Urban Planning

Despite ban, digital advertisements still on display

Saturday, 15 June 2013 10:33 administrator

The New Indian Express 15.06.2013

Despite the ban on displaying digital advertisements on roadsides in the city, illuminated signboards are still spotted at areas like Vyttila, Kacherippadi, Kadavanthra and Medical Trust Hospital Junction.

When contacted, the Kochi Corporation authorities said stop notices have been issued to the persons concerned asking to remove them.

The digital advertisements, one of the major reasons cited for road accidents, was banned by the Kochi Corporation six months ago.

An earlier directive issued by the National Highway Development Authority stated that digital display advertisements caused accidents by shifting the attention of drivers.

It was based on this directive that the Corporation took steps to ban digital signboards within the city limit.

In an effort to strengthen the initiative, the civic body has also framed a new by-law to control unauthorised advertisements. According to the new by-law, all digitalised moving advertisements in the city have been banned.

A special squad was formed by the Town Planning Committee to identify illegal advertisements. The squad has also been assigned to ensure that illegal advertisements are not in place within the city limit.

Following the drive, the squad has located 15 spots where digital advertisements were displayed and a report has been submitted in this regard.

Memos were also sent to all building owners on which the digital advertisements were exhibited asking them to remove the boards.

However, even after six months, as many as five boards are still displayed.

Town Planning Committee chairman K J Sohan said strict action will be taken against illegal digital advertisements within the Corporation limit.

No takers for Palike's SWD projects

Saturday, 15 June 2013 09:03 administrator

Deccan Herald 15.06.2013

No takers for Palike's SWD projects

Poor response from contractors to the tenders is preventing the Bruhat Bangalore Mahanagara Palike (BBMP) from executing a few crucial stormwater drain (SWD) projects.

Chief Engineer (SWD) H C Ananthaswamy attributed the poor response to the nature of the work. “It is generally difficult and a lot of contractors keep away from such projects,” he told Deccan Herald.

A case in point is a damaged retaining wall on Ittamadu main road.

Residents, especially schoolchildren who take the narrow stretch here, face problems. “There were many instances of the drain overflowing. Sometimes the water/sewage level is higher than the existing wall, which is dangerous,” said J Shekar, a resident.

Besides, residents complain that there is an immediate need to increase the height of the wall.

Stating that the Palike has called for tenders again, given the lack of interest the first time, Ananthaswamy said: “We have identified the problem and are working towards solving it. But all procedures have to be followed.”

However, the Palike has not been able to attract contractors for the repair of the stretch a few metre off the main road, where several houses have encroached the drain.

“People just do not understand. They have encroached on such a large portion of the drain that there is clogging, which will soon result in overflowing,” a representative of the contractor, who was demolishing the houses, said.

The Palike will also construct huge walls to prevent encroachment in the future. But, the representative said, it would be of no use.

“We have done this in the past in other areas, people just break it and build houses,” the representative said.

Cellar constructions cause for concern

Saturday, 15 June 2013 08:40 administrator

Deccan Chronicle 15.06.2013

Cellar constructions cause for concern

Visakhapatnam: As the trend of constructing cellar floors gains ground in the city, geo-technical engineers warn of dangerous consequences if builders do not follow standard guidelines. Cellar constructions in the city face threat from the varying qualities of sandy soil which is prone to frequent dislocations.

The city has a variety of soils owing to its proximity to the sea and the soil in some areas is not strong enough to support such constructions. The trend of constructing cellars in restaurants, commercial complexes and hospitals in the city has been on the rise.

“Some structures in the Hotel Sarovar area and at Dwarakanagar have begun to show damage due to lack of proper treatment during construction. Despite having warned them about the soil condition they have disregarded it,” said an engineer from the GVMC. In fact, the soil condition in and around Visakhapatnam city is typically dense sand to silt sand and soft marine to ultra soft marine clay followed by stiff clay and weathered or hard rock. These types of soils pose a huge problem while designing structures at various places.

Geo-technical engineers perform geo-technical investigations to ascertain the physical properties of the underlying soil and rock before designing or laying foundation of a proposed structure. They also suggest repairing of distress to the foundation and structure caused due to the soil condition. Sometimes, geophysical methods are used to obtain data about the site.

Geo-tech engineering experts warn that while constructing such structures, the land has to be treated in order to sustain the nature of the soil. They say some contractors have not been following the norms due to shortage of time and lack of proper understanding of the character of the soil.

Nashik Municipal Corporation plans to launch mulls crackdown on illegal unauthorized hotels

Friday, 14 June 2013 12:13 administrator

The Times of India 14.06.2013

Nashik Municipal Corporation plans to launch mulls crackdown on illegal unauthorized hotels

NASHIK: The civic body is planning to launch a special drive against unauthorized hotels and sweet shops in the city. This was decided by Nashik Municipal Corporation (NMC) standing committee chairman Ramesh Dhongade in the wake of the fire that broke out at an eatery on College Road on Wednesday.

"We are planning to take action against all unauthorized hotels and restaurants that do not have necessary licences from the NMC's fire brigade department. It is mandatory for all hotels, restaurants and sweet shops to obtain the licence and abide by the norms set by the fire brigade department. Action will be taken against the hotels and the sweet shops not abiding by the norms," Dhongade said.

"There are many unauthorized restaurants in the city operating on terraces. Most of these hotels have not taken permission and are functioning in unauthorized ways. We will also take action against such roof-top or terrace hotels. We are planning to conduct survey of all hotels and sweet shops in the city. The issue will be taken up at the next meeting of the standing committee. Instructions will be issued to the officials concerned during the meeting," he added.

According to sources, there are around 300 hotels and restaurants and nearly 200 sweet shops across the city.

Five personnel of the fire brigade department suffered burns and another received a shoulder injury while putting out a blaze at the sweet shop on Wednesday morning. The blaze had broken out on the mezzanine floor of Jalaram Sweets on Canada Corner around 7.30am and that there was no outlet for the smoke. Two fire tenders were rushed to the spot.

When the fire brigade personnel were about to enter the shop, they were told that only farsan had been stored inside. But as they entered, huge flames almost engulfed them. They received burns, but survived as they were wearing fire-proof jackets. A diesel oven, meant for preparing sweets, was found inside the shop.

Dhongade said though the shop had only a licence to sell, sweets were being prepared inside.

Colony with no dry borewells

Friday, 14 June 2013 10:00 administrator

Deccan Chronicle 14.06.2013

Colony with no dry borewells

Hyderabad: Just two years ago, most bore wells had dried up in Gul Mohar colony near Hitec City and local residents rued their decision to purchase plots in a layout that was developed over rocky terrain.

Today, they are all smiles beca-use almost all borewells in the colony inhabited by over 1,000 families, are overflowing with groundwater. The complete turnaround in the scenario was made possible by the collective decision of colony residents to construct rainwater harvesting pits in every house.

“As on date, we have 200 rainwater harvesting pits (RWH) in independent buildings and another dozen constructed by the Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation (GHMC) at public places within the colony. There are 500 houses and 1,000 plus families.

Our target is to cover all buildings with rainwater harvesting pits and then construct many more on the roadsides and parks in the colony. It was not an easy task to convince people to invest Rs 5,000 for each RWH pit, but this summer, not a single borewell dried up. Now, families thank us for conducting a series of meetings with them to convince them to go for RWH pits,” said Gul Mohar colony president Shaik Khasim.

M. Satyam, an employee of Hyderabad Central University and resident of the colony said, “My RWH pit was the first to be inaugurated in the colony. Before the pit was constructed, we could not pump bore water through the motor for more than half an hour because it used to go dry.

After the rainwater harvesting pit was dug, we can run the motor for over an hour and the pressure of water has also increased. We passed this summer without any water problem.” Other residents echoed the sentiment.

There are 87 houses and 30 rain water harvesting pits in the colony.

“Our colony welfare association has a secretary to exclusively look after water issues and another office-bearer in charge of the environment. It is high time people realised the importance of keeping the air, water and environment clean and green,” said Lakshmi Vihar colony president Srikant.

GHMC zonal commissioner (West) Aleem Basha said that colony residents had invested money on rainwater harvesting pits and were now reaping the benefits in terms of having copious groundwater.

Though there was no scheme from the GHMC two years back, now the top civic body offers to refund 50 per cent of the cost incurred by residents of the colony towards setting up RHW pits in individual houses and 70 per cent cost reimbursement for RWH pits constructed at public places in the colony.

“We will also provide technical support for the construction and maintenance of pits,” he said. He added that they have planned to construct 5,000 and more RWH pits in the next two months in and around the West Zone limits.

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