Urban News

The Deccan Herald  13.09.2010

Real estate sans basic amenities

Poornima Nataraj, Bangalore, Sept 12, DH News Service:

Once a neglected City Municipal Council (CMC), Doddanekundi is now a booming real estate hotspot, dotted by clusters of apartments and layouts.

Although, Doddanekundi Ward no 95 suffers from lack of basic amenities, builders and land owners consider it as a thoughtful investment.

AECS Layout, LRDE Layout, BEML Layout are some of the prominent areas besides layouts created by private builders with high-rise apartments.

 The four lakes located in the ward, Doddanekundi lake, Chinnappanahalli lake, Kundalahalli lake and Sitaram Palya have not only helped builders sell their 'lake view' apartments but was also a major resource for groundwater, until the borewells dried up lately.

However, 24-hours supply of Cauvery water once promised by builders has not been kept. Even drilling of umpteen number of borewells, as deep as 1,000 ft has not yielded any water. Rampant drilling of borewells has only led to depletion of groundwater table.
Several ugly water scams have come to light with water becoming scarce by the day.

During summer, owners of private water tanks charge not less than Rs 800 per tank.  Now residents of Ward no 95 are waiting for Cauvery water supply, which is scheduled to be supplied by the end of next year. Only recently construction of underground drainage system has been sanctioned. Though apartments have their own UGD, independent houses have dug deep pits next to their houses letting out drain water causing pollution of groundwater.

Corporator of Ward no 95 N R Sridhar Reddy assured that toilets and water facility would be created at government schools. Also, parks, bus stops and street lights will be provided once the BBMP allocates Rs 3 crore to the ward, as per its budget.  "A lot of infrastructure work needs to be undertaken, as Doddanekundi is an old CMC area.  Laying of roads will have to be halted now, as the UGD work will begin shortly.

Rejuvenation of lakes, construction of community centres and a hospital are my other priorities,” he said.

The ward has 30 to 40 acres of government land which can be converted into sites and later allotted to the homeless, he added.

The Pioneer  13.09.2010

PNS | Chandigarh

Punjab Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal has approved the project of `31.08 crore for water supply, sewerage, sewage treatment plant and brick lining of the rainwater drains in Rajpura town.

Chief Minister has also given approval to the Budget estimates of `22.85 crore for the financial year 2010-11, out of which `21.65 crore would be spent on the execution of various development works. He also approved the revised Budget estimates to the tune of `13.14 crore for 2009-10.

Badal also gave nod to allot five acre land in addition to the 13 acres for the establishment of multi-disciplinary academy at Rajpura and directed the Revenue Department to immediately hand over the land to the Technical Education Department on lease basis.