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Lalbaug Ganesh mandal fined for potholes, refuses to pay up

Wednesday, 07 August 2013 09:07 administrator
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The Indian Express              07.08.2013

Lalbaug Ganesh mandal fined for potholes, refuses to pay up

Mumbai

The Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) has slapped a fine of Rs 23 lakh on Lalbaugcha Raja mandal for failing to repair roads on which potholes were 'created by the mandal'. The mandal owners have, however, refused to pay the fine. They say the mandal is not responsible for the 950 potholes for which it is being fined.

"BMC's notice mentions potholes that were not created by the mandal. They sent us a notice last year but did not bother to follow it up. With Ganeshotsav round the corner, we have received the notice again," said Ashok Pawar, president of Lalbaugcha Raja Sarvajanik Ganeshotsav Mandal.

The civic administration has charged the mandal Rs 2,000 for each pothole. Part of the fine is for creating potholes due to the main pandal and passage for devotees. It also includes a penalty of Rs 4.5 lakh for erecting a temporary iron structure and a bridge from Dinshaw Petit Lane in Lalbaug to G D Ambedkar Marg, towards Wadala.

The BMC is planning to recover the fine in the mandal's property tax bill. "The mandal has failed to fill the potholes which were created due to setting up of the stage and other infrastructure. However, we cannot stop them from erecting a pandal this year," said Mohan Adtani, additional municipal commissioner.

A major crowd-puller, Lalbaugcha Raja sees an average footfall of 50,000-1,00,000 on each of the 10 days of Ganeshotsav. It is amongst the richer mandals, having a fixed deposit of about Rs 15 crore and the idol garners over 100 kg of gold and 300-400 kg silver as offering by devotees every year.

Typically, the 11,600-odd Ganesh mandals in the city deposit Rs 5,000 with BMC every year as a security deposit, which is later foreited in case a mandal fails to repair potholes.

Meanwhile, BMC has promised Ganesh mandals pothole-free roads this monsoon. Of the 818 roads, the civic administration has now planned to give priority to those that fall along the immersion route. It has set a deadline of August 25 to fill all potholes.  

 

Water projects: GVMC favours PPP mode

Wednesday, 07 August 2013 05:24 administrator
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The Hindu              07.08.2013

Water projects: GVMC favours PPP mode

G.V. Prasada Sarma

Groaning under the burden of the 30 per cent contribution of the urban local body for projects under the Jawaharlal Nehru National Urban Renewal Mission and facing a financial crunch, GVMC is exploring the option of PPP mode for two major water projects.

One of them is the Raiwada project from which a pipeline is proposed to be laid at a cost of Rs.370 crore. The State-level monitoring committee has cleared it to be taken up with the spillover funds under which Rs.1250 crore has been apportioned to the mission cities in the State. The Raiwada pipeline project has been sanctioned Rs.300 crore. The 58-km pipeline from Raiwada project to the filtration plant at Narava is expected to totally reduce loss due to evaporation and other natural factors and pilferage. As of now, of the 27 mgd released at Raiwada, only 16 mgd is being realised. “GVMC is no position to foot the 30 per cent cost. Now we plan to involve industries so that they can foot the cost and utilise 10 mgd of the water,” highly placed sources told The Hindu . After a presentation at the Central Monitoring and Sanctioning Committee meeting in Delhi, a 24X7 water scheme with a cost of Rs.290 crore has been sanctioned for the northwest part of the city falling under Visakhapatnam North MLA Tyanala Vijay Kumar’s constituency. GVMC, which faced shortage of funds, has sought the State government’s approval to take up the project in PPP mode. The private party that foots the corporation share will be allowed to realise its investment from the saving of water by introducing Supervisory Control and Data Acquisition and other such methods, say sources. A DPR has been prepared indicating the period required for management by the private party. The government has to recommend PPP mode and send it to the central committee.

The municipal corporation is facing financial crunch Raiwada pipeline project is proposed with Rs. 370 crore The State government has to recommend the PPP mode.

 

VMC set to demolish 25K homes before August 19

Tuesday, 06 August 2013 11:30 administrator
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The Indian Express     06.08.2013 

VMC set to demolish 25K homes before August 19

If the Vadodara Municipal Corporation (VMC) has its way, over 25,000 houses in the city will be demolished by the corporation before August 19. The drive has been initiated under the state government's impact fee scheme that calls for regularisation of illegal constructions in the city. The civic body has already received applications from 13,372 residents against 25,000 properties identified by the VMC.

The VMC had issued notice to over 25,000 properties to come forward and pay the impact fee in order to have their structures regularised. So far, out of the 13,372 applications, the VMC has initiated action for 5,838 applications and issued regularisation certificates to 3,844 properties.

VMC town development officer K L Patel says, "We have regularised 6,000 constructions across the city. Over 13,000 applications have been received and there are many more who are yet to respond to the notice. If they do not respond, we will initiate action. The deadline for the payment of impact fee is August 19."

 
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