Urban News

  • Increase font size
  • Default font size
  • Decrease font size
General Administration

LMC reviews Aminabad market after anti-encroachment drive

Friday, 20 December 2013 09:12 administrator
Print PDF

The Times of India              20.12.2013 

LMC reviews Aminabad market after anti-encroachment drive

LUCKNOW: Three days after the aggressive drive to evict vendors from narrow lanes of Aminabad, Nagar Nigam did a follow up on the ground situation in the market on Thursday.

It also measured the extended shop areas of some owners who had sought a day's time to remove the encroached part themselves. Officials said few shopkeepers had encroached upon Salmon and Hanuman Mandir Road while the shopkeepers disagreed with the measurement of Nagar Nigam, claiming that they had been allotted the area long back.

On the day of the drive, LMC received a dozen applications requesting a day's time to remove the encroached part. Officials visited the market on Thursday to review the situation. Additional municipal commissioner Vishal Bharadwaj said, "Our prime focus is to keep Aminabad free of encroachment and we would continuously help the police keep the roads free of vendors and verandahs free of encroachment by shops."

After Aminabad, LMC's next target would be to clear Nazirabad Road from encroachments. Following high court's orders, the anti-encroachment wing of LMC on Dec 16 took a bold step by clearing hundreds of street vendors and demolishing illegal constructions of various shopkeepers encroaching upon verandahs of the market.

It had removed about 250 street vendors and had demolished encroached areas of 50 permanent shops in Aminabad.

 

Civic body compiles its property list after 20 years

Friday, 20 December 2013 09:07 administrator
Print PDF

The Times of India              20.12.2013 

Civic body compiles its property list after 20 years

NAVI MUMBAI: Navi Mumbai Municipal Corporation (NMMC) has started the process of compiling an inventory of its properties in the city. Since it was formed in 1991 and first elected its members in 1995, the civic body has not maintained a property list .

NMMC is the owner of some 1,800 properties, including department offices, hospitals, schools, common facility centres (CFC), gardens and playgrounds. Some of them were developed by City and Industrial Development Corporation (Cidco) and later handed over to NMMC. Thane Zilla Parishad had also handed over some offices, school and hospital buildings to the civic body and the latter has demanded more properties from Cidco. Hence a comprehensive record of civic property is yet to be made, said a civic official.

Deputy municipal commissioner (Estate) Dadasaheb Chabukswar said that his department has started preparing the list, "Civic commissioner Abasaheb Jarhad has instructed the officials to collect all details and prepare the property card of NMMC. We have already started the survey of all properties owned by the civic body."

NMMC has one civic hospital, 20 urban health centers, four Mother and Child hospitals, 65 schools, four fire brigade units, 165 gardens, one sports complex and many civic offices in the city. Most of the civic offices that are located in different nodes will be integrated at the new civic headquarter in CBD next month.

While education and local body tax departments are situated in Koparkhairane, planning and health department is working from the old NMMC building at sector 5 of CBD. The property tax department is operating from the NMMC building in Turbhe.

"Existing offices of these departments will be shifted to the new civic building in January. By then, many buildings will be vacant. NMMC will plan the future utilization of these empty buildings once the property card is ready." said a source from the civic chief's office.

Civic chief Abasahed Jarhad has instructed the officials to collect details and prepare the property card of NMMC. We have already started the survey of all properties owned by the civic body.

 

Civic tenders will include design code for urban roads

Friday, 20 December 2013 09:03 administrator
Print PDF

The Times of India              20.12.2013 

Civic tenders will include design code for urban roads

PUNE: The ministry of urban development has urged cities to follow a new code of practice for design of urban roads it has prepared in consultation with experts. The code lays importance on standards and norms related to road markings, road signages, traffic calming methods, road cross section design and intersection design.

The focus is on requirements of pedestrians, cyclists and public transport users. "It is possible to design pedestrian, bicycle and public transport friendly roads in cities. The guiding principle for such a design is meeting their needs. Use of alternative transportation systems, bus priority systems, open and green landscapes and pedestrian only areas are being seen as an opportunity to revive the city," the detailed note on the new code of practice, sent last month to all municipal corporations, said.

The new code should be included in the tender conditions for urban road contracts, the ministry said.

The Pune Municipal Corporation's road department chief Pramod Nirbhavane said while the new code of practice is yet to reach his office, the points mentioned in the code are significant. The civic body has formed a Standard Technical Advisory Committee for road construction. Nirbhavane said the new code will be discussed at the next meeting of the committee and the code will be included in tender conditions for road contracts.

The ministry has observed that the character and mix of modes of transport has changed vastly. The volume of traffic has also multiplied enormously. Currently, urban roads are being designed as per the codes of practice issued by the Indian Roads Congress (IRC).

While there are at least 15 such codes, these were issued in the beginning of 1962. The latest codes were issued about ten years back. Most of the codes were issued in the 1970s and 1980s.

The ministry felt that there was a need to review the existing codes to suit the changing situation in cities, and therefore prepared the new code of practice for design of urban roads.

The new code has been prepared through Institute of Urban transport, in association with Transportation Research and Injury Prevention Programme (TRIPP), and Indian Institute of Technology Delhi.

While provisions of various IRC codes have been taken into account in the new code, there are two basic variations from IRC codes, based on latest research and practice around the world. The new code specifies that a road should be designed for the intended speed limit on the road. Also, the lane width has been linked to the speed limit of the road.

For road-users' safety

  • Application of geometric design standards is essential for safety of road users
  • Design of a cross-section of a road governs speed, and space allocation for road users
  • Roads must be accessible to 'all' including the disabled
  • The code has design principles for road cross section, intersection, markings, signage and traffic calming at one place
  • It has design elements based on safe urban speed limit to meet needs of pedestrians and cyclists
  • A ready reckoner provides guidance for right of way ranging from 6m to 120 meters based on road function and land use type
 
More Articles...


Page 99 of 686