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Slum Development / Housing

City lacks proper solid waste management

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Times of India 01.08.2009

City lacks proper solid waste management

JAIPUR: Pink City that vouch for becoming a world-class city lacks proper management of solid waste. Residents often complain of littered garbage in their neighbourhood and no system of proper door-to-door collection. Till date, Jaipur Municipal Corporation (JMC) has completed one garbage transfer station at Jhalana out of five as planned under the Jawaharlal Nehru National Urban Renewal Mission (JNNURM).

According to sources, the JMC has been struggling to find required land for the purpose. "One at Delhi bypass is about to be completed but what happened to other three transfer stations, we can not say," said D K Punia, an engineer with the JMC.
The project has been sanctioned under JNNURM.

"We have bought 94 containers for strengthening the secondary storage system, 9 dumper placers for lifting the containers to the dumpyard. Two working dumpyards are located in the city, one at Mathuradaspura, and the other at Sewapura. We are hopeful of getting land soon," said P C Khandelwal, the garage commissioner, JMC.

The project has already been delayed by two years and as an official told TOI that the JMC could not muster its 30% share in the project. Experts maintain that with all the transfer stations in the city operational and all the transport vehicles (garbage) fitted with the electronic chips the solid waste management would be efficient. "We are working towards creating a system through which the garbage in the city would be lifted by 9 am," added Khandelwal.

Over one hundred vehicles dedicated to solid waste management in the city will have Global Positioning Resource Satellite (GPRS) complied chip to track their movement in the city. In yet another case of official apathy, the project is yet to take off. The system would enable monitoring of garbage collection from different sites to the final destination that is the garbage recycling units at different places.

Evading the issue of a time frame by when it could be finally launched, Khandelwal claimed, "The entire project is to augment and fasten the efforts aimed at solid waste management, including their faster transportation to the designated dumpyard. Initially, the electronic chips will be introduced in 100 vehicles dedicated to the service of transporting garbage from the secondary stations to transfer stations, eventually to be dumped at the designated dumpyard in the city."
 

Pre-2000 slums may be regularised

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The Times of India 30.07.2009

Pre-2000 slums may be regularised

MUMBAI: Despite reservations expressed by a section of ministers, the state cabinet pres-ided over by CM Ashok Chavan on Wednesday approved the controversial proposal to regularise slums constructed prior to January 1, 2000.

When the cabinet took up the proposal, a senior Congress minister obliquely opposed the proposal, saying, before taking a final decision on regularisation of slums, there should be wider debate on it. "Mumbai is already saturated. The urban infrastructure is on the verge of collapse. Under such circumstances, if we regularise the slums, it will be suicidal,'' a minister told TOI.

"Secondly,'' the minister asked, "If the government decides to regularise pre-January 2000 slums, what will happen to the slums that have come up between 2000 and 2009. Are we prepared to raze the slums that have come up after January 2000? Before taking any policy decision, we must draft a new policy or there will be chaos.''

An official said, "Since the whole issue is pending before the apex court, the government will have to seek the SC's approval before issuing an official order."

"The move is clearly aimed at wooing slum voters who comprise more than 60% of Mumbai's total voters. However, the opposition may find it hard to criticise the decision for fear of alienating the voters,'' said a political observer.

Incidentally, the Congress and NCP has won all six parliamentary (Congress-5 and NCP-1) seats in Mumbai.

TOI was first to report that the state government is all set to move an ordinance to extend the cut-off date to regularise slums from January 1, 1995, to January 1, 2000.

In fact, since 1976, the cut-off dates for regularising slums have been extended on various occasions. In 1995, the Shiv Sena-BJP came to power and formed the Dinesh Afzulpurkar committee to look into the slum removal issue. In the same year in December, the saffron alliance amended the 1971 Act to provide for the creation of the Slum Rehabilitation Authority (SRA) and announced January 1, 1995, as the cut-off date.

Later, when the Congress came to power it filed an affidavit in court that it will not extend the 1995 cut-off date. But the Congress in its election manifesto of 2004 promised to regularise the slums till January 1, 2000, and filed a fresh affidavit in Bombay high court seeking extension of the cut-off deadline till 2000.

But with the court unwilling to extend the deadline, the state government has filed an affidavit in the Supreme Court.

 

Provident unveils affordable housing project

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The Business Line 30.07.2009

Provident unveils affordable housing project

Our Bureau

Bangalore, July 29 Provident Housing Ltd, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Puravankara Projects, has launched its affordable housing project in Bangalore.

Welworth City is its second project in the country; the first project was announced in Chennai. The company is also exploring options in Hyderabad and Coimbatore.

Provident Welworth City in Bangalore is a Rs 480-crore project, which claims to offer “premium affordable housing” on Yelahanka Doddaballapur main road. Funds would be through promoters’ equity, construction finance and advance from clients. The company has tied up a debt of Rs 200 crore for the project from SBI Capital and HUDCO. According to Mr Jayakar Jerome, IAS, Managing Director, Provident Housing, the company is also open to dilute 20 per cent stake at the project level. It is also looking at joint venture options for land ownership.

The company plans to launch Phase 1 of the project of over 1,000 apartments, this week. Prices start at Rs 14.90 lakh for 2-bedroom apartments and Rs 18.90 lakh for 3-bedroom apartments. There are 3,360 apartments in total; the structure promised is stilt plus eight floors.

Welworth City will have premium facilities such as play area, swimming pools, gyms, multi-purpose hall and super market, said the company.

This comes at a time when the Government has announced that housing loans up to Rs 20 lakh will be available at a cheaper interest rate of 8 per cent. There is also a 1 per cent interest subsidy for affordable home buyers on Rs 10 lakh for the first year.

Mr Ashish Puravankara, Director, Puravankara Projects, said apartments from Provident Housing should not be confused with low-cost houses where quality, size of the apartments and amenities are compromised. Mr Jerome said, “Our objective is to cater to the middle class who just cannot afford the homes that are available in the market today.”

Last Updated on Thursday, 30 July 2009 05:01
 


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