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DDA clamps down on illegal constructions

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The Hindu           09.09.2014 

DDA clamps down on illegal constructions

The Delhi Development Authority has undertaken a major drive for removal of all unauthorised rooms, additions and alterations being carried out by the occupants of its flats at D-6, Vasant Kunj.

A statement by the Authority said the drive has been ordered by vice-chairman Balwinder Kumar. It involves both sealing and removal of all such additions and alterations.

The DDA said it had come to its notice that a number of occupants of flats had constructed rooms on the terrace in Narmada, Saraswati, Yamuna and Ganga apartments. Such illegalities were observed in over 282 flats. In addition, construction of an additional room on government land was noted to have been done by the allottees of all the floors in a block.

Stating that all the allottees/occupants had been advised to remove these unauthorised constructions on the top floor or on the common portions of land, the DDA said these constructions included addition of a room right from the ground level to top floors. It said the occupants were informed that non-compliance would lead to penal action as per the provisions of law. The penal action includes demolition, sealing of the flat, disconnection of electricity or water to the premises, the Authority said.

 

Seminar on disaster management held

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The Hindu        04.09.2014  

Seminar on disaster management held

The capital city is the only one in the State to be chosen among eight cities in the country to benefit from the Climate Risk Management Project in Urban Areas through Disaster Preparedness and Mitigation project, being jointly implemented by the Union government and the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP). 

The State's nodal agency, the Kerala State Disaster Management Authority, decided to take it one step further by organising a day-long awareness seminar for municipalities across Kerala on the best practices and tools they need to be equipped with.

Deputy Mayor G. Happykumar inaugurated the seminar held here on Wednesday. Over 50 participants representing municipalities attended the workshop, which was moderated by G. Padmanabhan, head of UNDP’s India disaster management unit. National Programme Coordinator of the Climate Risk Management Project Aabha Mishra was also present. 

The Disaster Management Cell of the capital was set up at the Corporation in 2010 and since then one of the key priorities has been to integrate climate risk reduction measures with development activities. This year, the cell has already organised training programmes for trade union workers in a bid to ‘enhance community capacities to manage climate risk in urban areas,’ officials said. 

The objective of the seminar was to share the best practices in disaster mitigation through case studies which were discussed through the day.

The concept of training local people to be the ‘first responders,’ in particular, was discussed.

The objective was to share the best practices in disaster mitigation through case studies.

 

Govt to create Patna Metro Development Authority

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The Times of India        27.08.2014    

Govt to create Patna Metro Development Authority  

PATNA: The state government has decided to create Patna Metropolitan Development Authority (PMDA) to plan comprehensive development of the state capital besides Fatuha, Phulwarisharif and Danapur areas. The cabinet on Tuesday approved the urban development and housing department (UDHD) proposal in this regard. UDHD secretary will be chairman of the 10-member PMDA.

Following the severe waterlogging problem in Patna last week, chief minister Jitan Ram Manjhi had criticized the Patna Municipal Corporation (PMC) functioning and asked the chief secretary to evolve a new mechanism.

The PMDA would be empowered to undertake comprehensive development plan and survey work of the proposed Patna metropolitan area, including the infrastructure development for water supply, drainage and sewerage.

Briefing media after the cabinet meeting, principal secretary, department of cabinet coordination, Brajesh Mehrotra said besides Patna DM, chief town planner, Patna municipal commissioner, executive officers of Danapur, Khagaul and Phulwarisharif civic bodies, two government experts would also be the members of the authority. The chief executive officer of PMDA would be the member secretary of the authority. Representatives of the state road construction department and public health and engineering department would also be included in the committee.

The cabinet also gave its nod for signing the memorandum of agreement with the Centre for setting up one model rural health research unit, six multidisciplinary research units, besides five viral research and diagnostic labs in the state.

It also approved Rs 586 crore for the construction of a medical and nursing college at Indira Gandhi Institute of Medical Sciences, Sheikhpura, Patna. Similarly a sum of Rs 100 crore has been sanctioned for the expansion and renovation of Darbhanga Medical College Hospital.

The cabinet also cleared the creation of 108 posts for ECG technicians for attending to heart patients at district level government hospitals. The government has increased the existing amount for the treatment of hip and knee replacement, plastic surgery and acid burn case patients under the CM Medical Relief fund. Now, the patients will get Rs 50,000 each for hip and knee replacement as against the existing amount of Rs 20,000. Similarly, for plastic surgery and acid burn cases, the limit has been extended from Rs 50,000 to Rs 1 lakh.

The government has also accorded state festival status to Pritipaksh mela at Gaya and Sonepur cattle fair.

For the proper implementation of the Land Acquisition Act, the cabinet approved the proposal of framing Bihar Land Acquisition, Rehabilitation, Resettlement Transparency Rights Rules 2014. It will include rehabilitation and resettlement scheme, compensation related issues, preliminary notification and social impact assessment. The rules would be uploaded on the website for seeking public opinion before finalizing it.

Under the Bihar Public Service Rights Act 2011, cabinet okayed the proposal to reduce the period from 60 days to 30 days for delivering ration cards to people. For the development of horticulture in the state, the cabinet approved Rs 178.94 crore to the Bihar horticulture development society. It cleared Rs 40 crore for the timely distribution of the amount among the flood victims of 2014.

Last Updated on Wednesday, 27 August 2014 11:16
 

VMC seeks more time to develop Gunadala layout

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The Hindu       26.08.2014   

VMC seeks more time to develop Gunadala layout

 

Municipal employees may have to wait for some more time to see the layout for their housing colony at Gunadala in proper shape. The Vijayawada Municipal Corporation (VMC) is learnt to have sought “some more time” to fulfil its promise made to the Lokayukta which would hear the case on Wednesday (August 27).

The Corporation has been pleading that it needs more time to prepare the layout, saying that it is facing paucity of funds. As soon as the government released the dues, developmental works would be taken up, the VMC officials told Lokayukta last year. They, however, could not keep the promise.

The VMC collected Rs. 9.8 crore from its employees as development charges in 2009. But, the funds were diverted to other purposes. Now, not more than Rs. 17 lakh were available under this head, sources say. The VMC may have to cough up more than Rs. 11 crore to develop the layout if the present Standard Schedule of Rates (SSR) are to be considered.

The 55-acre layout has been mired in controversy ever since the proposal was conceived nearly two decades ago.

The main contention of the employees is that the VMC has diverted the developmental charges for some other purpose; the plots are not registered in their names. They also alleged that the names of ineligible persons had crept into the list.

The employees say that the VMC has been deliberately dilly-dallying on the matter for nearly 18 years. Some employees even breathed their last even before they could realize the dream of building their own house, say Ranganayakulu, employees union leader.

 

Councilors demands separation of engineering and town planning sections

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The Times of India     21.03.2014 

Councilors demands separation of engineering and town planning sections

KOZHIKODE: Councillors in the Kozhikode city corporation have demanded the formation of separate engineering and town planning sections to avoid delay in the execution of ward-level public works.
 
The councillors have alleged that the merger of the two sections in 2005 had delayed execution of public works comprising construction and repair of roads in the ward, construction of drainages and covering open slabs and road surface improvements works.
 
Councillor Zachariah P Hussein said that they need to wait for months to prepare the estimate and supervision as the works of town planning and engineering section being done by the same overseer.
 
"The delay in getting permission and preparing project estimate created problems to the councillors," he said. Councillor K Sathyanathan said that though he has bought the issue to the attention of the mayor through a calling attention motion, a decision in this regard is yet to be made.
 
"The councillors have been forced to run behind the overseers in the corporation to prepare estimate and to carry out field visit as they also need to accord permission to building plans after the site visit. Only the separation of two departments will put an end to the existing problem," he said.
 
Meanwhile, mayor MK Premajam said that it was merged during the tenure of the previous government. "Staff shortage is the main constrain for the separation of the merged sections. At present there is a delay in carrying out the ward-level works as the same staff needs to simultaneously carry out the works of the town planning and engineering section," said the mayor. 

 

Last Updated on Friday, 21 March 2014 12:18
 


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