New Delhi Apr 25 PTI The maximum temperature at the Safdarjung Observatory -- Delhis base station -- breached the 40-degree mark on Monday and a heatwave will see it soaring to 44 degrees Celsius by Thursday Several parts of the national capital recorded their maximum temperature above the 42-degree mark with Sports Complex being the warmest place in the city at 431 degrees Celsius Winds gusting up to 50 kilometres per hour and a drizzle provided slight relief from the heat in some areas on Monday nightPartly cloudy weather due to a western disturbance over Afghanistan had provided some relief from a prolonged heatwave spell in northwest India However another punishing heatwave is in the offing a Meteorological Department official said The maximum temperature may even rise to 46 degrees Celsius in parts of Delhi he saidA yellow alert warning has been issued for a heatwave spell in the national capital starting April 28 The India Meteorological Department IMD uses four colour codes for weather warnings -- green no action needed yellow watch and stay updated orange be prepared and red take action The city has recorded eight heatwave days in April this year the maximum since 11 such days witnessed in the month in 2010For the plains a heatwave is declared when the maximum temperature is over 40 degrees Celsius and at least 45 notches above normalA severe heatwave is declared if the departure from normal temperature is more than 64 notches according to the IMDThe weather department had earlier said northwest India and adjoining parts of central India are likely to see more intense and frequent heatwave conditions in AprilIndia recorded its warmest March in 122 years with a severe heatwave scorching large swathes of the country during the monthThe weather department attributed the heat to the lack of rainfall due to the absence of active western disturbances over north India and any major system over south India PTI GVS CK

New Delhi Apr 24 PTI Delhi on Sunday reported 1083 fresh COVID-19 infections with a positivity rate of 448 per cent and one death due to the disease according to the health departmentOn Saturday the national capital had reported 1094 COVID-19 cases its highest daily spike since February 10 with a positivity rate of 482 percent and two fatalitiesA total of 25177 Covid tests were conducted in the city a day ago the latest data by the department showedThe COVID-19 infection tally in the national capital now stands at 1874876 and the death toll at 26168Delhi had logged 1042 Covid cases with a positivity rate of 464 per cent and two fatalities due to the infection on FridayOn Thursday the city reported 965 COVID-19 cases and a single fatality with a positivity rate of 471 per cent PTI GVS IJT

New Delhi Apr 24 PTI Delhi on Sunday reported 1083 fresh COVID-19 infections with a positivity rate of 448 per cent while one person died due to the disease according to the health department A total of 25177 COVID-19 tests were conducted in the city a day agoThe infection tally in the national capital now stands at 1874876 and the death toll at 26168The capital had reported 1094 COVID-19 infections on Saturday highest since February 10 with a positivity rate of 482 percent and two deathsIt had logged 1042 cases with a positivity rate of 464 per cent and two fatalities due to the infection on Friday On Thursday the city reported 965 COVID-19 cases and a single fatality with a positivity rate of 471 per centWith the national capital witnessing a spurt in COVID-19 cases in the past few days the number of active cases of the disease in the city has now increased to 3975 from 601 on April 11However the hospitalisation rate has so far been low accounting for less than three per cent of the total active cases according to the dataThere are 80 COVID-19 patients admitted at hospitals in Delhi at present while 2812 are recuperating in home-isolationOf the 9379 beds available for COVID-19 patients in various hospitals just 107 114 per cent are occupied the data showedIn the wake of rising cases the Delhi government had on Friday issued an order directing authorities to impose a fine of Rs 500 on people not wearing masks at public places The fine will not apply to people travelling together in private four-wheelers it saidThe government had lifted the fine for not wearing masks on April 12 because of a decline in the number of daily casesThe decision to bring back the mask mandate at public places and impose the fine on violators came at a meeting of the Delhi Disaster Management Authority DDMA which devises Covid management policies for the national capitalThe city health department said that from Thursday Delhi has started providing free COVID-19 precautionary doses to beneficiaries in the 18-59 age group at government vaccination centres PTI GVS IJT ANB ANB

New Delhi Apr 22 PTI Twelve of the 18 major drains in Delhi are still discharging untreated water into the Yamuna the National Mission on Clean Ganga NMCG has told the Delhi Pollution Control Committee DPCC and the Delhi Jal Board DJBEighteen major drains open into the Yamuna in the 22-km Delhi stretch of the river between Wazirabad and Okhla Though the stretch is less than two per cent of the rivers length it accounts for about 80 per cent of the pollution in itAccording to a DPCC report submitted to the Union Jal Shakti Ministry in February the DJB had informed the pollution control body that 13 out of the 18 drains had been trapped and no untreated water from them was flowing into the YamunaThe NMCG in a letter to the DPCC and the DJB said it had sent survey teams to ascertain the status of the trapped drains on March 30 and 31It is reported that out of the 13 trapped drains seven are still discharging into the river Yamuna So as of now 12 drains seven trapped and five untrapped are discharging untreated wastewater into the Yamuna it saidThe seven drains are the Khyber Pass Drain Civil Military Drain Delhi Gate Drain Drain No 14 Tughlaqabad Drain Kalkaji Drain and the Sen Nursing Home DrainThe NMCG has asked the DPCC and the DJB to take action on the field observation report and submit an action-taken report to itAccording to DJB officials the 13 drains have been trapped through intercepting sewers which carry the untreated waste to nearby sewage treatment plants Only treated water from the STPs drains into the Yamuna they saidDelhi generates around 768 million gallons of sewage a day while the DJB supplies around 960 MGD of drinking water against a demand of 1150 MGDThe 34 sewage treatment plants operational at 20 locations across Delhi can treat up to 622 MGD of sewage and have been utilising around 87 per cent 544 MGD of their capacityUntrapped wastewater from unauthorised colonies and jhuggi-jhopri clusters and poor quality of treated wastewater discharged from STPs are the main reasons behind high levels of pollution in the river PTI GVS IJT

New Delhi Apr 21 PTI Delhi logged 965 fresh Covid cases in a day with a positivity rate of 471 per cent while one person died due to the infection according to data shared by the city health department on ThursdayA total of 20480 tests were conducted in the city a day ago the data showed Delhi had reported one death and 1009 Covid cases on Wednesday the maximum since February 10 with a positivity rate of 57 per centOn Tuesday Delhi had reported 632 cases with a positivity rate of 442 per cent A day before the city reported 501 cases with a positivity rate of 772 per centWith the national capital seeing a spurt in COVID-19 cases in the past few days the number of active cases has increased to 2970 from 601 on April 11However the hospitalisation rate has so far been low accounting for less than three per cent of the total active cases as per the dataThere are 57 COVID-19 patients admitted to hospitals in Delhi at present while 1948 are recuperating in home isolationOf the 9737 beds available for Covid patients in various hospitals just 78 are occupiedIn the wake of rising cases the Delhi government had on Wednesday made the wearing of masks mandatory in public places and announced a fine of Rs 500 for its violation It had lifted the fine for not wearing a mask on April 12 because of the decline in casesThe city health department said on Thursday Delhi has started providing free COVID-19 precautionary dose to beneficiaries in the 18-59 age group at government vaccination centresDelhi has also started genome sequencing of samples of all Covid infected people in the capital to ascertain if a new variant such as the XE has spread in the cityThe cumulative caseload in the capital stands at 1871657 while the overall death toll is 26162 PTI GVS KVK KVK

New Delhi Apr 21 PTI The Delhi government will study a system installed in Mumbai to capture methane from the rotting waste and replicate it in the capital to prevent fires at landfills Environment Minister Gopal Rai said on Thursday The decision was taken at a meeting of experts from the Centre for Science and EnvironmentThe Energy and Resources Institute and IIT-Delhi to find out a technological solution to the problem of fires at landfill sites The meeting came a day after a massive fire broke out at the Ghazipur landfill -- the third such incident since March 28 this year -- sending a dense plume of smoke into the sky and exacerbating the already polluted air in nearby areas We have asked the Delhi Pollution Control Committee DPCC and the East Delhi Municipal Corporation EDMC to study the system installed in Mumbai which can capture methane generated at landfills Officials have been asked to implement it in Delhi soon to prevent incidents of fire Rai said The wet waste dumped in a landfill produces methane when it rots In hot weather conditions methane catches fire spontaneously and the blaze spreads as it feeds on combustible material like textiles and plastics Last year authorities reported four incidents of fire at Ghazipur landfill In 2017 a large part of it broke away crashing onto a road and killing two people Commissioned in 1984 the Ghazipur landfill site is spread across 70 acres In 2019 the garbage dump site had grown 65 metres high The Delhi Pollution Control Committee had imposed a fine of Rs 50 lakh on the EDMC after a fire erupted there on March 28 PTI GVS CK

New Delhi Apr 21 PTI Delhi Environment Minister Gopal Rai has summoned senior officers of the East Delhi Municipal Corporation EDMC in connection with the fire that broke out at the Ghazipur landfill a day ago officials said on ThursdayRai will also chair a joint meeting of experts on Thursday afternoon to find out a technological solution to the problem of fires at landfill sitesA massive fire erupted at the Ghazipur landfill site on Wednesday the third such incident since March 28 sending a dense plume of smoke into the sky and exacerbating the already polluted air in nearby areasThe minister has summoned senior officials of the EDMC over repeated incidents of fire at the Ghazipur landfill an official saidLast year the authorities reported four incidents of fire at the Ghazipur landfill In 2017 a large part of it broke away crashing onto a road and killing two peopleCommissioned in 1984 the Ghazipur landfill site is spread across 70 acres In 2019 the garbage dump site had grown 65 metres highThe Delhi Pollution Control Committee had imposed a fine of Rs 50 lakh on the EDMC after a fire erupted at the landfill on March 28 PTI GVS IJT

New Delhi Apr 20 PTINinety-seven percent of the samples taken from those who died of Covid in Delhi from January to March had the Omicron variant of coronavirus according to government dataGenome sequencing of 578 samples collected from the deceased showed 560 of them had the Omicron variantThe remaining 18 three percent had other variants of COVID-19 including Delta which fuelled the ferocious second wave of infections in April and May last year and sub lineagesOverall the Omicron variant was found in all the 504 samples analysed at genome sequencing laboratories in the capital in MarchThe third wave of infections driven by the Omicron variant saw lesser hospitalisations and severe cases in the national capital and government data showed the virus isnt the primary reason in most fatalitiesA maximum of 2784 1796 percent of the 15505 COVID-19 beds in hospitals were occupied on January 17 During the second wave 20117 92 per cent of the 21839 beds were occupied on May 6Delhi is once again seeing a spurt in the number of infections with experts attributing it to a large number of people not following Covid-appropriate behaviour including the mask mandate In view of the spike in cases the Delhi government on Wednesday made wearing of masks mandatory in public places and imposed a fine of Rs 500 on violatorsOfficials said the Delhi Disaster Management Authority in its meeting also decided not to shut schools but chose to come up with a separate Standard Operating Procedure in consultation with expertsDelhi has also started genome sequencing of samples of all Covid infected people in the capital to ascertain if a new variant such as the XE variant has spread in the city PTI GVS TDS TDS

New Delhi Mar 30 PTI Environment Minister Gopal Rai on Wednesday directed the Delhi Pollution Control Committee to impose a fine of Rs 50 lakh on the East Delhi Municipal Corporation and take action against officials responsible for a massive fire at the Ghazipur landfill site two days agoIt has also been decided to plan a campaign against open burning of garbage and fires at landfill sites Rai said at a press conferenceWe had asked the DPCC to submit a fact-finding report They have submitted a detailed reporttoday which points to carelessness on the part of the municipal corporation Rai said Theres smoke emanatingfrom the fire spot even after 48 hours of the incident High temperature and methane gas produced from the rotting garbage led to the fire he said citing the report The reporttalks about the sluggish pace of biomining of legacy waste at the site Only 21 trommel machines are being used there in place of 25 Rai saidThe anti-smog gun deployed at the site is not functioning Of the 24 CCTV cameras installed there to monitor such fires only 17 are operating he saidThe construction of a boundary wall to thwart entry of unauthorizedpersons at the landfill has not been completed yet the minister saidIn view of these shortcomings the DPCC has been asked to impose a fine of Rs 50 lakh on the municipal corporation and take action against officials responsible he saidWe have also decided to convene a high-levelmeeting of departments concerned on April 4 to plan a campaign to stop burning of waste and fires at landfill sites he added PTI GVS TDS TDS

New Delhi Mar 28 PTI Delhi will soon get 211 forest guards with the forest department on Monday releasing the results of an online test conducted a year agoBased on their performance in the computer-based test 253 candidates have been provisionally shortlisted for physical endurance and physical standard tests a notice issued by the department saidThe coronavirus pandemic and procedural delays in the payment of exam fees amounting to around Rs 50 crore had impeded the recruitment of forest guards by the severely short-staffed forest department according to officialsHearing a plea moved by lawyer Aditya Prasad the National Green Tribunal NGT had in July 2019 ordered the department to fill up vacant posts at the earliest In November that year the NGT again directed the authorities to complete the recruitment process within four monthsAccording to the officials the Delhi government outsourced the online testing and assessment services to EdCIL India Limited in November 2019 taking them out of the purview of the Delhi Subordinate Services Selection Board and issued an advertisement in December to fill up 226 vacant sanctioned posts four forest rangers 211forestguardsand 11 wildlife guardsEdCIL a Miniratna public sector enterprise under the Ministry of Human Resource Development conducted the exam for forest rangers and wildlife guards in March 2020 The final results were declared in January 2021The computer-based test for the recruitment of forest guards was conducted between March 1 and March 7 2021It can take a few months to complete the remaining process an official saidThe officials have acknowledged that it is difficult to ensure the enforcement of forest laws on the ground due to the debilitating shortage of staff PTI GVS IJT