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General Administration

MC to take up expenditure estimate of 19 tubewells today

Monday, 23 September 2013 09:47 administrator
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The Indian Express          23.09.2013

MC to take up expenditure estimate of 19 tubewells today 

Cc 

With an aim to make up for water shortage in the city expected next year, the Municipal Corporation will be installing 19 tubewells in different parts of the city. Amidst concerns about the impact on the water table due to this, the installation of tubewells is being considered the only solution to the impending water shortage. From next year, 9 million gallons water daily (mgd) from the share Chandigarh uses would be diverted to Panchkula and Chandimandir.

The proposal is to install a total of 45 tubewells. In the first phase, expenditure estimate of installing 19 tubewells is coming up for approval at a meeting of the General House scheduled for Monday.

Chandigarh receives a total of 87 mgd water of which 67 mgd is from Kajauli Water Works and the rest is from tubewells. As per the 1983 agreement, share of water was also supposed to be given to Panchkula and Chandimandir. However, the pipelines were not laid. Due to this, the share of water was being used by Chandigarh for all these years. The work for laying pipelines is now at the fag end. It is expected that from next year, the city would be short of 9 mgd water. The peak summer demand in Chandigarh is already between 113 and 117 mgd.

In this situation, installation of tubewells is being touted as the only solution to the problem. Officials expect that once the 45 tuebwells are in place, the shortage would be met. The tubewells are being installed at places where permission from the architecture department is not required. These include the water works of the MC and public health store.

However, the falling water table in the city is a cause for concern. Studies indicate that the decline is from 2.5 metre per year in the northern sectors to around 1.5 metre in the southern sectors. There are already around 220 tubewells in the city. Of these, 170-180 are functional and 10 per cent become defunct every year.

Officials say that there is no alternative to getting water for the city. The project for Augmentation of Water Supply Phase V and VI is hanging fire due to the tussle between Punjab and Haryana over water sharing. Even though pipelines for the next two phases are in the process of being laid, there is no clarity on the water share.

Stray cattle menace to be discussed

The issue of stray cattle menace will also be discussed at the General House meeting. Earlier this month, trucks carrying stray cattle from the city were torched in Haryana. The BJP and Akali Dal councillors had been demanding a special House meeting to discuss the issue. The councillors state that a policy to catch and release stray cattle needs to be framed as adhoc measures being taken have led to the problem.

 

BMC on overdrive to remove illegal hoardings

Monday, 23 September 2013 09:44 administrator
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The Indian Express          23.09.2013

BMC on overdrive to remove illegal hoardings

In spite of BMC's concessions to Ganpati mandals during the 10-day Ganeshotsav festival, over 2,000 illegal banners, hoardings and boards that flout a Bombay High Court ban, were removed since the start of the festival from across the city on September 9.

Nearly half of these —991 of 2063 removed banners, posters, and boards —were political in nature. This includes 419 illegal political flags. Another 38 per cent or 798 of these signages were religious and 274, or 13 per cent, were commercial.

The civic body allowed 648 mandals across Mumbai to put up hoardings as a source of revenue. The permission was restricted to within 100 metres of the mandal concerned.

Till Saturday, 272 police complaints had been filed with the Mumbai Police on the issue and the corporation had begun prosecution in 48 cases. The civic body till September 17 has filed First Information Reports (FIRs) against 263 alleged perpetrators. Of these, maximum were registered in Kurla, Mulund, Goregaon-Malad, and Dadar and Mahim areasof the city.

"We paid fees to the BMC to put up all the commercial hoardings in and around the mandals but everyone believes we are responsible for the hoardings that were put up illegally outside the limits of permitted space. However that is not true and there was nothing we could do about it – it is the BMC's lookout to ensure illegal hoardings are removed," said N Walawalkar, secretary of Brihanmumbai Sarvajanik Ganeshotsav Samanvay Samiti (BSGSS), an umbrella organisation of Ganpati mandals in the city. It may be noted that prior to the start of celebrations, the BSGSS had been pushing for an extension of the 100-metre perimeter for hoardings.

"Hoardings during festival season are a sensitive matter. We have to wait till the end of celebrations before we pull down the illegal hoardings else we are accused of hurting public and religious sentiment. We are working as best as we can," said a senior official of the civic licence department. Data on action taken against illegal hoardings shows that since the start of September, after 608 illegal signboards were pulled down post Dahi Handi celebrations on August 28, the civic body only began the removal process after the fifth day visarjan when 78 such installations were pulled down.

Following this, on September 16, post the seventh day visarjan, 245 illegal banners were removed. After the tenth day Visarjan which saw many large mandals carry out idol immersion, on September 19, 1,044 illegal banners, posters and hoardings were removed. The next day, an additional 648 signages were brought down.

In March, the Bombay High Court had said it would hold the municipal commissioners as 'co-conspirators' responsible for putting up illegal hoardings and asked the BMC and other civic bodies in Navi Mumbai, Thane, Mira-Bhayander and Pune to remove all illegal posters, banners, billboards and hoardings within 24 hours. olitical parties in the corporation subsequently took a collective decision to end the practice for public canvassing.

 

Most illegal but non-dilapidated buildings not in TMC 're-survey' list

Monday, 23 September 2013 09:38 administrator
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The Indian Express          23.09.2013

Most illegal but non-dilapidated buildings not in TMC 're-survey' list

Although Thane Municipal Corporation (TMC) is now planning to survey 1,047 dilapidated buildings on its list to avoid mishaps such as the Mumbra building collapse of Saturday, a majority of illegal but non-dilapidated buildings across the city are not part of the list. The five-storey 'Banoo' building located in Jeevan Baagh area of Mumbra, which collapsed around 6.30 am Saturday, is one such illegal building that was not listed as a "highly dilapidated" or "dilapidated" building.

Meanwhile, the death toll in the collapse reached three Sunday, with the body of Moin Mustan Qureshi (35) being recovered from the debris.

Mumbra, with a population of over two lakh, is home to nearly 30,000 families. TMC Commissioner Aseem Gupta said: "Although we are attempting to minimise risk by first concentrating on the highly dilapidated and dilapidated structures, there is no way of knowing how dangerous or dilapidated an illegal structure is, as we do not have the foundation design of a majority of the structures in the city. Over 90 per cent of the buildings in the area are illegal. It is difficult to predict a collapse."

The civic administration has so far given eviction notices to 61 buildings that are highly dilapidated and dangerous to live in and evicted 51 families. As per civic data, 1,047 structures, which are dilapidated but not dangerous, have also been served notices.

Gupta said periodic checking of buildings, based on complaints by residents and locals, was being undertaken by the civic administration. "We are giving notices to residents of illegal buildings," he said.

Meanwhile, the Thane civic administration has registered a case of criminal negligence and conspiracy against the builder, owner and contractor of Banoo building.

With 28 families rendered homeless, the civic administration has decided to compensate every family with Rs 5,000 for their rehabilitation. Further, the TMC will soon implement a policy to compensate all families who are affected by a building collapse, in case of both illegal and legal structures.

This proposal will later be sent to the corporators to be turned into a compensation policy for all building collapse victims," said Gupta.
 
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