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Slum Development / Housing

KMC to begin work on LF-era housing project

Tuesday, 21 May 2013 09:12 administrator
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The Statesman                21.05.2013

KMC to begin work on LF-era housing project

KOLKATA, 20 MAY: The Kolkata Municipal Corporation (KMC) has started a project to construct flats for poor people that was initiated by the erstwhile Left Front government five years ago.  

The KMC will begin constructing the flats under the Basic Services for Urban  Poor (BSUP) project at Canal South Road this month after an inordinate delay. In 2008 the project was initiated by the civic body and the cost has escalated by 60 per cent owing to delay.  

In 2009, the civic body received more than two acres land from Kolkata Improvement Trust (KIT) where the flats will come up. The KMC failed to find a contractor to construct the flats even after floating several tender in the past four years.  

The Rs 41-crore project to construct flats at Canal South Road was taken up under the Jawaharlal Nehru National Urban Renewal Mission (JnNURM) scheme. As per JnNURM norms, the Centre and the state government provided 70 per cent of Rs 41 crore, while the KMC would have to pitch in with the remaining 30 per cent of the total project cost. Beneficiaries will give Rs 1.5 crore before receiving the flats. Five five-storied buildings will come up on the plot. The construction of the flats will start next week and is likely to be completed within a year.  

The civic body has taken four years to start construction of flats at Canal South Road due to its faulty planning, lack of foresight and lackadaisical attitude, a civic official said.  

In the last financial year, the KMC failed to utilise Rs 31 crore under the JnNURM scheme and the money was returned to the ministry of Urban Development. The Centre had allocated Rs 498.48 crore during the 2011-12 financial year.  The KMC could utilise only 14 per cent of the funds received for BSUP project under the JnNURM scheme. Flats were supposed to come up at Rajarghat, Kacharipara, Hatgachia, Anandanagar, Jalpara, Garden Reach, Pagladanga, Topsia and Banerjeepara under the scheme. None of the projects has started.

The JnNURM grants to the civic body were withdrawn a few weeks ago as the KMC failed to utilise the grants, and the KMC has been asked to return the grants, along with an interest of nine per cent. Last month senior officials of the ministry of Urban Development also expressed their dissatisfaction over the failure of the KMC to utilise the funds under the JnNURM scheme at a meeting in KMC headquarters.

Last Updated on Tuesday, 21 May 2013 09:18
 

Nashik Municipal Corporation to shift out hutments on sadhugram land in Tapovan

Thursday, 16 May 2013 00:00 administrator
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The Times of India                16.05.2013

Nashik Municipal Corporation to shift out hutments on sadhugram land in Tapovan

NASHIK: The 10 hutments, which were shifted to the land reserved for the sadhugram along the Mumbai-Agra highway in Tapovan, will again be shifted to the Nilgiri Baug housing society. The owners of 139 constructions on the sadhugram land have also been notified by the civic administration to submit their property documents.

In the wake of the forthcoming Simhastha Kumbh mela to be held in 2015, the Nashik Municipal Corporation (NMC) has decided to shift the 10 hutments that it had shifted temporarily from the highway to the 54-acre sadhugram at Tapovan earlier. The hutment dwellers will be included in the list of beneficiaries for the Nilgiri Baug housing society which has been constructed as part of the housing scheme for the urban poor under the Jawaharlal Nehru National Urban Renewal Mission (JNNURM).

The civic body needs a total of 328 acres for the sadhugram. It has only 54 acres of land in its possession since the last Kumbh in 2003-04 and is yet acquire 274 more acres.

The town planning department has already issued notices to the 139 constructions on the 274 acres of land reserved for the sadhugram, which connects to the land already in possession of the civic administration. They have also asked for the required documents from the property owners.

"These constructions - including houses and farm houses - are of the owners of the land reserved for the sadhugram. In order to acquire this land we will need to do away with the constructions," executive engineer of the NMC's town planning department S V Ghuge said. He further said that while these constructions were not illegal, the documents of the properties were being verified.

"Some of the owners have submitted the documents while others are yet to submit them. We are in the process of scrutinising the documents that we have received," said Ghuge.

Meanwhile, the sadhus have been demanding more land for accommodating the visiting sadhus for the mela and criticising the administration for not making proper arrangements.

 

Housing Board to adopt Bureau of Indian Standards code on buildings

Monday, 13 May 2013 12:19 administrator
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The Times of India               13.05.2013

Housing Board to adopt Bureau of Indian Standards code on buildings

LUCKNOW: Additional housing commissioner and secretary Rudra Pratap Singh on Sunday said the Housing Board was keen to adopt the latest safety norms recommended by the National Building Code 2005 of BIS (Bureau of Indian Standards) to protect its buildings from natural calamities like earthquakes, cyclones, landslides etc. The code also makes provision for structural safety against man-made disasters like fire, electricity, etc.

Housing Board is planning to conduct an extensive training programme for its engineers on National Building Code (NBC) soon so that they may use these norms in their building plans. Singh said, "I would ask BIS to properly induct our engineers on at least 5 most important safety norms which they may apply on field."

BIS, in coordination with the Institution of Engineers (India), UP State centre had organised an all India workshop in Lucknow to apprise local agencies and engineers on latest developments and provisions of NBC.

NBC 2005 takes care of latest data on earthquakes in the country and lessons learnt from them. It provides guidelines on latest construction practices to ensure that the infrastructure and buildings are able to withstand natural calamities. The national code can be voluntarily adopted by various housing and development bodies.

Abhishek Mishra, minister for science and technology, GoUP who was chief guest at the event told BIS representatives that he would ask local regulatory bodies (like LDA) in the state to incorporate the latest NBC of India 2005-BIS in their local building bylaws. "These norms should be adopted to achieve the objectives of safety, sustainability and ensuring health and proper ambience for building's occupants to improve productivity."

Sanjay Pant, director (civil engineering), BIS, New Delhi said the problem with Uttar Pradesh is that building bylaws change with every city and different nodal agencies like LDA, KDA, GDA have different codes for it. As a result, there is no uniform code for building safety which can be observed across the state.

"This is the second time we have come to Lucknow to educate agencies and engineers about the need for proper compliance to the NBC 2005 to achieve the objective of orderly, safe and sustainable development," he added. In NBC 2005, BIS has also included a new chapter on 'Approach to Sustainability' which provides guidance on sustainable and green building construction. Pant claimed that most builders and agencies do not understand the essence of green buildings and sustainable concept. "They often erase local natural vegetation, water bodies for construction purpose and instead make a few plantations, create some green spaces and open space in the name of green belt, which affects the local flora and fauna there," he said.

The code also makes provision for preservation of existing local flora, fauna, water bodies, and while managing this, allows further construction without tampering the natural environment. Normally, housing societies are meant to keep around 20-30% as green belt in the premises.

The sustainability chapter also educates engineers on selection of appropriate building materials and technology such as fly ash (produced from thermal plants) based brick blocks, plantation timbers instead of forest trees and those grown under agro and social forestry. BIS experts recommend that fly ash creates a lot of pollution hazard and hence can be cleverly used in construction material like bricks, blocks etc to improve construction's durability.

 
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