Guardian unlimited
C’wealth clean-up
Randeep Ramesh
Ahead of 2010 Commonwealth Games, the Delhi government has begun putting up posters saying the Capital will be transformed into a “world-class city” by the 2010 deadline. Delhi’s main railway station, which currently doubles up as a home for the destitute, will be replaced by a 212-acre glass and steel structure. The city’s new seven-storey airport, designed to handle 50 m passengers, aims to be open by 2010. The authorities also plan to ban 4,00,000 cycle rickshaws, regularly seen pedalling across flyovers, and order the remaining 1,00,000 to take a driving test. However, campaigners say the rush to modernise is bringing “unsuitable” development to many parts. Environmentalists highlight the case of the athletes’ village, a luxury riverside development in Delhi, which is now being considered by the courts. The banks of the river Yamuna had been off-limits to developers. For almost 60 years only farmers were allowed to use the fertile banks to grow vegetables for local markets. However, last September work began on the complex, which consists of 1,100 luxury flats, tennis courts and swimming pools. Environmentalists claim that when the Yamuna next bursts its banks the water will inundate residential areas further downstream. (January 8)

THE AGE
Madcap motorists
Somini Sengupta
Indians are rushing headlong to get behind the wheel, as incomes rise, car loans proliferate, and the auto industry churns out low-cost cars. They bought 1.5 million cars last year. By some estimates India is expected to soar past China this year as the fastest-growing car market. Delhi’s top police official in charge of traffic said he was vexed by all this talk of new low-cost cars. “My concern is not with cars. My concern is with drivers,” said Suvashish Choudhary, the Deputy Commissioner of Police. “Every new car will bring new drivers who are not trained for good city driving.” Choudhary went on to list his grievances: no one gives way, everyone jostles to be the first to move when the traffic light turns green and a lack of crossings prompts pedestrians to frequently jump out into traffic. He called it “a lack of driving culture”. With a population of nearly 16.5 million, Delhi adds 650 automobiles to its roads each day. At last count, there were 5.4 million such vehicles, a more than fivefold increase in 20 years. The Capital was aflutter with car mania in January, as the biennial Auto Expo opened and car makers, both Indian and foreign, began rolling out the first of 25 new models. So busy was the exhibition centre that there was a noisy, messy traffic jam inside its gates even before the opening.
Not unexpectedly, Indian environmentalists have assailed the car craze, particularly because of the country’s relatively relaxed emissions standards and the proliferation of diesel-powered cars; Auto Expo features a pavilion dedicated to diesel.
Even the usually non-confrontational chairman of the Nobel prize-winning Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, Rajendra K. Pachauri, has sharply criticised the small-car boom. (January 12)

BBC NEWS
Cycle enthusiasts
Chris Morris
Cycling may not yet be classified as an extreme sport, but a quick pedal around central Delhi in the evening rush hour suggests it may want to put in an application.
Buses roar past, belching fumes. Cars weave in and out of imaginary lanes, and auto-rickshaws try to overtake you on the inside. It is certainly not the safest way to see the sights in India’s capital, and it makes for a dangerous commute. But Delhi’s cyclists hope their time is about to come. The Delhi Cycling Club has about 250 members at the moment — with a target of 1,000 by the end of the year. “The good thing is that most of the people who are getting enrolled with us are car users who want to give up cars,” says Nalin Sinha, a leading member of the club, who campaigns on road safety issues. “Once you see the dedicated cycling tracks coming up, you’ll see a very big crowd of people taking to their bikes.” The cycling club is about to start monthly training sessions for would-be cyclists, and it plans to publish a cycling map of the city — showcasing safer routes and cycle lanes. (January 15)

THE INDEPENTDENT
Simian Trouble
Andrew Buncombe
When the order went out to round up Delhi’s trouble-making monkeys, little thought was given to the methods that might be used. Now it appears that some bounty-hunters drawn to the task have been more than a little rough with the miscreants in their custody.
Animal rights campaigners say more and more of the monkeys captured and brought to the Asola-Bhatti sanctuary on the edge of the city are showing signs of serious injury. This week, one monkey had to be taken to a charitable animal clinic for treatment to a wound in its shoulder. “The monkeys are being caught in a horrible way,” said Dr Gautman Borat, a vet and founder of the Friendicoes animal charity. “They are caught with ropes and tongs and the nets are not used properly. There is no proper training.” The Indian capital’s 20,000 monkeys have been blamed for damage to buildings and attacks on people. City officials have recruited extra monkey-catchers from the south of India and pay them 450 rupees (£4.50) for each animal delivered to the sanctuary. Since the operation was started last April, more than 3,700 monkeys have been rounded up. (January 21)