The Deccan Chronicle  02.12.2010

Dec. 1: The pathetic state of garbage collection centres in the city, has finally forced the Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Paalike (BBMP) to act.

Shocked by the unhygienic conditions at the garbage collection centre at Neelasandra, chairman of the BBMP standing committee on health, Manjunath Reddy, said stringent clauses would be incorporated in the forthcoming garbage tenders to stop this.

While conducting a inspection in the East zone of the city on Wednesday, he found pourakarmikas working in an unhealthy atmosphere and exposing themselves to health hazards.

He directed the officials to provide them gloves and shoes and also slap notices on garbage contractor Gopinath Reddy for the laxity on his part and for sub-leasing garbage collection. As per the terms of the contract, the BBMP is empowered to deduct five percent of the billed amount for collection of garbage, if the tender norms are violated.

The dirty surroundings at the popular Hyderabadi Biryani Centre on Victoria Road and the failure of the owner to renew the trade licence, also caught the committee’s attention. The officials were directed to slap a notice on the owner and take samples of the food for conducting tests.

Mr Reddy also ordered the closure of a meat shop adjacent to the Hyderabadi Biryani centre for its unhygienic state.

The Times of India        01.12.2010

Demolition drive in Sec-45 HIG flats

CHANDIGARH: The enforcement wing of Chandigarh Housing Board (CHB) carried out demolitions of unauthorized portions of high income group (HIG) flats in Sector 45-A amidst allegations that the allottees were not given adequate opportunity to regularize the 'need-based changes' by paying compounding fee. The garages and boundary walls of over 30 houses were razed in the drive carried out under high police presence.

Rajinder Singh, an affected resident, said CHB had issued a notification inviting applications for regularization of changes in the original layout but it was not properly publicized. Also, a clause was added that the applicant should first get a copy of the layout plan from the architecture department, he said.

''However, the architecture department stopped accepting applications in September and the allottees did not get a fair opportunity to apply. CHB's objection that the garage should be four-feet smaller is impractical as it does not leave enough space for parking even a small car,'' added another resident of the area.

The protesting residents alleged that boundary walls of their houses had been demolished, leaving their bedrooms exposed, which posed a serious security threat. ''For the past 19 years, the authorities did not wake up to the issue and now they have gone ahead with demolition straightway,'' said Singh.

After the finance department did not reply to the proposal sent by the board for extension of the deadline for accepting compounding fee, CHB had decided to stop accepting applications for allowing need-based changes in the houses allotted by it. The board decided to send back the applications received after the last date along with the fee deposited by the applicants.