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E-Governance

Soon, leasehold to freehold will be a click away

Friday, 17 August 2012 11:22 administrator
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The Indian Express   17.08.2012

Soon, leasehold to freehold will be a click away

Process will take 45 days, big relief for people in DDA, group housing flats: Vice-Chairman

The Delhi Development Authority’s (DDA) will soon launch an online system for converting leasehold land to freehold property.

The DDA’s new vice-chairman, Sanjay Kumar Shrivastava, announced this on Thursday, while stressing the need for a participatory planning process and improving the grievance redressal system of the agency.

Shrivastava, who took charge on Monday, said: “A software has been developed for online conversion of leasehold land to freehold property. At present, test runs are on. The software will help people apply online for conversion of land from leasehold to freehold. The applicant can track the status of his request and fulfill formalities through emails,” Shrivastava said.

He said the new mechanism will help people know about the public hearings without visiting the agency’s offices. Currently, 7,000 to 15,000 people visit the DDA offices every day for hearings on their applications on land holding.

“The Urban Development Minister will soon launch this system. Once it becomes operational, the conversion process will only take 45 days. This will be a big relief for 60-70 per cent people who visit DDA offices daily and live in group housing societies and DDA flats,” he said.

“To improve the grievance redressal system, we are also providing time schedules for all activities of DDA by revising the citizens charter. Earlier, only 10 activities were provided time schedules under the citizens charter. Now, activities of all departments having public interface has been included. The revised charter will be ready in the coming days,” Shrivastava added.

DDA has also identified six historically significant areas as “heritage zones”, including three parks in Mehrauli, Sultangarhi and Tughlakabad.

“Under the Urban Heritage Foundation, projects on conservation and landscaping of Lado Sarai tomb and renovation of former Viceregal Lodge (the administrative office of Delhi University) were taken up. For restoration of Bengali Club, Kashmere Gate, DDA has allocated Rs 15 lakh,” Shrivastava said.

Delay in giving out flats: DDA to take action

The new vice-chairman of Delhi Development Authority (DDA), Sanjay Kumar Shrivastava, on Thursday said the agency would look into the delay in construction of around 700 flats under its 2010 housing scheme in Vasant Kunj and Dwarka Sector-18B.

He said corrective measures would be taken. “I will convene a meeting on this. Adequate action will be taken against anyone found responsible for the delay,” he said.

His remarks came barely a week after Newsline highlighted the plight of those who were allotted flats in Vasant Kunj and Dwarka, and the additions and alterations made to the new DDA flats in Kondli.

However, he said it had been clearly mentioned in the brochure of the housing scheme that construction of some of the localities was still on. “We will look into the contract and see what can be done,” Shrivastava said.

Several flat-owners in Vasant Kunj and Dwarka Sector-18B are still awaiting possession of the houses allotted to them through a draw of lots in 2010. At least a year or more would be required to get the majority of these flats ready for people to move in, officials at the sites had said.

Shrivastava said future housing schemes of the DDA would give priority to the middle class. “There is a requirement for two and three-bedroom flats. I will look into it,” he said. There have been allegations in the Kondli project that people who have opted for one-bedroom flats were given houses much smaller than the specified floor area on the brochure. The DDA has refuted the allegations.

On flats for people belonging to the economically weaker section (EWS) of society, Shrivastava said: “The target of building 100,000 EWS houses includes rehabilitation of people from slums on their existing sites within three years. Besides, about 9,650 houses are at various stages of construction and will be completed soon,” he said.

“Around 20,000 EWS houses will come up in Dwarka and Rohini. Tenders have been floated for nearly 25,000 houses in other areas,” Shrivastava said.

Last Updated on Friday, 17 August 2012 11:25
 

Pimpri Chinchwad Municipal Corporation main building to have CCTV monitoring unit soon

Friday, 17 August 2012 09:48 administrator
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The Times of India   17.08.2012

Pimpri Chinchwad Municipal Corporation main building to have CCTV monitoring unit soon

PUNE: The Pimpri Chinchwad Municipal Corporation (PCMC) has decided to set up a central close circuit television (CCTV) monitoring unit at its main office building in Pimpri, where the visuals of all CCTV cameras installed at various locations like municipal auditoriums, zonal offices, fire-brigade department and Yashwantrao Chavan memorial hospital, will be monitored.

A civic official said that initially the central unit will monitor CCTV cameras installed only at the PCMC main building. At present there are a total of 34 cameras installed in the building. The PCMC has planned to install 14 more at the main building.

The PCMC has planned to install CCTV cameras at various other places like civic hospitals, water-treatment centres, municipal gardens and other auditoriums. A total of 51 properties have been identified. The total cost of installation is estimated to be around Rs 7.5 crore. The civic official said that monitoring of footage cannot be conducted at all the properties due to technical and other reasons.

"One employee each of the electrical department, security department and fire brigade of the PCMC will monitor the footage at the PCMC main building. We will be able to store the footage of one month," the official said.

 


 

Last Updated on Friday, 17 August 2012 09:54
 

MCD schools, parking lots to be equipped with CCTVs

Monday, 13 August 2012 05:53 administrator
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The Hindu   13.08.2012

MCD schools, parking lots to be equipped with CCTVs

Sowmiya Ashok

Present but absent:A non-functional security surveillance camera installed in front of New Delhi railway station.Photo: Rajeev Bhatt
 
Present but absent:A non-functional security surveillance camera installed in front of New Delhi railway station.Photo: Rajeev Bhatt

When a nine-year-old girl was molested by her teacher in a Municipal Corporation of Delhi school in the winter of 2010, the civic body’s response was to announce a pilot project to install closed-circuit television cameras (CCTVs) in some of its schools.

The aim was to prevent any such incidents in future and to keep a tab on the performance of the schools’ teaching staff. Mahender Nagpal, the then Chairman of the Education Committee, had said that cameras will be installed on a trial basis in 50-odd schools for a period of six months and schools that have more than 2000 students will be considered for the project.

A year later, in December 2011, Bhim Sain Bassi, Special Commissioner (Traffic), had written to the MCD to place all the civic body’s parking lots under CCTV surveillance. In the backdrop of terrorists targeting parking lots to carry out blasts in the Capital, the erstwhile unified MCD announced a pilot project in the parking facilities of two crowded markets -- Lajpat Nagar and Karol Bagh. The civic body planned to take up the other facilities in a phased manner at a later stage.

The civic body’s affinity in announcing CCTV installation when faced with adversities has remained “word of mouth” and has not even got to the stage of being put on paper. “While these projects are announced, their feasibility is not assessed and so many remain unimplemented,” observes a senior official (in-charge of all three Corporations). “When surveillance equipment is set up, manpower is also required to monitor it,” he adds.

“I do not know why the previous projects did not work out,” says North Delhi Municipal Corporation’s Education Committee Chairman Rekha Gupta. “But the plan now is to equip schools with adequate surveillance material. This is especially for the safety of girl children,” she says. “We already have biometric attendance for all MCD employees. Soon this too will be introduced in schools.”

Ms. Gupta says the corporate sector will be involved in providing schools with necessary equipment. “Through their Corporate Social Responsibility, corporate houses can fund the CCTV cameras. The principal can then monitor the whereabouts of the teaching staff and safety of the students.” “While maintenance will fall on the Corporation, no extra staff will be required to monitor the footage,” she adds.

Last month, the North Delhi Municipal Corporation decided that it will insist that sensors be installed by contractors to record the entry and exit of vehicles so as to check the number of vehicles parked in a day at a particular parking site. Addressing the Standing Committee, Municipal Commissioner P. K. Gupta had said that data was incomplete on the number of vehicles parked in each site costing the Corporation much needed revenue.

“Hand-held devices will be installed so as to monitor the number of cars that use the facility,” he says.

The erstwhile MCD, however, acknowledged that it did not possess the expertise of installing surveillance equipment and had invited private companies to fix video surveillance equipment in parking lots and other areas. For instance, the civic body awarded the contract for collecting tax in the city’s border to a private concessionaire.

According to records on the MCD’s website, PKSS Infrastructure Private Limited manages the 122 entry points into the city which includes toll collection and surveillance which monitors the number plates of the vehicles entering the city’s jurisdiction.

Two years ago, in the wake of two incidents of robbery at two toll collection centres, the contractors had demanded additional security but there was no talk of installing CCTVs to monitor these points. Of the cameras that are functional in Delhi’s borders, many point upwards or are placed too high to detect vehicles’ number plates.

Last Updated on Monday, 13 August 2012 05:54
 
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