In DDA's demolition drive, house of rat-hole miner deployed in Uttarakhand tunnel rescue ops razed
New Delhi (PTI): A demolition drive by DDA razed several houses in Khajoori Khas on Wednesday, and one of those now homeless is Wakeel Hassan, a rat-hole miner feted for saving the 41 workers trapped in Uttarkashi's Silkyara tunnel with his team last year in November.
"We rescued 41 people in the Silkyara tunnel and in return we got this. Earlier, I had requested the authorities and the government to give this house to us but to no avail. Today, without any information, DDA came and demolished it," Hassan alleged.
The Delhi Development Authority (DDA) said the demolition drive was carried out on land that was "part of planned development land". Police said several structures built illegally were demolished during the drive.
"On February 28, a demolition drive was conducted by the DDA to remove encroachment from its acquired land in village Khajoori Khas. The land was part of planned development land," the DDA said in a statement, in response to a query about the drive.
Earlier in the day, Hassan shared a video of the area, claiming the building he and his family was residing in was "razed in the drive".
In the video clip, Hassan also claimed that he had to go to a police station in connection with this incident.
In the video clip, he was accompanied by Munna Qureshi, another member of his team that rescued the trapped workers, who also said they were beaten up by the police.
When contacted, a Delhi Police officer said several other structures that were built illegally were demolished by the authorities. "We gave them the assistance in controlling law and order during the drive," he said.
Hassan and five other members of the rat-hole mining team live in north-east Delhi's Khajoori Khas, while the rest are from Uttar Pradesh's Bulandshahr.
Their special mining techniques were crucial in removing the rubble inside the under-construction Silkyara tunnel in Uttarakhand. Forty-one workers got trapped when a part of the tunnel collapsed on November 12 and remained trapped for around 17 days before being rescued.
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Dense fog disrupts operations at Delhi airport; 228 flights cancelled, 5 diverted
New Delhi (PTI): Dense fog disrupted flight operations at Delhi Airport on Monday, with various airlines cancelling 228 flights and diverting five to nearby airports due to low visibility, an official said.
However, except for Air India, which had in an X post in the morning announced the cancellation of some 40 flights, no other airlines, including crisis-hit IndiGo, shared the numbers of their cancelled or delayed flights.
"As many as 228 flights -- 131 departures and 97 arrivals-- have been cancelled due to low visibility, so far," the airport official said.
In addition to this, five flights have been diverted so far, he said.
Earlier, the Delhi International Airport Ltd (DIAL), in a statement, said, "Our on-ground officials are working closely with all stakeholders to assist passengers and provide necessary support across Terminals.
"Low visibility (below minima), due to dense fog, has severely impacted operations at Delhi and other airports across northern India, which is unfortunately beyond our control," IndiGo said in a statement.
As operations are adjusted to prevailing weather conditions, some flights may experience delays, while a few others may be proactively cancelled during the day to prioritise safety and minimise extended waiting at the airport, the airline said in a statement.
IndiGo, however, did not say how many of its flights were cancelled or delayed.
The airline said its teams are "closely monitoring" the situation and coordinating with Delhi airport.
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IndiGo also said it issued advisories to its customers and "proactively" informing them, to minimise inconvenience.
“Poor visibility due to dense fog in Delhi this morning has impacted flight operations for all airlines. We are closely monitoring conditions and will resume operations as soon as it is safe to do so,” Air India said in a post on X in the morning.
It also said that some flights have been cancelled In the interest of safety, and to avoid prolonged uncertainty for the guests, while listing out some 40 arrivals and departures that it had cancelled for the day.
Delhi airport is the country's busiest, handling around 1,300 flight movements daily.
