Intelligent parking at Connaught Place

The parking lot at Baba Kharak Singh Marg will be the first multi-level parking project to be completed before the Commonwealth Games.

The New Delhi Municipal Council (NDMC) had awarded the work to DLF on a build-operate-transfer (BOT) basis. The firm will make revenue through advertisements and by using 25 per cent of the building for commercial purposes.

This parking lot will address the parking woes of Connaught Place and surrounding areas. The NDMC is building a similar parking lot in Sarojini Nagar with a capacity of 824 cars.

This, too, shall earn revenue for the firm from advertisements and by using 25 per cent of the space for commercial purposes.

Delhi has more than 60 lakh vehicles and nearly 1,000 new vehicles are added to this number daily.

In the past seven years, the MCD, supposed to come up with 14 multi-level parking lots, has managed to start work on one site—in Kamla Nagar. In 2003, the MCD had announced the construction of 16 automated multi-level car parks. However, only 14 have got the go-ahead.

These multi-level parking lots are to come up in areas such as South Extension I and II, Defence Colony, Greater Kailash I and II, Karol Bagh, Shastri Park, Lajpat Nagar, Kirti Nagar among others.

The MCD is now claiming that these parking projects are not linked to the Games. “These parking lots are not linked to the Games and work on the automatic parking lots will start soon,” said Deep Mathur, director press and information, MCD.

Apart from the fully automatic parking lots, the civic agency has planned to make 21 conventional multi-level parking lots, too. “We are also constructing two stack parking lots at Paharganj and Karol Bagh. The parking lot being at Jawahar Lal Nehru stadium is the only one which has a deadline of Games,” added Mathur.

The situation has been made grim by the fact that the MCD has also still not identified parking space along the 2,813 commercial and mixed land use stretches as per the provisions of MPD-2021.

Sri Lanka's Games bid strengthens

SRI Lanka's push to snatch the 2018 Commonwealth Games from the Gold Coast is stronger after the man behind Hambantota's bid was overwhelmingly endorsed in the country's general election.

Namal Rajapaksa, the eldest son of Sri Lanka's president Mahinda Rajapaksa, received more votes than any other candidate in history, polling more than 88 per cent.

Mr Rajapaksa proposed that Hambantota should bid for the Games, as the city recovered from the 2004 Boxing Day tsunami and the end of Sri Lanka's 26-year civil war.

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He has already started the bid in earnest, meeting with bid document producer Nalin Attygalle about constructing a sports village and inspecting the construction of the proposed International Cricket Stadium in Hambantota, which is expected to be the centrepiece of the Games if they are awarded to Sri Lanka.

Sri Lanka is expected to lodge their non-refundable deposit of $98,000 to confirm their bid with the Commonwealth Games Federation at its headquarters in London later this week before this Friday's deadline.

Mr Attygalle said `it's an enormous task, true, but it's not an impossible task'.

There are also plans to build a new international seaport, international airport, international convention centre and a cinema village before the end of next year and Sri Lanka is expected to seek private investment to fund the $2.7 billion of infrastructure needed.

CWG Organising Committee spent nearly Rs 29 lakh on snacks

The Commonwealth Games Organising Committee has some sort of a Midas touch: Everything it touches becomes more expensive.

The cost of constructing the venues for the Games has already gone up 250 per cent, from Rs 1,000 crore to over 2,400 crore. And the final accounting has not been completed as yet.

Information provided by the Organising Committee of the Commonwealth Games under the Right to Information Act now reveals that the committee is a willing participant in this cost escalation.

The committee has spent an eye-popping Rs 29.29 lakh on snacks served at meetings to review ongoing projects.

The committee headed by Suresh Kalmadi has so far convened 57 meetings and an expenditure of Rs 29.29 lakh was incurred on "snacks and other items" in connection with these meetings, the RTI reply states.

This is part of the information supplied by the Committee to RTI applicant Abhishek Shukla.

For example, a sum of Rs six lakh was spent on the first broadcasters' meet. This meeting was attended by about 100 participants.

Another sum of Rs 1.75 lakh was spent by the Organising Committee on snacks and refreshments for a one-day meeting of the Executive Board.

At first, junior officials of the Ministry rejected the application saying it had no information. But senior officials directed that the information be supplied to the applicant. The application was then transferred to the Organising Committee which sent the reply.

The whole process took nearly five months even though the statute mandates a maximum period of one month.

The Commonwealth Games are scheduled to be held in New Delhi between October 3-14 this year.

Fire Service personnel to go hi-tech; discard khaki uniform

Come October and the Delhi Fire Service personnel will sport an orange uniform instead of the traditional 'khaki' outfit.

Besides the new dress code, the DFS will go hi-tech with the acquisition of an array of state-of-the-art equipment, including tetra communication system, automatic vehicle locating system and rapid response vehicles before the start of the Commonwealth Games on October three.

"We will be wearing a new orange uniform to have a distinct identity of fire fighting personnel during the Commonwealth Games," Delhi fire service director RC Sharma said.

The new dress will have inherent flame retardant fabrics and an illuminous strip.

DFS will also be acquiring 20 'Rapid Response Vehicles', which include ten fast moving cars equipped with communication system, cutting tools, light generation machine and water mist extinguishers and modern tools to fight fire hazards in stadia and Games village.

The fire fighting unit will be equipped with automatic vehicle locating system (AVLS) and tetra communication system for having a smooth and effective communication network during the Games.

For the first time, fire brigade headquarters will have GPS-based AVLS to trace fire engines on the web. Four large screens will be set up at the headquarters to monitor the movement of fire engines across the city, Sharma said.

DFS is also acquiring ten motorcycles equipped with the communication system and fire fighting equipment aimed at providing swift response during emergency situations.

These vehicles can be quickly driven through crowded areas and narrow lanes and can reach the sites faster in case of fire mishaps, Sharma said.

The Delhi Fire Service personnel will also be provided with 80 handsets of tetra communication system. "The system was used during Melbourne and Beijing Games and we will be using it during the Games," Sharma said.

Gearing up for the biggest sporting extravaganza, the Fire Service will be deploying a total of 650 personnel, 60 fire engines and three Hazmat vehicles at various venues during the event.

Hazmat vehicles are procured from Holland for dealing with natural calamity and chemical incidents. These special vehicles are equipped with cutting and lifting tools, special protective chemical suits, weather and wind speed monitoring system among others.

There will also be a comprehensive training programme for Games volunteers to make them aware of the basic fire fighting exercise.

Delhi Zoo to get face-lift ahead of Games

Delhi Zoo is all set to get a face-lift ahead of the Commonwealth Games in October, with two air-conditioned food courts, a souvenir shop, cloak room and an ATM facility to come up under a major refurbishment plan.

The Environment Ministry, in a recent meeting, had directed the Delhi Zoo officials to come up with a modernisation plan to showcase one of the oldest zoological gardens in the country to tourists thronging the city during the mega sporting event.

"Signages, modernisation of cloak room, setting up of an ATM facility and a souvenir shop are on the cards while a proposal to construct two air-conditioned food courts inside the premises has already been finalised," Delhi Zoo director Anand Krishna said.

"Besides, animal enclosures will be renovated and coated with fresh paint. The cost of the project is yet to be finalised. Once it is approved and we receive funds from the ministry, we will go ahead with the plan," he said.

B S Bonal, Member Secretary of Central Zoo Authority (CZA), a statutory body under the Ministry, said, "We have also suggested installing of 'Shera' - the mascot of Commonwealth Games - at a strategic location near the entrance gate to attract visitors."

Located close to heritage structure 'Purana Qila' (Old Fort), the National Zoological Park is being seen as a good bet for the tourists looking for a break during the ten-day sporting event beginning October 3.

Every year, more than 13 lakh people visit the zoo spread over an area of 214 acres that houses more than 1,200 birds, mammals and reptiles from countries like Africa, America, Australia and Asia.

Hippopotamus, spider monkey, African Wild Buffalo, the Gir Lion and Zebras, lion and stump tailed Macaque, Red Jungle Fowl, Hoolock Gibbon, Banteng, Emu, Axis deer, Hyenas, Fallow deer, Peafowl, Hog Dear and the Jaguar have been a major draw.

The zoo had earlier introduced six battery-operated mobile vans which visitors can use at affordable rates for intra-zoo transport.