Metro's 18 pillars from hell

A structural audit of the under-construction Delhi Metro's Phase-II tracks has revealed cracks on 18 piers. The DMRC on Monday described these as "hairline cracks and superficial in nature".

Swinging into action, the DMRC ordered a series of tests to check the solidity of the piers. However, following repeated mishaps and faulty work, the DMRC could take back the projects from construction company Gammon India Ltd, which was in charge of at least two of the three corridors where cracks have been found. At least six DMRC officials are also expected to be fired. The DMRC is likely to come out with the report of its probe on Tuesday. The investigation was ordered after accidents and six fatalities at Zamrudpur on July 12 and 13.

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Mamata’s gift to poor: Rs 20 per month rail pass

Trinamul Congress president Mamata Banerjee, in an unusual move, assumed charge as railway minister on Tuesday not at her New Delhi Rail Bhavan office but at the headquarters of the Eastern Railway at Kolkata’s Fairlie Place — a stone’s throw away from Writers’ Buildings, seat of the state’s Left Front government in West Bengal.

Keeping an earlier promise, Ms Banerjee announced special Rs 20 monthly passes for all those with a monthly income below Rs 500. “This is for small vendors, labourers and other poor people who cannot afford tickets and regular passes. The railways will give them economic freedom to travel by train,” she said.

She also announced a new train for West Bengal, named Kandari Express after the famous poem by Nazrul Islam, whose birth anniversary fell Tuesday. It will run daily between Howrah and Digha in a month’s time.

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Green Park shootout: 4 gangsters held

Four dreaded gangsters believed to have been involved in more than a couple of daring daylight robberies in New Delhi in the past few months were arrested by the special staff of the South Delhi police on Monday following a fierce gunbattle outside a crèchecum-preparatory school in South Delhi’s posh Green Park locality. Three policemen were injured in the shootout, which also foiled another robbery attempt by the criminals.

Two other accused, Nadir, an Afghan national, and Harpal, both of whom had managed to escape in a Santro car as the shootout started, surfaced dramatically in the Noida studio of Hindi news channel Sahara Samay on Monday evening, claiming that they were not involved with any gang. The Delhi police crime branch later arrested the two, who claimed they fled in panic as the gunbattle started.

Deputy commissioner of police (south) H.G.S. Dhaliwal said that acting on a tipoff, a police team led by Inspector Rajendra Singh had been trailing the suspects from the South Extension area. The suspects were moving in two cars — a Honda Accord and a Hyundai Santro.

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Bangladesh Cricket Board hands 10 year ban to Indian Cricket League rebels

Bangladesh cricket chiefs said on Wednesday that 13 players who opted to compete in the unauthorised Indian Twenty20 league will be banned for 10 years.

The Indian Cricket League unveiled late on Tuesday its new Dhaka Warriors team in New Delhi, which comprises 11 Bangladesh internationals reportedly earning $200,000 each over a three year period.

The Bangladesh Cricket Board held an emergency meeting on Wednesday and decided to ban the players for joining the unapproved league for 10 years, BCB spokesman Rabeed Imam said.

“We don’t have full reports of who have joined the ICL. But today, the board has decided that whoever has joined the unapproved league would be automatically banned for 10 years,” he said.

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Army may run Commonwealth Games

The armed forces may have a new civilian role to play to make the Commonwealth Games in 2010 a success. One section of the government believes that, given the tardy pace of creation of infrastructure for the Games, it is best to hand over the projects in the National Capital Region to the defence services.

This will be over and above their task of providing an air-land-water security blanket for the Games.

Home minister Shivraj Patil has proposed that the construction of major infrastructure projects, which have already suffered huge cost and time overruns, be handed over to the defence establishment.

A ministerial group on the Games, headed by human resources minister Arjun Singh, will take a view on the proposal at its next meeting in a fortnight. It is likely that the proposal will have the blessings of the Prime Minister's Office.

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