Surat wins award for best public transport, Kochi gets sustainable tag
The Hindu
Delhi received award for best metro passenger services
Surat won the award for the city with the best public transport system, while Kochi was judged the city with most sustainable transport system by the Union Housing and Urban Affairs Ministry.
The awards were given out by Housing and Urban Affairs Minister Hardeep Singh Puri at the end of the day-long Urban Mobility India conference here. Delhi received the award for the city with the best non-motorised transport system for the Chandni Chowk redevelopment project. Delhi also won the best Metro passenger services and satisfaction award, while Nagpur’s multi-modal integration with Metro rail was found to be the best in the country.
During the conference, Mr. Puri announced the theme of next year’s conference, which will be the 15th edition, as “Azadi@75: Sustainable Atmanirbhar Urban Mobility” to be held in Kochi.
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.