Lieutenant-Governor (L-G) Taranjit Singh Sandhu on Wednesday directed civic authorities to conduct safety audits of public parks across the Capital. The L-G gave the order after reviewing safety arrangements at a meeting attended by the Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD) Commissioner, the Commissioner of Police, and the Vice-Chairman of the Delhi Development Authority (DDA), Lok Niwas stated in a release.

The move comes after a 17-year-old girl was gang-raped allegedly by three men who posed as police personnel at Astha Kunj Park near Kalkaji Mandir in south-east Delhi on Monday. All three accused were arrested on Tuesday. A city court remanded the accused in two-day judicial custody on Wednesday.

The Delhi police have not sought their custody so far. Further investigation is under way in the case.

According to the Lok Niwas statement, the safety audit will examine lighting, deployment of guards at all entry and exit points, patrolling inside parks – particularly after sunset – and cleanliness and sanitation facilities. Authorities have also been asked to look into whether some parks can be handed over to residents’ welfare associations or private entities for maintenance and upkeep.

‘Seek public feedback’

The L-G directed officials to engage with nearby schools, colleges, and other institutions to seek feedback on facilities at parks. Regular visits by beat constables and police personnel responsible for the respective areas have been ordered to strengthen security, the release stated.

In a separate statement, the DDA stated that its field staff and security personnel have been directed to maintain heightened vigilance, particularly during evening and night hours. Parks with multiple gates may restrict late-evening access to selected entrances. The authority has also initiated measures to identify dark spots and install additional lighting and CCTV cameras at vulnerable locations, it stated.

The DDA will also coordinate with the Delhi police to monitor suspicious or illegal activity around parks, it added.

Metro integration

Meanwhile, the L-G approved six multi-modal integration plans for metro stations and two road projects at the 70th governing body meeting of the Unified Traffic and Transportation Infrastructure (Planning & Engineering) Centre. The projects aim to improve last-mile connectivity and ease congestion.

NEW DELHI

At least 37 drivers at Delhi Transport Corporation’s (DTC) Wazirabad depot were issued show-cause notices on Wednesday for allegedly obstructing bus operations between September 16 and 22, according to a statement issued by the depot manager.

The disciplinary action, which includes blacklisting of eight drivers, comes amid an ongoing strike by DTC bus drivers that began on September 15 seeking better pay, paid leave, and social security benefits.

The drivers who received the notices have been directed to present their case in writing within 24 hours, failing which the depot could conduct an internal inquiry and arrive at an ex parte decision.

Several drivers have returned to work fearing termination while others have reportedly fled to their home towns fearing a government crackdown.

“At least eight drivers were blacklisted, which could result in termination and a permanent blot on their service records. Others were told that if they did not return to work, they would be dismissed,” said a protesting driver requesting anonymity.

Despite the show-cause notices being issued, the DTC Karamchari Ekta Union has called for a full strike by all contractual employees on September 28

‘Mandatory attendance’

Meanwhile, the DTC has issued a notice mandating compulsory attendance. At the Rohini depot, employees have been asked to report for duty between September 25 and 28, while at the Kalkaji depot, staff have been asked to report for work between September 24 and 30.

Responding to the notice, Lalit Chaudhary, president of the union, said, “We won’t back down. We will continue our strike.”

Employed by seven private companies that operate Delhi’s cluster buses, the drivers currently earn ₹862 per day with no paid leave or social security net.

The Delhi police have detained hundreds of drivers after registering FIRs over multiple incidents of alleged vandalism and mischief under sections of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita and Prevention for Damage to Public Property Act. However, the accused drivers claimed that they have been falsely charged

HC steps in

The Delhi High Court on Wednesday sought to know from the Delhi government why provisions of the Essential Services Maintenance Act had not been invoked against the striking DTC employees.

A Bench of Chief Justice Devendra Kumar Upadhyaya and Justice Tejas Karia also asked the Delhi government to review the situation and take appropriate steps to ensure that DTC buses continue to ply across the Capital.

The transport crisis has caused massive disruptions for Delhi’s commuters, hitting daily wagers, domestic workers, and students the hardest. To mitigate the impact, the Delhi Metro Rail Corporation (DMRC) deployed eight to ten additional trains to run 20 to 50 extra daily trips between September 16 and 22 to handle the passenger surge.

The Delhi government will redevelop the Town Hall in Chandni Chowk as a Global Heritage Centre with a museum and facilities for cultural and tourism activities, stated the chief minister’s office (CMO) on Sunday.

“Town Hall in Chandni Chowk is not merely a building but an important part of Delhi’s rich history and heritage. The Delhi government is committed to preserving its historical and architectural identity while connecting it with modern tourism and cultural activities,” Chief Minister Rekha Gupta said.

According to the statement, a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) in this regard was signed between the Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD) and the Delhi Tourism and Transportation Development Corporation (DTTDC) at the Delhi Secretariat on Sunday. 

Spread over approximately 12,180 square metres, the project will cover the Town Hall, Press Building and Park in the Chandni Chowk and Shahjahanabad areas, it added.

Tourism potential

The project aims to undertake the adaptive reuse of the historic building while preserving its original heritage identity. The proposed Global Heritage Centre is planned to include a museum, cultural activities and facilities related to tourism, according to the statement.

The Grade-I heritage complex was built between 1860 and 1866 and served as the MCD’s headquarter till it was shifted to the Dr. S.P. Mukherjee Civic Centre on Minto Road in 2010. Since then, a large part of the complex has remained vacant.

According to the MoU, ownership of the historic complex will remain with the MCD. 

DTTDC has been entrusted with conducting surveys, carrying out a structural assessment of the building and preparing a Detailed Project Report (DPR) for the project. Subsequently, the option of developing the project through public investment or the PPP (Public-Private Partnership) model will be decided.

“Located in a highly busy area with a large flow of tourists, near Chandni Chowk and the Old Delhi Railway Station, the complex has considerable potential for better utilisation,” the statement added.

Tourism Minister Kapil Mishra said, “Our effort is to make historical monuments more attractive and useful for domestic and international tourists while preserving their heritage.”

The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) workers, led by North West Delhi MP, Yogender Chandoliya staged a protest outside the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) headquarters on Sunday, demanding the dismissal of AAP councillor from Trilokpuri Vijay Kumar for allegedly harassing a sanitation worker and abetting his suicide.

“Why are [AAP chief] Arvind Kejriwal, [party’s Delhi unit chief] Saurabh Bharadwaj and [area MLA] Kuldeep Kumar silent despite serious allegations against AAP councillor Vijay Kumar?” Mr. Chandoliya said. The police briefly detained several BJP workers and leaders, including the Lok Sabha member, during the protest.

The police said an FIR was registered against Mr. Vijay Kumar under Section 108 (abetment to suicide) of the BNS on September 14 after the sanitation worker’s wife stated in her complaint that they had been trying to buy a house and had obtained a loan with the AAP leader’s assistance. She alleged that Mr. Vijay Kumar had taken possession of the loan amount and was harassing the worker. Mr. Chandoliya said his party will continue their protest seeking an investigation and action against those responsible.

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Weeks ago, long-time residents of a jhuggi-jhopri (JJ) cluster on the Yamuna floodplains, falling under the Bela Estate polling area of the Chandni Chowk Assembly constituency, were shocked to learn that their names would not figure in the post-special intensive revision draft electoral roll after their houses were demolished by the Delhi Development Authority (DDA) in 2023.

After the demolition, the residents continued to live at the same address in makeshift shanties and even cast their votes in the 2024 and 2025 elections. As poll officials visited for address verification on Friday, the residents said they felt a step closer to getting their names back on the electoral roll.

The pre-SIR electoral roll for the area had 729 voters, of whom 728 were placed on the ASDD (absent, shifted, dead and duplicate) list in the draft roll. According to Kamal Lal, a resident, 550 of those voters continue to live in the JJ cluster and had submitted their enumeration forms, but were still placed on the ASDD list. Of these 550 residents, 462 have now submitted Form 6 applications to be included in the electoral roll.

Proving existence

Badrinath Jha, a resident, said officials visited the area in the afternoon and called out names from at least 10-15 Form 6 applications to verify that the applicants lived there.

“Not everybody was present because some had gone to their daily-wage jobs. This is a fight to prove our existence and our right to vote, which everyone has. And we will win it,” he said.

Mr. Lal has been trying to meet officials and submit grievances.

“During the enumeration process, Electoral Registration Officer Manoj Kumar told us that despite submitting the enumeration forms, our names would not be included in the draft roll because of the DDA demolition action here,” he said.

Mr. Lal, who retrieved electoral rolls dating back to 1962, said, “My great-grandfather’s name is on that roll. All our names were on the 2025 electoral roll when we were residing here. Where can we go?”

He kept photocopies of all 550 enumeration forms before handing them over to the BLO.

Mr. Lal said he was now hopeful that their names would be restored on the roll and that all the Form 6 applications would be accepted.

“We have submitted all the documents we had as address proof,” he added.

Assistant Electoral Registration Officer Sunil Kumar said, “We are verifying whatever they have submitted along with their Form 6 and doing field verification. We are also setting up camps.”

The Delhi High Court on Thursday cautioned that it could stay the counting of votes and declaration of results of the Delhi University Students’ Union (DUSU) elections if it was not satisfied with the action taken by the authorities over alleged violence and hooliganism during the campaign.

The warning came after the court was informed of alleged violence, vandalism, entry of outsiders and other violations during campaigning, which ended on Wednesday. Voting is scheduled for Friday and counting for September 19.

A Bench comprising Chief Justice D.K. Upadhyaya and Justice Tejas Karia directed Delhi Police and Delhi University to submit status reports by Friday and asked lawyers representing various student organisations to appear before it.

“No excuses will be accepted by the court. We are making it very clear that though we are not staying the election or postponing the election, if we are not satisfied by your action, tomorrow we can pass harsher orders, including staying the counting and declaration of results,” the Bench said.

The court said criminal conduct could not be justified in the name of democracy and called the material before it indicative of a “complete failure” by the authorities and students.

Campus violence

A group of Delhi University teachers has written to Vice-Chancellor P.C. Joshi seeking urgent intervention against alleged assaults, threats and misconduct towards teachers, following an incident at Motilal Nehru College (Evening) in which a teacher was allegedly assaulted by a group of students during the DUSU election campaign.

According to the teachers, the group of students attempting to enter the college for campaigning allegedly assaulted a teacher who tried to stop them. The students have not been identified, and their organisation is unclear.

The teachers called the incident “a matter of serious concern” and said similar instances of threats, intimidation and physical altercations involving teachers and students had been reported across the university.

The Delhi High Court on Wednesday said the multi-storey hostel building collapse in Satya Niketan, which resulted in the death of seven persons including students, was not an ordinary mishap.

A Bench of Chief Justice D. K. Upadhyaya and Justice Tejas Karia said the four students who died came to the nation’s capital from small towns with hopes of building a career, but these were “shattered” due to the “callous and criminal conduct” of certain persons.

“Four students lost their lives in the mishap…very tragic. It’s not an ordinary incident of any mishap. These four students had come to the capital with a lot of hopes and dreams, coming from small towns. All of that was shattered by such callous and criminal conduct on the part of (certain persons),” the court orally remarked.

The building at Satya Niketan, which housed a boys’ paying-guest accommodation near the Delhi University’s South Campus, collapsed on September 6 while repair work was underway. Several people were also injured in the collapse.

Lack of hostels

Additional Solicitor General Chetan Sharma said that several steps have been taken by the authorities after the incident, including proactive mapping and earmarking of land and other facilities for students.

The Bench, however, responded that the issue of lack of hostel facilities was not a “new phenomenon”.

“Who doesn’t know the problem of hostels in the city? Students are flocking to Delhi for higher education, and this is not a new phenomenon. It has been happening for the last 20-25 years in the hope that they will build their career. See what has happened,” the Bench remarked.

The court was hearing a petition by Aakarshak Danveer Rathi seeking an independent probe into the matter, inspection of all paying guests as well as compensation and a rehabilitation scheme for victims and their families.

The court said the petition would be heard along with another pending petition on September 25.

The court on September 7 ordered a high-level MCD inquiry into the incident and made it clear that the government cannot evade responsibility.

The Satya Niketan building collapse has brought the shortage of hostels and safety concerns in paying guest (PG) accommodation into focus, with candidates making better housing a key manifesto promise for the upcoming Delhi University Students’ Union (DUSU) elections.

Student outfits have been releasing their manifestos since September 12, with accommodation emerging as a common thread. They have promised new hostels, safer and regulated PG accommodation, and mechanisms to address students’ housing concerns.

The Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad (ABVP), which won three of the four central panel posts in last year’s elections, has promised new hostels for DU colleges, separate hostels for women students in every college and a dedicated student housing helpline.

Like the ABVP, the National Students’ Union of India (NSUI) has promised stricter implementation of the Delhi Rent Control Act through regular inspections, holding landlords accountable and action against violations. It has also proposed a common DU portal listing verified PG accommodations, along with details of licences, rents and ratings, and a grievance redressal mechanism.

‘Core demand’

The All India Students’ Association (AISA) and the Students’ Federation of India (SFI), which are contesting the elections jointly, have pledged at least two hostels in every college. “It is one of our core demands. The first thing a student thinks about when they join DU is finding reasonable accommodation,” said Akshat Shikhar, vice-presidential candidate for the AISA-SFI joint panel.

The Association of Students for Alternative Politics (ASAP), the students’ wing of the Aam Aadmi Party, has called for the Centre to construct hostels for all students. “Our main demand is that the university should provide hostels. And in the meantime, it should bear the expenses of PGs,” said Eeshna Gupta, co-in-charge of ASAP.

The Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad (ABVP) on Sunday released its manifesto for the Delhi University Students’ Union (DUSU) elections, with student housing among its key focus areas. The recent collapse of a building housing a paying guest (PG) accommodation in Satya Niketan had highlighted the shortage of safe and affordable living spaces for university students.

In its manifesto, the ABVP has proposed the construction of new hostels, adequate hostel facilities for women students, a dedicated student accommodation cell and helpline, safety audits of PGs and hostels, strict implementation of fire-safety norms, and better access to basic facilities such as clean amenities, drinking water, and Internet connectivity.

Speaking at the release, ABVP’s presidential candidate Yash Dabas said, “The four pillars of our manifesto, ‘A-Awas, B-Bhagidari, V-Vishwas and P-Parinaam’, represent the issues that directly affect students’ lives and aspirations. The manifesto focuses on safe and affordable student accommodation, women’s safety, greater student participation in university decision-making, academic reforms and career opportunities.”

‘Stronger security patrols’

On women’s safety, the manifesto proposes stronger security patrols, pink booths, adequate women security personnel, improved lighting, common rooms for women students, sanitary napkin vending machines, gynaecologists at health centres, and self-defence training. To strengthen students’ transition from education to employment, the ABVP has also proposed greater opportunities through job fairs, industry and research-institution partnerships, training and internships, AI and digital-skills programmes, and innovation and entrepreneurship initiatives.

‘Creating mechanisms’

ABVP’s vice-presidential candidate Ishu Maurya said, “Students are the primary stakeholders of the university, and their voices must have a meaningful place in decisions that affect them. Our focus will be on creating mechanisms where students can raise their concerns and see effective action on them.”

The ABVP candidates contesting the election are Yash Dabas for the post of president, Ishu Maurya (vice-president), Riya Chhawdi (secretary), and Lakshya Raj Singh (joint secretary).

Meanwhile, the National Students’ Union of India announced that it will release its manifesto on Monday. The election is scheduled for September 18.

The Delhi police have deployed around 15,000 personnel and 200 companies of paramilitary forces as part of a multi-layered security arrangement for the BRICS Summit, with at least 16 heads of state or government and their delegations expected in the city over the next three days.

Security has been stepped up at summit venues, hotels, historical sites and VVIP routes, with additional personnel deployed at Delhi’s borders.

Special Commissioner of Police (Protective Security Division) Manish Agrawal said there was multi-agency coordination with central agencies, the National Security Guard and other forces. “Restrictions on traffic have been made keeping in mind that there is no inconvenience to the public. There are restrictions on traffic, but no route has been completely closed,” he said.

At Bharat Mandapam, the main summit venue, access control, verification and preventive policing measures have been put in place. The venue and surrounding areas have also been designated no-flying zones.

A central command room will monitor CCTV feeds along VVIP routes. Around 500 cameras, including those capable of reading vehicle number plates and 4K cameras for facial identification, have been installed along the Tughlak Road corridor.

Additional personnel have been deployed at border checkpoints, particularly in areas adjoining Ghaziabad and Loni. Inter-State coordination meetings have also been held on border security and traffic management.

The Intelligence Fusion and Strategic Operations unit is monitoring social media and other online activity for potential cyber threats.

Meanwhile, Delhi Police Commissioner Anurag Kumar has banned the operation of drones and several other small aerial platforms across the national capital until September 14 under Section 163 of the Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita, 2023.