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Corporation refuses to stop eviction drive

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The Hindu       01.07.2011

Corporation refuses to stop eviction drive

Staff Correspondent

The Mangalore City Corporation on Thursday refused to stop the ongoing drive to evict the street vendors, while it sought 15 days to fulfil the vendors' demand for alternative place to carry out their business.

The demand of the street vendors, who were protesting in front of the corporation office, was raised by councillor Jayanti B. Shetty at the meeting of the MCC council.

Ms. Shetty said the corporation should stop the use of “Civic Tiger” against the vendors until they were provided with alternative place as stipulated by the Supreme Court judgment. She was joined by councillors Mariyamma Thomas and Appi.

The three councillors came to the well of the House and sought explanation from Mayor Praveen. After initial resistance, the Mayor said a decision about the alternative place would be taken in the next two weeks in consultation with the Dakshina Kannada District In-charge Minister J. Krishna Palemar and N. Yogish Bhat, MLA.

Then a councillor demanded a ban on staging protests before the corporation office. The Mayor said protests or demonstrations would not be allowed in front of the corporation office in future.

Vendors oppose

Meanwhile, street vendors said they would start doing business from Friday regardless of the threat of eviction.

Abdul Hafeez, secretary of the Street Vendors' Association, said Mr. Palemar had asked them to carry on their business till alternative arrangements were made.

 

MCD targets 21 residential properties

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The Hindu        29.06.2011

MCD targets 21 residential properties

Staff Reporter

The building departments of South and Central zone of the MCD intensified their sealing and demolition drive on Tuesday with 21 residential properties being sealed or demolished by the civic agency.

In South Zone, major action was taken against unauthorised constructions in areas such as Chhattarpur Enclave, Rajpur Extension, Malviya Nagar, Village Mandi and Hauz Rani.

In Govindpuri, nine properties including 26 floors were sealed. “We had made plans to seal 25 properties but were able to take action against nine only,” the MCD official said.

 

Coastal zone authority topenalise Kochi Corporation

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The Hindu         28.06.2011

Coastal zone authority topenalise Kochi Corporation

G. Krishnakumar

The Kerala State Coastal Zone Management Authority (KSCZMA) has decided to impose a penalty on the Kochi Corporation towards the expenses required for restoration of five acres of mangrove-rich site at Mundamveli reclaimed by the civic authorities for setting up a sewage treatment plant.

Sources in the authority said the penalty would be decided as per provisions of the Environment (Protection) Act, 1986 after assessing the extent of damage inflicted by the corporation on the site.

It is learnt that the authority will issue a notice to the Kochi Corporation asking them why action should not be taken for violation of the Environment (Protection) Act and Coastal Regulation Zone (CRZ) norms.

It will also prepare an action plan on how to bring back the site to its original condition.

The move is part of the follow-up action being initiated by the Authority based on a report submitted by an expert committee that revealed gross violations of the CRZ norms for carrying out the project.

The expert committee had used time-series satellite images compiled by the Centre for Earth Science Studies (CESS) to assess the ecological damage on the mangroves in the area, which comes under the CRZ-1 and IV (aquatic areas).

It was also found that around three acres of land was reclaimed using red earth.

The report pointed out that the site is a CRZ-1 area considering various factors including the presence of mangroves and the influence of the tide.

Sources said that the Union Ministry of Environment and Forests had made it clear that setting up of sewage treatment plants in CRZ-1 and CRZ-4 areas was not permissible.

It had earlier pulled up the Mumbai Municipal Corporation in a similar case.

 


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