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Siddu sets terms for new flats

Friday, 19 July 2013 07:35 administrator
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Deccan Herald                 19.07.2013

Siddu sets terms for new flats

Chief Minister Siddaramaiah said here on Thursday that the State Government would issue “no-objection certificates” (NOCs) to new apartments in the city only if there “is a water source” identified by promoters of the property.

Replying to a question by Janata Dal-Secular leader M Srinivas during the question hour in the Legislative Council, the chief minister said he would instruct Bangalore Water Supply and Sewerage Board (BWSSB) and the Bruhat Bangalore Mahanagara Palike (BBMP) not to issue NOCs or sanction plans unless there was assured water source.

A developer of a property has to obtain NOCs from the Fire Department, BBMP and BWSSB before the construction of the building begins. The BBMP also has to approve the building plan.

Srinivas said apartments had mushroomed in and around the City. “Most of them don’t have water sources,” he said. The BWSSB was unable to supply water to these apartments.

Siddaramaiah said 2,553 apartments (26, 342 flats) had been permitted in the BBMP’s eight zones since 2011. Despite stringent regulations, these apartments “are dependent mostly on ground water. This is the reason for the depleting ground water table,” he said.

Siddaramaiah said the BBMP and the BWSSB would be directed to conduct an inspection before issuing the NOCs.

The member said promoters were not making any effort to implement rain water harvesting (RWH). The chief minister said he would direct the authorities to ensure the implementation of RWH as the BWSSB norms “say that any group housing above 100 houses should compulsorily have a water treatment plant as well as RWH to get an NOC.”

The chief minister said there were several proposals before the government to ensure adequate water supply to the city. “The water scarcity for Bangalore is a matter of concern. The government is exploring all possibilities to get more water to the City from other sources,” he said. A committee of technical experts was appointed  in 2010 to explore the possibility of meeting Bangalore’s water requirements. Three years ago, when Katta Subramanya Naidu was the BWSSB minister, he had announced that no water connection would be given to new buildings, as there was scarcity of water.

The panel of nine experts had made several recommendations,  including drawing of 30 tmc from the Linganamakki hydel power station reservoir and diversion of 100 to 250 MLD of treated water from the Vrishabavathi valley to the catchment area of Thippagondanahalli, diversion of five tmc water to T G Halli and “education of people” regarding water conservation and reduction in unaccounted water to save about 4 tmc water.

The chief minister said the government would come out with a comprehensive development plan (CDP) to check the unwieldy growth of Bangalore City. The BMRDA had prepared a draft CDP. But the CDP was sent back, seeking some clarifications.  Siddaramaiah said the CDP should have been ready five years ago. But the previous government did not pay attention. Once the plan was ready, objections from the public would be invited. Janata Dal-Secular member Naniah, too, urged the chief minister to check the growth of the City.

 

This year, BBMP budget to be 'realistic'

Friday, 19 July 2013 06:46 administrator
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Deccan Herald                 19.07.2013

This year, BBMP budget to be 'realistic'

Drawing lessons from the blunders in the past, the Bruhat Bangalore Mahangara Palike (BBMP) is preparing a ‘realistic budget’ this year.

Following the State government nod to Mayor D Venkatesh Murthy to present the budget, the BBMP machinery has started working day and night to prepare the budget. However, the officials dealing with budget preparation have been strictly told that the budget should be a realistic one this year unlike previous years.

For the last five years, the BBMP has been presenting highly inflated budget showing a very rosy picture of Bangalore. In the budget, it always expected huge revenue from various sources and earnest desire to undertake many ambitious projects, mainly those related to infrastructure. In the last five years, it presented budget somewhere between Rs 7,000 crore and Rs 10,000 crore.

The realisation of the budget, however, was always less than 50 per cent. For instance, in 2011-12 a budget of Rs 9,196 crore was presented but the realisation of the budget remained around Rs 4,000 crore.

The size of the budget last year was Rs 9,998 crore but, according to the Palike sources, the implementation is hardly 35 per cent.

This year the Mayor and the BBMP commissioner M Lakshminarayana are learnt to have directed the Palike officials to prepare a realistic budget between Rs 5,000 crore and Rs 5,500 crore. The budget should not make wild assumptions about the revenue as had happened in the previous years where about Rs 700 crore was expected from the private telecom companies. The Palike budget planners had expected huge revenue from the optical fibre cables, laid by the telecom companies. Similar expectations were made from the advertisement companies, that have put up illegal hoardings.

Sources added that the thrust of the budget this year will be on infrastructure projects. To top all the infrastructure projects would be implementation of the five signal-free corridors. The Palike will also take up widening of some roads.

Budget on Monday?

The mayor has directed the officials to prepare the budget to be presented on July 20, Saturday. But the officials involved in preparing the budget, have sought two more days’ time. They have requested Mayor and the Commissioner to present the budget on July 22.

“We doubt that we will be able to prepare the budget, prepare speech copy, get it translated into English and then get everything printed by July 20,” said a Palike officer.

 

GHMC demolishes 39 old buildings

Friday, 19 July 2013 05:31 administrator
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The Hindu             19.07.2013

GHMC demolishes 39 old buildings

The GHMC demolished 39 old and dilapidated buildings in different parts of the city in the last couple of days. On Thursday, demolition teams pulled down 19 dilapidated buildings at Bandlaguda, Mansurabad, Chintalbasthi, Lalapet and two old structures each at Kowkoor and Suraram. A joint inspection carried out by a team of engineers and town planning staff also identified five more old and dilapidated buildings for necessary action.

 
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