Congress questions PM's visit to new Parliament building and central vista project
The Hindu
Party points out his absence during COVID second wave
The Congress on Monday questioned Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s inspection of the under-construction Parliament building, part of the central vista project, and asked if he had visited any hospital during the peak of the second wave of COVID-19.
On Sunday evening, Mr Modi had visited the under-construction building that houses the new Parliament.
“I don’t know if the Prime Minister was seen visiting a hospital under construction, or an oxygen plant under construction,” Congress spokesperson Pawan Khera told reporters at a press conference.
Several principals of government and private schools in Delhi on Tuesday said the Directorate of Education (DoE) circular from a day earlier, directing schools to conduct classes in ‘hybrid’ mode, had caused confusion regarding day-to-day operations as they did not know how many students would return to school from Wednesday and how would teachers instruct in two modes — online and in person — at once. The DoE circular on Monday had also stated that the option to “exercise online mode of education, wherever available, shall vest with the students and their guardians”. Several schoolteachers also expressed confusion regarding the DoE order. A government schoolteacher said he was unsure of how to cope with the resumption of physical classes, given that the order directing government offices to ensure that 50% of the employees work from home is still in place. On Monday, the Commission for Air Quality Management in the National Capital Region and Adjoining Areas (CAQM) had, on the orders of the Supreme Court, directed schools in Delhi-NCR to shift classes to the hybrid mode, following which the DoE had issued the circular. The court had urged the Centre’s pollution watchdog to consider restarting physical classes due to many students missing out on the mid-day meals and lacking the necessary means to attend classes online. The CAQM had, on November 20, asked schools in Delhi-NCR to shift to the online mode of teaching.