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BMC paves way for regularisation of illegal cellphone towers

Friday, 23 August 2013 10:09 administrator
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The Indian Express               23.08.2013

BMC paves way for regularisation of illegal cellphone towers

Over 1,600 illegal cellphone towers in Mumbai will now have to comply with the latest draft policy guidelines of the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC). According to a recent survey by the civic body, of the 3,620 illegal towers in the city, 1,800 are under litigation. The rest will have to adhere to the new guidelines, which are yet to be issued.

"We will have to implement the new cellphone tower draft policy guidelines with retrospective effect and all those illegal towers, which are not under litigation, will have to comply with the norms," said Municipal Commissioner Sitaram Kunte.

This, in turn, paves the way for regularisation of most of the illegal towers in the city, said civic officials. "The structure of these towers will have to be modified their structures or altered a little, but there is no clause to demolish old illegal towers under the new policy," said a civic official.

A recent survey by the BMC has concluded that of the 4,779 towers in the city, only 1,159 are legal. The rest have been set up without approval from BMC. The number of illegal towers is twice of what it was in 2011.

The draft policy, which is yet to be tabled in the BMC's standing committee for final approval, restricts the number of towers to two per building. Towers cannot be installed atop schools, colleges, hospitals, orphanages, child rehabilitation centres and old-age homes.

Activists, however, have pointed out that the current BMC draft has ignored several key suggestions issued by the Department of Telecommunications (DoT) on August 1.

According to the advisory guidelines for state departments, local bodies will have to get a no-objection certificate (NoC) from building owner/entities having roof-top rights or roof-top tenants in case of a roof-based tower or the land owner in case of a ground-based tower. This crucial guideline has not been incorporated by the BMC.

Another DoT guideline, which finds no mention in the draft policy is that service providers will now have to periodically establish/certify that all general public areas around the tower are within safe exposure limit, and it will have to be implemented for both old and new ones. Failure to comply could attract penalty or lead to shutdown.

The DoT rules also call for setting up of state-level and district-level telecom committees to address public grievances relating to installation of towers and telecom infrastructure, which is not there in the BMC draft.

Meanwhile, 16 residents' groups from Mumbai have written to Minister of Communications and Information Technology Kapil Sibal, saying that BMC has issued a revised draft policy based on the DoT guidelines of June 2013 and not the August 1st guidelines "which supersede all previous guidelines".

"They will implement it for old antennae only after the present agreement or permission expires, which can be another five or 10 years. We have to bring to your notice that TAIPA (Tower and Infrastructure Providers Association) and operators have indulged in renewing contracts in advance at higher rents and for longer contract period to prevent getting into the net of stricter revised BMC guidelines," says the August 19 letter, signed by south Mumbai residents, Prakash Munshi and actor Juhi Chawla.

 

South corporation to outsource school playgrounds

Friday, 23 August 2013 09:29 administrator
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The Indian Express               23.08.2013

South corporation to outsource school playgrounds

In order to impart quality sports training to students in municipal schools under its jurisdiction, the South municipal corporation will now engage reputed sports bodies in a public-private partnership (PPP) to raise the standard of sports education in its schools.

According to the proposal, the Corporation will outsource playgrounds to sports academies who will not only develop and maintain the grounds for a particular sport, but also provide free-of-cost training to municipal school students after school hours.

The corporation has invited an expression of interest from leading sports academies in this regard.

Many sports bodies such as Bhaichung Bhutia Football School, Delhi Lawn Tennis Association, Delhi Wushu Association, Delhi Judo Council, Delhi Karate Association and Delhi Taekwondo Association have already expressed interest to work with the civic body.

"Most of our schools have huge playgrounds, which remain underutilised. With the help of sports academies we will be able to use these playgrounds to the benefit of students. We will be able to train them in a sport of their interest," Satish Upadhyay, Education committee chairman, South corporation, said.

The sports bodies will be able to run their academies and provide paid training to children from the neighbourhood. This will help them recover operational costs," Upadhyay said.

"We have already begun the process of mapping playgrounds to determine suitability of grounds for different sports. Once the terms and conditions are finalised, we will sign a memorandum of understanding with the bodies," he said.

The Corporation is looking at engaging the academies for a tenure of five years to begin with.

"We are planning to outsource playgrounds in 50-odd schools in the first phase and expand the number later on. We are also looking at implementing the scheme in the next three months,"Sushil Singh, Director, Primary Education, MCD, said.

The corporation has 438 primary schools in its four zones — South, West, Central and Najafgarh. Over two lakh students are enrolled in these schools.

"Land is a premium commodity in the city. We will provide the academies open spaces and they will provide us their expertise. Its a win-win situation," Upadhyay said. 

 

Civic agency takes stock of vehicles at Asaf Ali Road parking

Friday, 23 August 2013 09:27 administrator
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Hindustan Times               23.08.2013

Civic agency takes stock of vehicles at Asaf Ali Road parking

Officials held a meeting on Thursday and have written to the National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB) to find out how many of the abandoned vehicles gathering dust at this parking lot are stolen.

A senior official said the transport department was given a list of 264 abandoned vehicles to ascertain their owners. “The department has responded with a list of 193 vehicles with names of their owners. We are now sending notices to the respective owners with a 15-day deadline to respond,” the official said.

After the HT report appeared on Monday, ADC (RP Cell) Ravideep Singh Chahar wrote to the NCRB to find out whether any of these ‘abandoned’ vehicles were involved in criminal cases or have been reported stolen.

The letter states: “As per information given by the parking contractor and other concerned authority, a list of vehicles reportedly lying unclaimed in the parking site for so many years was sent to the Commissioner Transport Department of Delhi for giving the details of registration of such vehicle…. The North Delhi Municipal Corporation wants to dispose of these unclaimed vehicles after issuance of notice to owners of these vehicles and with the consent of the Police Authorities.”

North civic body spokesperson Yogendra Singh Mann said various departments of the corporation have been instructed to do their bit for the parking lot’s facelift.

“Around Rs. 48 lakh has been earmarked for renovation, Rs. 60 lakh for firefighting facilities such as sprinklers and provision for hydrants and Rs. 16 lakh for lighting of the Asaf Ali Road parking have been proposed by the respective departments and would cleared in the standing committee meeting,” Mann said, adding that the makeover should be complete in 8-9 months.

 
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