Civic body razes mobile tower after complaints
Tuesday, 04 February 2014 10:48
administrator
The Times of India 04.02.2014 Civic body razes mobile tower after complaints
NAVI MUMBAI: The civic body on Monday demolished a mobile tower after residents complained about its position while the foundation was being laid in Jui nagar.
Although mayor Sagar Naik and Navi Mumbai Municipal Corporation (NMMC) chief Abasaheb Jarhad insisted that they have not demarcated specific zones for constructing mobile towers, corporators disagree.
"Nearly a month ago, residents said they notice digging work at a park in Juinagar. On probing, I was told that the ground was being prepared for installing mobile towers," said area corporator Ranganath Karbhari Auti.
The residents, along with the corporator, then raised the issue with the civic chief, who sent a team to was forced to send a team to demolish the concrete foundation laid.
Earlier, NCP corporator Shivram Patil had raised a storm with documents detailing that 126 mobile towers were to be installed. Areas earmarked included 20 public gardens, nine playgrounds, 17 island junctions and 25 dividers.
|
Now, LBT and water tax defaulters to 'face music'
Tuesday, 04 February 2014 10:34
administrator
The Times of India 04.02.2014 Now, LBT and water tax defaulters to 'face music'
PUNE: After the property tax defaulters, it is time for water tax and LBT defaulters to face the music as the civic administration is planning to introduce the 'band bajao' drive for other services too.
"The response of the property tax has been good. Huge recovery has been made during the drive. So, from next financial year onwards, the civic administration is planning to introduce the drive for other services as well," said Rajendra Jagtap, additional commissioner of PMC, while speaking to reporters on Monday.
The Pune Municipal Corporation's (PMC) decision to rope in brass bands to recover dues from property tax defaulters has paid rich dividends. In the four months, from September to December last year, the civic body mopped up property tax dues worth Rs 72 crore through the drive.
The bands were hired to play loud music in front of houses of the defaulters, shaming the owners into clearing their dues. Officials from the property tax department accompany the bands to collect the payments.
The drive was launched in March 2013 on an experimental basis. After getting a good response, the drive was resumed in September. The civic body uses six brass bands to work in different wards across the city and pays them as much as Rs 20 lakh a year.
1.5 lakh residents living on forest land no longer 'encroachers'
Tuesday, 04 February 2014 10:32
administrator
The Times of India 04.02.2014 1.5 lakh residents living on forest land no longer 'encroachers'
THANE: More than 1.50 lakh people residing in close to 200 housing complexes within the Thane municipal corporation limits will no longer be referred to as 'encroachers' on private forest land as the swanky towers on these lands has been regularised by the Supreme Court last week.
The much-awaited SC judgement will free over 1,742 acres land in the city from the tag of being illegal occupants on forest land, as declared by the state revenue department in 2001.
The SC verdict has also brought smiles on the faces of those living in the high-rise buildings at Ovala as more than 987 acres of land was classified as private forest by the state revenue department, officials from the Thane forest division said. Yeoor area, along Pokran Road 2, will also benefit by this move as more than 156 acres of land was delisted from the old classification of private forest land.
''Many buildings have come up on these lands after getting a clearance from the TMC. However, the legal status of residents was under dispute after the Bombay high court had some time ago upheld the action of the revenue and forest department to declare private forests in Thane city,'' a forest official told TOI.
The residents of Vasant Leela and Garden Court complexes along the Ghodbunder road were among the petitioners who contested the state government's decision of declaring their plots as private forest lands.
''In 2009, the Central Empowered Committee recommended that residents of these illegal housing complexes pay an afforestation fee between Rs 6 to Rs 12 per sqft, depending on when the building was constructed. We collectively paid Rs 62 lakh as fine. Now that the judgement has proved that the state government's decision was not in keeping with the law, the state government should refund the money,'' a resident of Garden Court said.
The SC judgement will also benefit industrial units at Wada and Shahapur talukas of Thane district where land rates had crashed after it was declared as private forests. ''We were incurring major losses because of poor manufacturing and to add to our woes the land cost crashed. There were no buyers and many units weremanufacturing was ordered shut by the forest officials as it was notified as private forests,'' said Chetan Koli, who owns a defunct unit at Wada.
|
|
|
|
|
|
Page 37 of 686 |
