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Merger of Medchal municipality in GHMC stayed

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The Hindu                       26.03.2013

Merger of Medchal municipality in GHMC stayed

Legal Correspondent 

The PIL Bench of the A.P. High Court comprising acting Chief Justice N. V. Ramana and Justice Vilas Afzulpurkar on Monday stayed the merger of Medchal municipality and other gram panchayats with the GHMC. The Bench was dealing with a batch of cases filed challenging the merger of he municipality, Pirjadiguda Bulli Pochampalli and Jalpalli village etc., The Bench pointed out that similar cases were pending regarding other mergers into GHMC.

 

North corpn to charge fee for debris removal

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The Indian Express                        25.03.2013

North corpn to charge fee for debris removal

Having failed to successfully monitor the dumping of waste from construction sites, the North Municipal corporation has prepared a proposal that will charge those who seek to construct or renovate buildings for the removal of debris.

North corporation officials said that under the new proposal people will have to pay for the disposal of building material waste or malba at the time of getting the building plan approved. "If someone has a building plan, it means construction will take place which will result in building material waste," a senior official said.

According to P K Gupta, Commissioner, North municipal corporation, the civic body has been paying private agency, IL&FS, to pick up malba from 70 designated building material waste dumping sites and dispose it of in Bawana.

The commissioner said IL&FS also lifts waste dumped in random spots and transfers it to dumping sites designated by the corporation, before finally removing it to Bawana.

"People dump their building material waste wherever they find a spot or at these 70 dumping sites notified by the corporation. But we are paying for removal of this malba waste and since we cannot trace who is dumping this material, we have planned to charge people when they get their building plan approved," Gupta said.

Gupta said efforts were being made to make it mandatory for those who come for a building plan approval to pay for dumping building material waste.

However, the amount to be charged needs to be worked out.

The commissioner even conducted a meeting of deputy commissioners (DC) and asked them to monitor construction sites in their respective areas.

"All DCs were asked to monitor and report about the number of sites in which construction is in progress. This will help the civic body know who is dumping the waste," a senior official said of the North corporation said.

 

What’s in a name? A lot, if it’s about roads

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The Hindu                          25.03.2013

What’s in a name? A lot, if it’s about roads

Pallichal Road in Kochi Corporation’s Ward 11at Thoppumpady was renamed V.S. Krishnan Bhagavathar Road one fine morning.— Photo: Thulasi Kakkat
Pallichal Road in Kochi Corporation’s Ward 11at Thoppumpady was renamed V.S. Krishnan Bhagavathar Road one fine morning.— Photo: Thulasi Kakkat.

What’s there in a name? A lot, if it is about roads within Kochi Corporation limits.

The town planning committee of the corporation is flooded with requests for naming roads after one influential personality or the other that it is mulling over codifying the names of the corporation roads.

Town planning committee sources told The Hindu on Saturday that even landmark roads in the city such as Ernakulam Market Road, Hospital Road, Cannon Shed Road, and YMCA Road have not been spared from this frenzy over name change to keep personal or familial legacy aglow.

Then there are instances in which roads are renamed overnight by interested parties without bothering to follow municipal rules. One such case of arbitrary re-christening of roads is now before the High Court and is likely to come up for hearing next week. C.D. Thomas and Sudheer K. Gopal, residents of division 11 of the corporation in Thoppumppady, petitioned the High Court stating that Pallichal Road in their division was renamed as V.S. Krishnan Bhagavathar Road in the morning of March 3.

The petitioners alleged that a strong lobby was at work in getting roads and streets within the corporation limits renamed after taking bribes.

There is another catch in renaming roads. If a change in road name is not properly reflected in corporation files, there may come to exist two roads at least on documents. “The lobby of unscrupulous contractors takes advantage of this and drains corporation of its resources every year in the name of maintenance and repair of such non-existent roads,” Mr. Thomas said.

“In the case of renaming Pallichal Road, even the division councillor Celine Peter was kept in the dark. It has now become clear that councillor of the neighbouring division was behind this action,” Mr. Thomas alleged. An allegation corroborated by the Town Planning Committee sources and Ms Peter.

Neither has the division councillor given a letter recommending change of name nor has the ward committee passed a resolution for renaming. As per section 379 of the Kerala Municipality Act, a street vested in and maintained by the Corporation shall be named or renamed after seeking the opinion of the ward committees or ward sabhas concerned.

“Our ward committee has neither recommended a name change nor has the council approved it. I have sent a complaint to the Mayor and the corporation secretary on the issue. Councillor of the neighbouring division, R Thyagarajan, is behind renaming of the road,” Ms. Peter said.

It is pointed out that the council’s decision to refurbish the corporation boards displaying the road names was exploited to bring about a name change. The councillor in question may have prevailed over the contractor entrusted with renovating the boards, town planning sources said.

R Thyagaragan has refuted the allegations. “Division councillor’s letter recommending name change of the road is on record. Corporation secretary is also aware of the name change and council has approved the name change on December 29 2012,” he said.

The town planning committee and the corporation secretary had also opposed the arbitrary name change while directing to reinstate the old name. Despite that the old name was yet to be restored, the petition said.

Arbitrary change of road names has been reported from other parts of the corporation. Kalvathi Road in Mattancherry was found named after a person one fine morning, town planning sources said.

 


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