Rains do not dampen the Deepavali shopping spirit
The Hindu
Thousands throng Masi streets, choking vehicular traffic
Thousands of shoppers are descending on Masi Streets every day for buying dresses, electronic goods and other materials ahead of Deepavali, choking the vehicular traffic, especially on South Masi Street and West Masi Street.
Though the late evening sharp showers brought inconvenience to the shoppers, crowding continued on Sunday. Since all the Masi Streets are already following one-way traffic, vehicles could move only at a snail’s pace. “We restrict entry of cars and autorickshaws into South Masi and West Masi streets whenever the traffic movement gets choked. But two-wheelers are permitted,” a senior Traffic Police Officer said.
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.