| The crime, the Covid, the politics and the potholes: Capital Letters — Keeping track of Delhi's week, one beat at a time, through the eyes and words of HT's reporters, with all the perspective, context and analysis you need. Good morning! “At first, it seemed like a special effect.” June 13, 1997 – the days of packed theatres on Friday afternoons. Hundreds poured into Uphaar Cinema in south Delhi’s Green Park at 3pm for a screening of JP Dutta’s Border, which had been released that morning. Minutes into the movie, a few in the crowd spotted smoke spilling out of the corner of the screen. Many passed it off as a special effect, accompanying the war movie. But soon, word of a fire rippled through the audience. But the damage had been done. Within moments, the fire swallowed the nearly 25-year-old theatre, which had become a weekend staple for the national capital. At the end of the inferno, 59 were killed, over a hundred injured and Delhi was scarred permanently. Gopal and Sushil Ansal, the real estate barons who ran the doomed cinema were sentenced after a protracted legal battle, were among those convicted in 2007 (and then later on in a bunch of other cases) for criminal negligence, apart from other offences. Around 26 years since the tragedy which left a city aghast and forced authorities to issue wide-ranging fire norm reforms, the Uphaar Cinema complex has stayed sealed, a haunted shell in a tale of deadly apathy, devastation and loss. But this may soon change. The Supreme Court last week allowed the Ansal brothers to approach a trial court to unseal Uphaar Cinema, in a verdict that could mark the beginning of the end for a long-drawn tragedy and see the deathly remains of the cinema handed back to its owners. A three-judge Supreme Court bench on Thursday noted that the trial in the main Uphaar case was over and that the Ansal brothers had deposited fines of ₹30 crore each, as directed by the top court in August 2015. “The other stakeholders in the case – the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI), the Delhi Police and the Association of Victims of Uphaar Tragedy (AVUT) — on Thursday informed the court that they had no pending claim over the cinema hall,” HT’s Abraham Thomas wrote in his report. Since the fire, the theatre has been shut, blocked off to the outside world by barricades. Here’s what HT reporter Prawesh Lama and photojournalist Sanchit Khanna found when they visited the ruins in 2018: “The cars that caught fire in the basement are burnt and rusted. They remain parked as they were that evening. The heavy monsoon this year ensures that water drips even from the walls. The Pepsi bottles are strewn on the floor of the main hall. Some of them were never opened. Littered across the hall, in the balcony, below the seats, the washrooms are shoes. Shoes covered with 21 years of soot.” Read that story here. So, will Uphaar ever see the light of day again? Perhaps. But for many, it will forever be Friday, June 13, 1997. House battle Another chapter was written this week in the seemingly unending tale of The Delhi Govt vs The Delhi LG. This time, the target was set at the chief minister’s residence. More specifically, the cost borne by the state exchequer to renew the chief minister’s residence. And along with this, a fundamental question – whose residence is it anyway? According to documents HT reviewed, the Delhi government spent around ₹44.78 crore refurbishing the official residence of chief minister Arvind Kejriwal between 2020 and 2022. Much of this money was spent on imported marble, plush interiors, electrical fixtures, and high-end kitchen equipment. This, of course, set off a pitched battle between the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) government, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and the centrally nominated lieutenant governor. For its part, the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) said that the house desperately needed renovation and that it remained government property. It also compared the amount spent on the CM’s residence with that spent on housing for other leaders, including the residential complex being developed for the Prime Minister as part of the new Central Vista. Spokespersons of Delhi’s ruling party pointed out that the Civil Lines residence was built over eight decades ago and had not been significantly redone in that time. HT found that, “The orders related to the refurbishing work of the bungalow issued by the Public Works Department show that work orders worth ₹7.9 crore were issued on September 1, 2020; ₹1.64 crore on June 8, 2021; ₹9.08 crore on October 22, 2021; ₹5.73 crore on December 30, 2021; and ₹9.34 crore on June 29, 2022. They also show that ₹45.5 lakh was spent on curtains, and ₹5 crore on “artistic and ornamental work”.” Two days after this, Delhi LG VK Saxena ordered the Capital’s chief secretary Naresh Kumar to secure all files related to the case, to sift through the records and submit a report in a fortnight. This clash came amid another furore over government housing in the national capital: one concerning the alleged desecration of a 15th century monument to make way for the former Delhi Jal Board (DJB) CEO’s residence. According to a notice issued by Delhi’s vigilance department to the former DJB CEO, Udit Prakash Rai, sometime between January 2021 and January 2023, a 15th century monument, known in government records simply as “Mahal” was ripped down to make way for the bureaucrat’s house. “The notice said that after visiting the site in January 2021, the state department of archaeology wrote to the DJB seeking possession of the monument and a gateway for conservation. However, when the department returned to the site in January 2023, it found that the monument had vanished and a government bungalow stood in its place.” Vanished, it seems. It must be said: Domestic problems are much more normal for the rest of us. You know, leaky taps, damp walls, busted plug-points, and so on. | 
