Autorickshaw falls into rainwater-filled ditch in Delhi, driver drowns
New Delhi, Jun 30: A 51-year-old autorickshaw driver drowned in a ditch filled with rainwater after the vehicle accidentally fell into it in northeast Delhi's Harsh Vihar on Friday, police said.
The ditch was dug by the Public Works department to install a pillar as part of the construction of a flyover. Rainwater filled the ditch following heavy showers in the national capital during the last two days, they said.
The victim was identified as Nandanagri resident Ajit Sharma. A Public Works department official said they are trying to ascertain the facts.
Police said the accident occurred at the site of the under-construction Gagan Cinema flyover.
Deputy Commissioner of Police (Northeast) Joy Tirkey said a PCR call was received around 3.30 pm about a man drowning in a ditch near the service road alongside Wazirabad Road.
The ditch, which was dug near an under-construction flyover, was filled with rainwater. Preliminary inquiry suggests the man did not realise the depth of the ditch, tried to drive over it and drowned accidentally, Tirkey said.
The autorickshaw was found stuck in the ditch and Sharma's body was spotted by a passerby, he added.
The police have not found any witness to Sharma's drowning. The autorickshaw driver left home on Thursday night, they said.
There were no injury marks on Sharma's body. It will be handed over to his family after post-mortem, the police said.
Over the past two days, several parts of the national capital have witnessed waterlogging and traffic congestion due to the heavy rain.
The waterlogging of roads also sparked an attack from the BJP with the party's Delhi unit chief Virendra Sachdeva hitting out at the AAP government.
In a statement, Sachdeva said that despite the Delhi government's "tall claims", most roads in the city were submerged after the rain on Thursday night and Friday.
"The situation can be gauged from the fact that the ground floor of the secretariat of the Delhi government was waterlogged while an auto driver died by drowning in a roadside ditch in Harsh Vihar near Wazirabad. The news has disturbed the people of Delhi," he said.
The Delhi government and the Municipal Corporation of Delhi are answerable to the people for the waterlogging of roads, Sachdeva said.
The BJP leader also alleged that there was a big scam in the cleaning of Delhi's drains.
Former Delhi deputy chief minister Manish Sisodia, who also held the Public Works department portfolio, approved two projects worth Rs 341.20 crore in the Expenditure Finance Committee meeting last September.
He had said at the time, "With the construction of an underpass at Loni Chowk in northeast Delhi and a flyover between Nand Nagri and Gagan Cinema junction, the entire 10-kilometre road stretch between Signature Bridge to Bhopura Chowk will become signal free."
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Chinese astronauts return to earth safely after six-month stint in space station
Beijing, Nov 4: Three Chinese astronauts who spent six months developing China’s low orbit space station returned to Earth safely early Monday, the China Manned Space Agency (CMSA) said.
The capsule of the spaceship Shenzhou-18' carrying astronauts Ye Guangfu, Li Cong and Li Guangsu, touched down at the Dongfeng landing site in north China's Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region at 1:24 am (Beijing Time).
The three astronauts, after staying in orbit for 192 days, were all in good health and the Shenzhou-18 manned mission was a success, the CMSA said.
Ye, the Shenzhou-18 mission commander, has become the first Chinese astronaut with an accumulative spaceflight time of more than a year, setting a new record for the longest duration of stay in orbit by a Chinese astronaut.
He served as a crew member in the Shenzhou-13 mission from October 2021 to April 2022.
"Chinese astronauts have flown to space in successive missions. I believe that the record of the duration in orbit will be broken in the near future," Ye said.
Another astronaut Li Guangsu said that they grew two types of plants -- cherry tomatoes and lettuce -- and they had harvested some lettuce leaves for food.
"Being able to eat fresh vegetables in space is truly a blessing. These green plants have also brought a touch of green and good cheer to our busy work," Li was quoted by state-run Xinhua news agency.
China launched the Shenzhou-18 manned spaceship in April this year.
During the mission, the Shenzhou-18 crew utilised the scientific experiment cabinets and extravehicular payloads to carry out dozens of experiments in the fields of basic physics in microgravity, space material science, space life science, space medicine and space technology, Xinhua report said.
The three were relieved by another set of three Chinese astronauts, including a woman who docked with the orbiting space station on October 30.
China changes crew for the station every six months.
China built its space station after it was reportedly excluded from the International Space Station (ISS) over concerns that China's space programme is manned by its military, the People's Liberation Army, (PLA).
The two robotic arms of the station, especially the long one which has the ability to grab objects including satellites from space, drew international concerns.
Early this month China announced its plans for the further development of space programmes which included launching a manned lunar mission, construction of a lunar space station, exploration of habitable planets and extra-terrestrial life to expand its space programme in the next few decades.
