Vaccination in city hits new high with 12k jabs
The projects are part of a ₹50,000 crore plan launched by the Centre in 2019 to curb air pollution in Delhi and cut traffic jams
NEW DELHI: For the first time in the national capital, over 12,000 people were vaccinated against the coronavirus disease (Covid-19) in a single day on Tuesday. A total of 12,717 health-care and front-line workers received the shot across 183 vaccination sites in Delhi.
This is an increase of 2,977 beneficiaries over Monday’s 9,740 -- the highest number of people to be inoculated in a single day so far.
The uptick in numbers was largely owing to a special drive conducted to vaccinate police personnel -- some of the vaccination sites were exclusively kept aside to cater to them. At one such site at Lok Nayak Hospital, 57 of the 100 people who had been called in, received the shot. “Today, we started vaccinating front-line workers at our hospital. Of the 100 people who were called in, 57 turned up. Currently, we do not allow front-line workers to walk in out of turn,” said one of the senior doctors at the hospital.
Health-care workers can walk in at any vaccination site and get the shot even if their names are not on that day’s list of beneficiaries. That benefit hasn’t been allowed to front-line workers yet as the Delhi government started administering the shot to front-line workers only
last week.
However, Tuesday’s vaccine coverage rate – proportion of people who received the shot among those targeted -- was just 69.1%, which, in comparison to previous vaccination days, is not all that remarkable. There were several days in the past when the city had seen a coverage rate of over 90%.
Two districts – north and north-east – saw over 100% coverage, with north-east registering 150%. “That was because of more front-line workers getting the shot. Over the past two days, nearly 80% of those who received the vaccine at out sites were front-line workers. We are coordinating with the heads of departments and they are in
turn motivating and following up with their employees. This has resulted in the higher numbers,” said a senior official from the district.
Others, however, say there is a need to get front-line workers motivated.
“The hesitancy among health-care workers has been addressed to some level. Initially, there were fears of adverse reactions but as time went by, more and more people came forward to get the shot. But, now we have hit a wall with the front-line workers-- many are unwilling to get the shot. We will be following a similar strategy to motivate them as well,” said another district official, also on condition of anonymity.
NEW DELHI: Work on four major road infrastructure projects planned as part of a ₹50,000crore plan to decongest Delhi and curb vehicular pollution will begin this year. The new road links will not only reduce the traffic load on arterial roads such as Ring Road but also make it easier to travel between various zones of the city.
The four projects, announced in the run up to the 2019 general elections, are National Highway 709B (Akshardham to Eastern Peripheral Expressway to Saharanpur bypass), Delhi-noida Direct Flyway to KMP interchange via Kalindi Kunj bypass (part of Delhi-mumbai expressway), Urban Extension Road (UER)-II and Dwarka Expressway.
The National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) which is executing the four projects said while work on some has already begun, on others it will start this year.
Of the four projects, UER-II and Kalindi Kunj bypass were planned by the Delhi Development Authority and the Delhi government’s Public Works Department decades ago. But they got stuck due to technical and land acquisition related issues, said senior DDA and PWD officials.
Decongesting East Delhi
The 31.1km corridor between Akshardham and EPE, part of national highway 709B, will start from Akshardham flyover and pass through densely populated areas such as Geeta Colony, Shastri Park, Khajuri Khas, etc. Of the 31.1kms, 14.7km will be in Delhi and the entire stretch will be elevated, officials said.
Though tenders for the project were floated in January 2019, the project got delayed as the ministry of road transport and highways asked NHAI to reassess the financial viability of the project and explore options to bring down the cost.
After the evaluation, the total cost of the project has been revised to ₹2,388 crore from the earlier estimate of ₹2,820 crore. A senior NHAI official said, “We have opened the financial bids for the project. The work on the 31.1 km stretch will be done in two packages. Based on the financial bids, we have declared the contractors for the two packages. The work will be awarded soon.”
The official added, “The work should start in 4-5 months. Some clearances such as environment, fire, setting up a temporary bitumen plant, etc has to be taken.”
Kalindi Kunj bypass
Work on the 59km corridor connecting Delhi Noida Direct Flyway
to Western Peripheral Expressway on the Delhi- Mumbai expressway will start in the next few months. A senior NHAI official, who is associated with the project said, “The work will be awarded soon and the process to apply for various clearances will start. We are hopeful that the work will start from May.”
To be constructed at a cost of ₹3,580, it will include Kalindi Kunj bypass project, which was conceived by Delhi Public Works
Department in 2002. The PWD could not complete it due to land issues between Delhi and Uttar Pradesh governments.
Of the 59kms, nine kilometres will be constructed in Delhi. An NHAI official said that the entire stretch in Delhi will be elevated. The project will provide seamless connectivity to commuters from east and north Delhi going towards Faridabad or Gurugram. This will take the vehicular load off the Mehrauli-badarpur road.
Dwarka expressway
Work on both the Haryana and Delhi sections of the 29km Dwarka expressway has begun. An official said NHAI has finally got all the necessary clearances for the project. “The deadline for the project is September 2022,” said another official.
Urban Extension Road-ii
This was proposed in the Master Plan of Delhi-2021 as a third Ring Road. Planned by the Delhi
Development Authority in 2016, the project was transferred to NHAI in 2017 due to delay in land acquisition.
NHAI, which invited the bids for the ₹7,715.6 crore project in December 2019, asked DDA to pay for the viability gap worth ₹4,000 crore.
A senior DDA official said the matter was being discussed by the two agencies and confirmed that they have reached a solution over the question of financial viability of the project.
NOIDA: Weather and pollution analysts on Tuesday said the next two days could see dense fog and “very poor” air in Noida, Greater Noida and Ghaziabad. The three cities were once again the top-3 most polluted cities in the country.
The western disturbance (moisture laden winds that originate from the Mediterranean) that hit the north Indian states earlier this month affected a change of wind direction -- from the icy cold and dry north-westerly to warm and moist southerly and south-westerly.
These winds are slow and moisture-laden, which will lead to suspension of particulate matter and low ventilation. The dense fog will impact visibility especially over open areas like expressways and highways.
Between around 4 am to 10 am, the visibility at some places will drop to 50 metres, experts said.
“The wind speed (over the national capital region) is around 5kmph. This is likely to remain till Thursday. But, after the western disturbance passes on Friday, the wind speed will increase and disperse the fog,” said Mahesh Palawat, vice president, meteorology and climate change, Skymet.
On Tuesday, the maximum and minimum temperature for Noida was recorded at 25.9 degrees Celsius (°C) and 10.3°C, respectively against 10.1°C and 24.1°C a day earlier.
According to the IMD, the maximum and minimum temperatures are likely to remain around the season’s average for next two day and hover around 27°C and 10°C.
Air Quality
Meanwhile, Noida’s air quality worsened due to the low wind speed and is likely to worsen further.
According to the Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB), the air quality index (AQI) of Noida on a scale of 0 to 500, on Tuesday was 347 – third worst in the country -- against 310 a day earlier.
Greater Noida’s AQI was against 348 – second worst in the country -- against 319 a day earlier. The AQI of Ghaziabad was 374 – top polluted city-against 329 on Monday.
The AQI between 101 to 200 is considered ‘moderate’, between 201 and 300 is ‘poor’, between 301 and 400 is considered “very poor” and above 400 is considered ‘severe’.
According to the System of air quality and weather forecasting and research (Safar), air quality will worsen further for the next three days.
“Surface winds are low and south south-westerly direction and forecasted to decrease. AQI is likely to marginally deteriorate but within the Very Poor category for the next two days. High end of Very Poor AQI is forecasted 12th February,” read the Safar statement on Tuesday.
After the western disturbance passes on Friday, the wind speed will increase and disperse fog. MAHESH PALAWAT, Skymet