-minute trip from the Race Course metro station to Central Secretariat took an hour.

Mediapersons made a beeline for Moily’s house for his comments. A five-minute walk to the Race Course station took half an hour as Moily explained how his action would spur fuel conservation at a time when the country was projected to import nearly 94 per cent of its crude in 2030.

The minister had said last month that as part of a fuel conservation drive to save $5 billion in oil import bill, he and Oil Ministry officials would take the public transport to work every Wednesday.

The first stumbling block to Moily’s initiative was the Finance Ministry, which called “ambitious” his claim to reduce the oil import bill by 3 per cent through such measures.

“While it is recognised that a conservation campaign might result in some reduction in petro product consumption, the estimates of savings projected at 3 per cent, over and above the proposed crude imports cut, appear to be ambitious,” the Finance Ministry had said. Joint secretaries Neeraj Mittal and Aramane Giridhar cycled 8 km to office. The 200-odd ministry staff also availed the public transport while most PSU staffers either took car pools or travelled by the metro or buses.

The Centre for Science and Environment (CSE) congratulated the minister on taking a step in the right direction. “Moily, make public transport a serious business for all—the rich and the poor—to save fuel, pollution and human lives. This is a good gesture, but the intent of it must not get reduced to a gimmick. It should catalyse significant change in commuting practices in the city,” CSE said.

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News Network
June 15,2020

New Delhi, Jun 15: With an increase of 11,502 cases in the past 24 hours, the COVID-19 count in India reached 3,32,424 on Monday, according to the Union Health and Family Welfare Ministry.

The spike is marginally lower than the highest-ever spike of 11,929 new cases the country registered a day earlier.

With 325 deaths being reported from across the country, the toll due to COVID-19 has now reached 9,520.

The COVID-19 count includes 1,53,106 active cases while 1,69,798 patients have been cured and discharged or migrated so far.

Maharashtra with 1,07,958 cases continues to be the worst-affected state in the country with 53,030 active cases while 50,978 patients have been cured and discharged in the state so far. 3,950 deaths have been reported due to the infection so far from Maharashtra.

It is followed by Tamil Nadu with 44,661 cases and the national capital with 41,182 confirmed cases.

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News Network
January 7,2020

Mumbai, Jan 7: People protesting against the JNU violence were evicted from Gateway of India here on Tuesday morning as roads were getting blocked and tourists and common people were facing problems, a police official said.

Police had appealed to the protesters to shift but they didn't listen, so they were "relocated" to Azad Maidan, the official said.

Hundreds of people, including students, women and senior citizens - who assembled at the iconic Gateway of India since Sunday midnight - demanded action against the culprits and called for Union Home Minister Amit Shah's resignation.

Violence broke out in the Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU) in Delhi on Sunday night as masked men armed with sticks and rods attacked students and teachers and damaged property on the campus.

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News Network
May 29,2020

New Delhi, May 29: More than 38,000 doctors, including those retired from the Armed Forces Medical Services, have volunteered to help the government in its fight against COVID-19 pandemic, a senior official said on Friday.

On March 25, the government had made an appeal to doctors, including the retired ones, to come forward and join the efforts to fight the pandemic.

"38,162 volunteer doctors, including retired government, Armed Forces Medical Services, public sector undertaking or private doctors have signed up with the government to battle COVID-19 pandemic," the official said.

The official further said Niti Aayog has sent a list of names of these doctors to Ministry of Health and Family Welfare and National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA).

In a statement posted on Niti Aayog's website on March 25, the government had said those who wish to contribute to this noble mission may register themselves through a link provided on the Aayog's website.

"The Government of India requests for volunteer doctors who are fit and willing to be available for providing their services in the public health facilities and the training hospitals in the near future.

"We appeal to such doctors to come forward at this hour of need. You could also be a retired government, Armed Forces Medical Services, public sector undertaking or a private doctor," the statement had said.

It had noted that in case the outbreak leads to a high number of infected individuals, India's public health facilities will face tremendous load to take care of a large number of patients.

Many countries, including the US, Italy, the UK and Vietnam, had also urged retired health workers to come back to work amid the pandemic.

The number of COVID-19 cases in India has climbed to 1,65,799, making it the world's ninth worst-hit country by the coronavirus pandemic.

The Health Ministry on Friday said the death toll due to COVID-19 rose to 4,706 in the country.

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