As part of a citywide drive against illegal and unauthorised structures in the Capital, the District Level Committee of the Delhi government sealed 124 properties on Saturday, officials said.
New DelhiJun 7, 2026 06:47 AM IST The drive comes in the wake of a fire at Flourish Stay bed-and-breakfast (B&B) in Hauz Rani, Malviya Nagar, which claimed 22 lives.As part of a citywide drive against illegal and unauthorised structures in the Capital, the District Level Committee of the Delhi government sealed 124 properties on Saturday, officials said. The drive comes in the wake of a fire at Flourish Stay bed-and-breakfast (B&B) in Hauz Rani, Malviya Nagar, which claimed 22 lives. On Saturday, notices were issued to violators after inspections were carried out at 10 sites each in North District and East District, officials said. While 21 sites were inspected in the West District, the number stood at 13 in the South-West District and 10 in the Central District (North), they added.“During inspections of 30 sites in South District, 11 premises were sealed while show-cause notices were issued in 19 cases,” said officials. In the North-West District, three unauthorised buildings were demolished for violating building by-laws. “No violations were found during inspections in the South-East District,” said the Chief Minister’s Office (CMO) in a statement. In a separate drive against illegal constructions that began on Monday, MCD officials said demolition action had been carried out against 94 properties and 114 properties were sealed between June 1 and June 6. This drive, however, was triggered by a building collapse at Saidulajab near Saket Metro station on May 30 that claimed six lives. As per MCD officials, 84 show-cause notices were issued in cases of unauthorised construction, sealing notices were sent to 41 properties, and 33 demolition orders were also issued. “Delhi Government is not limiting itself to enforcement action but is also working in action mode on long-term solutions to the problem. She has directed officials to explore the possibility of developing a third-party insurance system for buildings, guest houses, nursing homes, and other public-use structures that witness large public footfall,” said the CMO. According to officials, stringent action will be taken if serious violations of approved building plans are detected, including removing the concerned architect from the panel and blacklisting them with immediate effect.Story continues below this ad Further, DDA’s Flying Squad and Quick Response Teams (QRTs) have been asked to intensify the identification and removal of encroachment and illegal construction across the city, officials added. On June 3, a day after the blaze at the B&B, the Delhi government constituted 13 district-level and 39 sub-division-level committees to conduct a citywide survey of all buildings with six storeys (ground plus five floors) and above, including hospitals and nursing homes, to determine whether they are violating fire safety norms. Officers said the preliminary inspection of the B&B had allegedly uncovered multiple violations, including the lack of a fire No Objection Certificate (NOC).
India Monsoon news today: The India Meteorological Department (IMD) has forecast widespread rainfall, thunderstorms, lightning, and strong winds across large parts of the country over the next week, with Kerala expected to bear the brunt of intense rain. Several states are also likely to witness squally weather, hailstorms, and heavy rainfall. As per the Regional Meteorological Department in Kerala, Monsoon onset is likely on Thursday, June 4. “Rain or thundershower is most likely to occur at most places in Kerala and Lakshadweep,” a special bulletin by the IMD read.In Delhi, more rain is expected on Thursday, as per the IMD. “A spell of light rain accompanied with thunderstorm/lightning and strong wind speed reaching 40-50 kmph gusting to 60 kmph during forenoon to afternoon. Another spell of very light to light rain accompanied with thunderstorm/lightning during night,” the latest bulletin by the IMD read.Kerala faces week-long heavy rain alert Kerala is expected to receive heavy to very heavy rainfall (7-20 cm) from June 4 to June 9, causing Orange and Yellow warnings across multiple districts. The districts of Thiruvananthapuram, Kollam, Pathanamthitta, Alappuzha, Kottayam, Idukki, Ernakulam and Thrissur are under Orange Alert on Thursday, while northern districts including Kozhikode, Wayanad, Kannur and Kasaragod face similar warnings later in the week. Kerala Map. (Source: IMD)Thunderstorms to lash large parts of India According to the weather department, moderate to severe thunderstorm accompanied by lightning and squally winds of 40-50 kmph, gusting up to 60 kmph, is likely across Northwest, Central, East and South Peninsular India during the coming days. Karnataka, Telangana, Andhra Pradesh, Tamil Nadu, Odisha, Jharkhand and West Bengal are among the states expected to witness frequent thunderstorm episodes. Northeast braces for heavy downpours Fairly widespread to widespread rainfall is forecast across Northeast India through the week. Arunachal Pradesh, Assam, Meghalaya, Nagaland, Manipur, Mizoram and Tripura are likely to receive isolated heavy rainfall, with very heavy rain expected over Assam and Meghalaya on June 8 and 9. Advance of southwest monsoon 2026. (Source: IMD)Hailstorm warning The IMD has warned of hailstorms accompanied by thunderstorms and strong winds in Jammu and Kashmir, Himachal Pradesh and Uttarakhand. Uttarakhand is also likely to receive isolated heavy rainfall on June 4, while hailstorm activity may continue in parts of Himachal Pradesh and Uttarakhand through June 5. Heavy rain likely along western coast Konkan and Goa, Coastal Karnataka, Madhya Maharashtra and Lakshadweep are expected to receive intermittent heavy rainfall over the next several days.Story continues below this ad Delhi set for rain, dust storm and cooler days ahead As per latest weather bulletin, Delhi is likely to witness cloudy skies, light rain, thunderstorms, lightning and dust storms between June 4 and June 6. Strong winds of 40-50 kmph, gusting up to 60 kmph, are expected during thunderstorm. Day temperatures are likely to remain between 36 degree celsius and 40 degree celsius during the period, bringing relief from extreme heat. Delhi forecast map. (Source: IMD)Heatwave The IMD has ruled out heatwave conditions in Delhi through June 9. However, heatwave conditions are likely in isolated pockets of Bihar from June 5 to 9, East Uttar Pradesh from June 7 to 9, and West Uttar Pradesh from June 8 to 9. Hot and humid weather is also expected across Odisha and parts of the Northeast. Marine warning Fishermen and coastal communities have been advised to exercise caution as squally weather with winds reaching 40-50 kmph and gusting up to 60 kmph is expected along the Tamil Nadu coast, Sri Lanka coast, Gulf of Mannar, Comorin region, Lakshadweep-Maldives area, southern Bay of Bengal and the Andaman Sea through June 6. Temperature trends Maximum temperatures are likely to fall by 2-4 degree Celsius over Northwest until June 6
This is a breaking news story, more details awaited.At least 4 people have died after a fire broke out at a Malviya Nagar restaurant, Delhi Police said on Wednesday. Delhi Fire Services (DFS) received the alert about the fire at ‘Lemon Green restaurant’ at 9:45 AM. Three people were rescued from the basement by DFS personnel initially. They were rushed to the hospital. Divisional Officer (DO) Ravinder from Nehru Place (NRN) fire station is on the spot. VIDEO | Delhi: Fire breaks out at Lemon Green restaurant in Malviya Nagar. Fire tenders and ambulances carry out a rescue operation. Further details are awaited.(Full video available on PTI Videos – https://t.co/n147TvrpG7) pic.twitter.com/7SQWSQ4nMH— Press Trust of India (@PTI_News) June 3, 2026 MLA Satish Upadhyay said the fire broke out around around 9:00 AM. “Our immediate response was to activate the entire system. We contacted the Disaster Management team, the District Magistrate (DM) of our area, the Station House Officer (SHO), the Sub-Divisional Magistrate (SDM), and the Deputy Commissioner (DC) of the Municipal Corporation (MCD)… I came to the spot as well.” He said the exact cause of the fire will be known only after a proper investigation. The locals also pitched in with the rescue operations, he said. This is a developing story. Please refresh periodically for more updates.
Like a lot of other people, I have been trying to change my dependent member card to a full membership for more than thirty years. I also need to clarify that in the past thirty years I have been to the Gymkhana Club no more than five or six times. 5 min readMay 31, 2026 06:26 AM IST First published on: May 31, 2026 at 06:26 AM IST What intrigued me about the government’s decision to sound the death knell of the Delhi Gymkhana Club was the timing. Why now? Could it be to distract attention from the economic problems caused by the war on Iran? In these times of social media, it is stories that everyone has an opinion about that take precedence over grim news like the price of fuel rising and foreign investors fleeing our shores. Whatever the reason, I am delighted that the club was given marching orders. Not because I think it is a good idea to demolish this charming relic of our colonial past but because the decision could start a movement to end the privileges of our politicians and high officials. It is a movement that is much needed. Among the heated debates that happened last week on television and social media the one thing everyone agreed on was that this private club was a symbol of the entitlement and privilege that makes the word ‘lootyens’ an insult. Somehow nobody has noticed yet that the most entitled and privileged private club in Lutyens’ Delhi is not the Gymkhana but the Lok Sabha. Just over 30% of its members come from political families which means one in three of our elected representatives is a nepo baby. Nepotism is less evident in the Rajya Sabha but 20% of its members also come from political families.So, if we object to people inheriting their membership at the Gymkhana Club, then we must first acknowledge that this is not half as disquieting as politicians inheriting parliamentary constituencies. A desire for public service is not something that comes down in the genes so every time some nepo baby inherits a constituency, it is denied to a person with a genuine desire for public service. Yet we never protest when our political parties hand out tickets at election time to candidates from political families. The sad truth is that other than the communists, all our opposition parties are today family businesses. Nepo babies can be spotted in the BJP as well, but the party itself has not yet become some political heirloom. In the debates we heard last week about the cancellation of the lease of the Gymkhana Club’s 27 acres, those who said this was a good thing argued that public land needs to be better used. True. And this is why this columnist has argued for many years that it is time to throw politicians and bureaucrats out of their colonial bungalows in Lutyens Delhi. This is public land that can be much better used for creating affordable rental housing for the millions of people in Delhi who live in shamefully squalid shanties. An estimated 30-50 lakh Delhi citizens live in horrible conditions in shanty towns that sometimes exist on the edge of garbage dumps in which children compete with stray animals in their search for food. Is it acceptable that the men responsible for building low-cost housing themselves live like princes? Most democratic countries do not ask taxpayers to pay for housing public servants. But since we have spoiled ours so badly for so many decades, I would like to offer a humble suggestion. Since ‘national security’ was given as a reason to get rid of the Gymkhana Club, would it not be a good idea to move the Prime Minister into a permanent residence like Teen Murti House? Or instead of wasting money on a new residence for the Prime Minister, why not move him into Hyderabad House or one of those other fine palaces that exist around India Gate? Another question we need to start asking is why Rashtrapati Bhawan needs to sit in an estate that is slightly more than 300 acres? Surely a 20-acre garden would suffice for the President of India, and the rest of that public land could be
New DelhiMay 23, 2026 01:25 PM IST An IIT Delhi alumnus from the 1985 MTech batch, Sandhu currently serves as Senior Fellow and Vice President at Micron Technology. (Source: @brahma_4u/X)India has produced some of the brightest minds in technology, but many of them ended up building their biggest breakthroughs overseas. One name now being widely discussed online is Gurtej Sandhu, the Indian-origin engineer who grew up in Amritsar, studied at IIT Delhi, and went on to become the seventh most prolific inventor in US history. A viral post on X recently reignited the debate around brain drain with the line, “India trains the engineer and America files the patents. We export the inventor and we import the chip.” The post pointed to Sandhu’s extraordinary journey as an example of how Indian talent often finds greater opportunities abroad.Check out the post: India trains the engineer. America files the patents. Gurtej Sandhu was raised in Amritsar and trained at IIT Delhi. He now holds 1,299 US patents at Micron, Edison topped out at 1,093. Sandhu is the 7th most prolific inventor in American history. His titanium nitride… pic.twitter.com/UqHBZfkZ0O — Shubham Mishra (@brahma_4u) May 21, 2026 Who is Gurtej Sandhu? An IIT Delhi alumnus from the 1985 MTech batch, Sandhu currently serves as Senior Fellow and Vice President at Micron Technology. Over the years, he has accumulated a staggering 1,382 US patents — even more than Thomas Edison, who held 1,093 patents. His work in semiconductors, chip fabrication, and atomic layer deposition has played a major role in making modern devices smaller, faster, and more efficient. After studying at the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Delhi and Guru Nanak Dev University, Sandhu moved to the United States for his PhD and eventually became a key figure in global microelectronics research. For the last 35 years, he has been associated with Micron Technology, where he now leads the company’s Si-to-Package R&D roadmap from Boise, Idaho. His contributions to silicon CMOS technology and memory scaling for DRAM and NAND systems have helped shape the future of cloud computing, smartphones, cameras, and advanced data storage. In recognition of his work, he received the prestigious IEEE Andrew S Grove Award in 2018. Reacting to his achievement, Guru Nanak Dev University vice-chancellor Karamjeet Singh called it “a moment of unparalleled pride” for both the university and the country. “Gurtej’s journey from our campus to global acclaim shows how dedication and curiosity can reshape the world. His success is an inspiration for our students and faculty alike,” he said. The viral discussion around Sandhu also sparked wider conversations about innovation and talent retention in India. Many social media users argued that the country needs a stronger research infrastructure and better support systems to prevent brilliant minds from moving abroad.Story continues below this ad One user wrote, “He couldn’t possibly had done those inventions in India. You need labs and support for this.” Another commented, “Smart people are the most valuable investment a country can make. Gurtej Sandhu generated thousands of patents. That is not one person succeeding. That is knowledge creating more knowledge. We grew the mango tree. Someone else opened the juice factory.” A third person added, “Have met him in a conference at Las Vegas in 2019, though I have filed multiple US patents myself but I must say he is a very humble and approachable person considering his achievements and depth of knowledge in our domain. Lot of reformation needed in India to breed innovation!”
Updated: May 23, 2026 12:30 PM IST US Secretary of State Marco Rubio arrived in Delhi on Friday for his first official visit to India, ahead of the Quad foreign ministers’ meeting and key discussions on trade, defence, technology and Indo-Pacific security cooperation. (Express Photo by Partha Paul)US Secretary of State Marco Rubio reached Delhi on Saturday, May 23, as part of his 4-day trip to India. Rubio is accompanied by US Ambassador Gor, US Principal Deputy National Security Advisor Robert Gabriel and other officials. This comes ahead of the Quad meeting scheduled in Delhi next week with attendees from the US, Japan, Australia and India. Rubio is expected to meet Prime Minister Narendra Modi in New Delhi on Saturday. After landing in Delhi, he shared a post on X, saying: Landed in India. Looking forward to a great visit! 📍 Landed in India. Looking forward to a great visit! pic.twitter.com/xIH7G9t6C2 — Secretary Marco Rubio (@SecRubio) May 23, 2026 This is Rubio’s first official trip to India as the US seeks to reset and stabilise strained ties with India soured after Trump’s tariff policies, which raised export duties on several Indian goods, says the Associated Press. What’s on Marco Rubio’s agenda? Before landing in Delhi, Rubio visited Saint Teresa’s Mother House and children’s home in Kolkata. He was welcomed by US Ambassador Sergio Gor. The trip marks an end to a 14-year gap since a US secretary of state last visited the city. Before this, Hillary Clinton visited Delhi in 2012. On Sunday, Rubio is expected to meet India’s External Affairs Minister Dr S Jaishankar. As part of his four-day visit to India, Rubio is scheduled to visit Agra and Jaipur. “There’s a lot to work on with India, they’re a great ally and partner. We do a lot of good work with them so this is an important trip,” Rubio said ahead of his visit to India. SECRETARY RUBIO on his INDIA TRIP: There’s a lot to work on with India, they’re a great ally and partner. We do a lot of good work with them so this is an important trip. pic.twitter.com/6NcHqmQ8mB — Department of State (@StateDept) May 21, 2026 Sergio Gor, the US ambassador in India, in a social media post said Rubio will call on Prime Minister Narendra Modi later Saturday in New Delhi. “Trade, Technology, Defense, Quad, and many other items to discuss and advance over the next few days!” Secretary Marco Rubio has landed in Kolkata. This is his first trip to India. Later today, we will call on Prime Minister @narendramodi in New Delhi. Trade, Technology, Defense, QUAD, and many other items to discuss and advance over the next few days! — Ambassador Sergio Gor (@USAmbIndia) May 23, 2026 On Tuesday in New Delhi, Rubio will participate in the ministerial meeting of the Indo-pacific strategic alliance of QUAD that has repeatedly accused China of flexing its military muscles in the South China Sea and aggressively pushing its maritime territorial claims. However, Beijing maintains that China’s military presence is purely defensive to protect its sovereign rights and calls the Quad an attempt to contain its economic growth and influence.
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