Quality, hygiene to be part of platter before Games

Safe Food, Tasty Food scheme: Guidelines for small restaurants and dhabas to upgrade standard
Delhi is set to ensure that the one ingredient, hygiene, missing from some of city eateries that offer delicious food, is added in time for the Commonwealth Games.
The Food Safety and Standard Authority of India (FSSAI) recently launched its ‘Safe Food, Tasty Food’ scheme that has specific guidelines for small restaurants and dhabas to upgrade their standard of food to international level.

The scheme, launched on Monday, will rate food joints as platinum, gold, silver and bronze, which will be accredited by the Quality Council of India (QCI) after strict scrutiny of different parameters like quality of food, hygiene, service among others.

Under the scheme, which was in the pipeline for over a year, dhaba and restaurant owners can file a request for registration with FSSAI.

For the eateries owners it will mean that the Delhi government, QCI and the FSSAI will advertise the food joints and mention them on their websites as hygienic joints thus bringing in more customers.

The guidelines have a say in all things related to the food, from the time the ingredients are procured till the time food is served. The ingredients need to be bought only from licensed sellers, frozen food must maintain a certain standard of temperature and safe drinking water has to be available at all times. All guidelines are available on FSSAI and QCI websites.

“The scheme will work both ways. It will ensure clean and hygienic food for customers and dhabas will get a bigger crowd of patrons,” says Giridhar J Giani, secretary general, QCI.

The scheme will also seek help from New Delhi Municipal Council, Municipal Corporation of Delhi, Resident Welfare Associations, colleges and registered societies, which will act like the watch dog.

“They will form the nodal agency that can keep a check by demanding quality food and a proof of certification, there by keeping a pressure on quality service,” Giani adds.

The scheme though under FSSAI, is a joint effort by the Delhi Tourism, ITDC, CII, QCI and FICCI etc. If the pilot project in Delhi is successful, the scheme will be launched in cities.

Delhi underground

Glad tidings
After a brief impasse, the Commonwealth Games Organising Committee and the Games Federation seem to be coming to a better understanding. During a recent press brief, the CGF chief Mike Fennel expressed satisfaction at the progress of work in Delhi and also commended OC Chairperson Suresh Kalmadi for the work put in by him and his team. Kalmadi said he is, “satisfied and extremely happy”, and have credit to the holiday season to the positive turn of events. “The last time Fennel visited, things looked bleak. However, it is all fine now. I think it is the festive season that has brought about the change in mood. The next time I need to call any foreign delegates for inspection, I will ensure they visit during Christmas,” he said.

Up in smoke
The Ministry of Environment and Forests advocates going paperless, but several of its records are in paper files. For an annual award that the Ministry gives for wildlife preservation by individuals in rural areas, the Ministry has called for nominations. It has specified that those even who had applied in 2007-08 can reapply. Reason?
The official notice sheepishly admits that old proposals for the same award — among many other paper documents — were gutted in a fire that broke out in Ministry in April this year.
And for the same reason, no awards were given for the previous year.

Road laws
During a Delhi High Court hearing on the guidelines for the police over sharing of information about investigations in criminal cases, Solicitor General Gopal Subramaniam had to appear for the Centre. He, however, got a little late in reaching the court and expressed his apology saying, “I am sorry for reaching late — I got stuck in a traffic jam.” The Bench, which had minutes ago dismissed a PIL for opening the BRT for all vehicles, had a suggestion in store. “You (Government) can certainly make an exception on the BRT for your law officers so as to avoid traffic snags,” the Chief Justice said in a lighter vein. Subramaniam, did not mince words and replied, “Being an amicus curaie, I shall be the last one to seek an exception for myself.”

Tower of Babel
If the Assembly session is supposed to be a war of words and political banter, the recent session of the Delhi Assembly surely lived up to the mark and better still, also witnessed political duels in different languages. While BJP MLA Harcharan Singh Balli delivered most speeches in Punjabi, in one of the meetings held last week, BJP MLA Anil Jha took offence to Finance Minister A K Walia answering one of the questions put to him by the opposition in Punjabi. Jha, who is the ‘Bhojpuri face’ of the BJP in Delhi, resisted ‘Punjabi’ dominance and rattled out a sentence using words from four different languages — Hindi, Bhojpuri, Tamil and Telegu. “I can speak 11 different languages,” he told the bewildered House.

Image makeover
With ‘development’ being its prime agenda, the Haryana government is planning to rope in NRIs from the state for the Department of Public Relations, Information and Cultural Affairs. The newly-appointed director of the department, Shiv Raman Gaur, recently revealed that an annual get-together of the NRIs of Haryana would be held. Asking his officers to contribute for the preparation of an NRI directory, Gaur also advised them to enrich their vocabulary. Interestingly, the director also plans to organise workshops for the officials with a focus on English, in which veteran mediapersons would give them tips on preparing press notes.

Weathering the jibes
Weathermen who usually remain anonymous in the media seem to have had enough of the jokes and cartoons surrounding them. Recently, when they gathered in the capital to talk about climate, a weather expert mentioned how the jokes have entered the silver screen too. In the recent Bollywood movie Tum Mile, weathermen are depicted as a bunch of lazy buffoons who are too busy playing carrom to check weather updates or signal a warning when heavy rainfall is knocking on the computer screens. He said that all this has ‘tarnished’ the reputation of weathermen who do play carrom but also take their jobs seriously!

New technology paves way for a smoother ride

Mandakini Gahlot takes a look at the technology used in laying and resurfacing roads in the Capital

The Public Works Department (PWD) has introduced at least three new technologies over the last year to repair damaged roads and build new ones. But with all attention focused on roads linked to the Commonwealth Games projects, Delhi continues to be riddled with potholes.

Recycling (In-situ)
Conventionally, a new layer of asphalt is deposited on the road each time it is resurfaced. That increases the level of the road. In recycling, the top layer of asphalt on the road is removed, which is mixed with fresh bitumen and then laid on to the road. “Nearly 70 per cent of the material is recovered and only 30 per cent fresh bitumen is added,” said K K Sharma, Secretary PWD, “it is an environment friendly method”. Roads fixed this way have a lifespan of five to seven years. Plus, they dry fast and can be used within hours. Sharma said the PWD has sanctioned Rs 90 crore for repairing roads through this technology and work is underway on Ring Road from South Extension to Dhaula Kuan and Africa Avenue, among others.
The PWD has set a June 2010 deadline for 23.69 km of roads. The stretches include the road from Old Seemapuri to Swami Dayanand Marg, Maujpur to Deputy Commissioner's Office, Loni flyover to Bhopura Road and Wazirabad Road, Apsara border to Ghazipur crossing, UP Link road to Club Road, and Dallupura to Vasundhara Enclave.

Waste plastic technology
With this method, the Delhi government hopes to kill two birds with one stone — reuse burgeoning plastic waste and repair bad roads. Plastic waste is shredded and mixed with bitumen to yield a compound called polymerised bitumen, which is used for surfacing. Roads built with this suffer less damage during monsoons. They cost around 5 per cent more than conventional technology, but last longer. The PWD intends to resurface 242 km this way by June 2010 — the cost will be Rs 250 crore. Work is underway on 71 kms in South Delhi and 32 kms in East Delhi. The stretches include the airport area, Rama Road, Aruna Asaf Ali Marg, IGP Slip Road, Bhairon Marg, Okhla Estate Marg no-13, Bhakti Vedanta Marg, and Anuvrat Marg.

Micro-Surfacing
In this method, cracks in roads are filled and resurfaced with a mixture of fine stone aggregates and cold bitumen emulsion. This is ideal for roads in which the wear and tear does not demand a complete resurfacing. By January 2010, the PWD intends to complete work on 16.81 kms of roads in East Delhi at a cost of Rs 7.25 crore using this technology. These roads include Road No 57, 57A, 58, 69, 70, 65, ITO Chungi, ITO to Karkari Mor, and Zafrabad to Keshav Chowk. Works is underway on 71 km in South Delhi and 32 km in East Delhi, where a mixture of waste plastic technology and micro surfacing is being used.

Rare praise from Commonwealth Games Federation president

Finally, a word of praise from Mike Fennell, president of the Commonwealth Games Federation, who has been scathing in his criticism of preparations for the 2010 Games in Delhi.

“We have seen improvement in the operational side,” Fennell told Hindustan Times in an exclusive interview on Sunday, a day after he said he was worried about the delay in delivery of stadiums and venues.

“No doubt their construction will be over,” he said. “As the Games approaches, this (delay in projects) is the area we should not be worrying about.”

Is he contradicting himself? Perhaps not, because there is general optimism among the authorities now about reaching there in time despite privately held or publicly expressed reservations.

"I am nervous,” said Chief Minister Sheila Dikshit, emerging from a meeting of ministers on the open and closing ceremonies of the Games on Sunday. But she quickly added, “It will be done.”

About his earlier criticism of the preparations, Fennell said he meant what he said and it had the desired impact.

"Mr (Suresh) Kalmadi himself said on Saturday, ‘thank you for the wake-up call’,” Fennel said. “At that time he might not have agreed, but now he must have realised it was necessary.”

Fennell is in Delhi for a series of meetings on the preparations for the Games.

Archery venue also set to miss target

Yet another Commonwealth Games project has run into extra time. After concern was raised over missed deadlines in the case of Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium and S P Mukherjee Swimming Complex, now work at India Gate lawns the venue for the archery finals is stuck in a turf war.

Work at the site, also known as Central Vista, is reportedly getting delayed because both the Central Public Works Department (CPWD) and Organising Committee (OC) have issued tenders inviting bidders for the same job. "Since the responsibility was given to us, we had issued an expression of interest in September and are now in the process of selecting bidders,'' said a senior CPWD official.

However, department officials claimed that they had come across a tender notice issued by the OC too in a national daily earlier this month, which had created "confusion''. OC, on the other hand, maintained that there was no lack of clarity. Said a senior OC official: "The tender has been issued for overlays in sporting arenas.'' Even as the squabbling continued, experts felt that further delay would compromise preparations for the 2010 Games.

The CGF head, Michael Fennell, had on Saturday raised the issue of delay in construction of venues, especially pertaining to J N Stadium and S P Mukherjee Complex with the sporting body. Central Vista is the venue for the finals of the archery competition. The practice sessions and preliminary events will be held at DDA's Yamuna Sports Complex. YSC is expected to be completed in March 2010, along with most other Games venues.

The Central Vista plans include a temporary structure on 2 acres of land on the India Gate lawns at an estimated cost of Rs 7 crore. About eight reputed firms with expertize in construction of temporary structures for sporting events have already submitted tenders. The venue will be equipped with modern facilities, including a waterproof roof, and will have a seating capacity of over 3,000.

Trying to catch up with lost time: Gill

Union Sports Minister M.S. Gill on Sunday asserted that the government and organisers of the 2010 Commonwealth Games were busy doing the catching-up job and came out with the promise that everything would be in place well before the October 3-14 games next year.

Mr. Gill’s declaration came a day after Commonwealth Games Federation president, Michael Fennell said he was “distressed,” as some of the venues would not be ready before next June. “Whatever time has been lost since 2003, we are trying to make it up,” Mr. Gill told journalists after a meeting of the Group of Ministers (GoM) here.

Mr. Gill said, “Mr. Fennell had said repeatedly that a lot of progress was made of late and we are doing the catching up job. Engineers are working hard; give them some credit. Workers from Bihar, Orissa, West Bengal are working hard and it is these people who are putting up the game and not me. God willing, I am sure we will get there in good time.” A clear direction would be given on the final plans after the next GoM meeting on December 29, he said.

Fennell's worry, Sheila's too: 2010 Games readiness

Chief Minster Sheila Dikshit has echoed what Commonwealth Games Federation President Mike Fennell's had always feared: that world class stadiums may not be in ready in time in the national capital for the October games.