-PTI New Delhi: As pollution levels worsened in Delhi, Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal today said schools in the city will remain closed till Wednesday and announced a raft of “emergency” measures to deal with the situation including ban on construction and demolition activities for the next five days and temporary closure of the Badarpur Power Plant. Emerging from an emergency cabinet meet, Kejriwal said the government will discuss with the Centre the...

-Hindustan Times New Delhi: The Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) after taking power in the Capital a year ago pledged support for people living in Unauthorised Colonies and slum clusters, adopting a strong stand against demolition of such structures without proper rehabilitation. But the Arvind Kejriwal-led government has failed to turn around the fortunes of the residents of these bustling neighbourhoods, many of them with no legal electricity or water supply. Analysts say lack...

-The Times of India Yet another deluge, coming close on the heels of the wettest November Chennai has seen in over a century, is something the city just could not cope with. Heavy rains on November 16 had exposed the appalling state of the civic infrastructure that was totally unprepared to handle the floods. Clogged and overflowing drains, inundated housing colonies, rotting garbage, electrocutions and roads caving in at many places...

-Down to Earth The rate at which informal housing is being destroyed probably far exceeds the rate at which formal housing is being constructed Troubled by the degradation of environment on and around railway tracks, the National Green Tribunal (NGT) recently directed Delhi government to relocate all illegal settlements along tracks in Delhi. The tribunal reasoned that the residents of these settlements practise open defecation and litter on the tracks. Housing of the...

-Hindustan Times New Delhi: About 90% of buildings in the national capital are not structurally equipped to withstand a seismic zone (SZ) IV earthquake but the Centre and Delhi government are “not interested” in taking any corrective measures, the Delhi high court said on Wednesday. Saying that the government was waiting for a “disaster to happen”, a bench of justice BD Ahmed and justice Sanjeev Sachdeva directed the Centre and Delhi government...