The Hindu                31.05.2013

Corporation to issue notice to mall, establishments

Civic body’s intervention follows a spate of reports on encroachments stifling Edappally canal.

The Kochi Corporation will soon issue show-cause notices to the LuLu shopping mall, workshops, garbage yards and other establishments which have allegedly encroached upon the water body or whose boundaries hamper free flow of water in the Edappally canal, the chairman of the Town Planning Standing Committee K.J. Sohan has said.

This was aimed at ensuring the mandatory width for making the Edappally canal navigable, Mr. Sohan said. The corporation decided to intervene in the issue, though belatedly, following a spate of media reports on encroachers stifling the water body.

Sources in the water transport sector said the Kerala Shipping and Inland Navigation Corporation (KSINC) had in March 2012 mentioned 13 encroachments into the canal that was once used to ship people and materials.

The encroachments include a 540-metre-long compound wall built alongside the canal. The other violations range from a 30-metre-long compound wall to 100-m-long parking sheds. These were listed in a study titled ‘Action plan on development of the Edappally canal’.

On allegations that a mall’s compound wall is hampering free flow of water, sources said that there was a condition in the no-objection certificate issued by the Kochi Corporation to the property that the compound wall has to be at a straight line from the bridge along NH 47 at Edappally Junction.

“It was also asked to demolish the portions of the wall that protrude into the canal. The operators were also asked to clean up the slush and construction debris from the water body. As for bridges built over the canal in violation of the minimum height (4.50 metre) rule, it is up to the Irrigation Department to initiate action,” said a corporator. Officials associated with Kochi metro rail said making the canal navigable at the earliest is crucial to ensuring integration of different modes of transport.

“This is among the criteria set by Japanese and French financial agencies to provide loans for the metro. Big boats can ply in either direction only if the canal is 15-metre wide.”

Currently, Kochi Metro Rail Limited (KMRL) has identified Edappally and Vyttila as the two hubs for integrating the metro rail with water transport.

The clearance of the Edappally waterway for enabling waterborne traffic is one of the secondary objectives of the KMRL as part of the action for making this canal navigable.

The district revenue authorities have been asked to conduct a resurvey along the length of the canal in this regard, said a press release issued by the agency.

Compound wall issue

On whether LuLu mall’s compound wall would have to be demolished for the ‘landing’ from the Edappally metro station, sources said the station has been relocated just next to the bridge on NH, with landings on vacant spots on either side. This prevents the need to demolish the wall.

Untreated sewage

Meanwhile, members of Mankuzhi Nagar Residents’ Association, who reside just behind LuLu mall, have objected to the increase in encroachments and the discharge of effluents into the canal.

“Oftentimes, people complain of severe head ache due to the nauseating stench. The issue was also taken up with the mall’s management since it is affecting people’s health in a major way,” said M.B. Prakash, former councillor of Kalamassery municipality. The issue has also been taken up with the District Administration, the State Human Rights Commission and the Pollution Control Board.

The Hindu                31.05.2013

Rs. 53,000-crore plan outlay cleared for State

Special Correspondent

Chief Minister N. Kiran Kumar Reddy has secured the Planning Commission’s approval to a Rs. 53,000-crore plan outlay for the State for 2013-14 as presented before the legislature as part of the Rs. 1.61 lakh crore budget on Thursday.

A sum of Rs. 6,422 crore, which will accrue to the State under Centre-sponsored schemes for the year, will take the overall plan outlay to a high of Rs. 59,422 crore -- 8.2 per cent higher compared to that of the previous fiscal. The plan outlay was finalised at a three-hour-long marathon meeting with officials of the commission in New Delhi.

Mr Reddy, who utilised the occasion to discuss a range of other matters with Deputy Chairman of the commission, Montek Singh Ahluwalia and other officials, made an impassioned plea, seeking investment clearance to the Polavaram project based on its revised cost (Rs. 16,010 crore) and its recommendation to the Centre to take it up as national project along with Pranahita-Chevella (Rs. 38,500 crore), a mega project being implemented to benefit Telangana.

Accompanied by Finance Minister Anam Ramanarayan Reddy, and principal secretaries of Finance and Planning V. Bhaskar and S. P Tucker, he firmly told the commission that Andhra Pradesh would achieve a 10 per cent economic growth during the 12th Plan -- 1.2 per cent higher than that of the projected national average. The State’s expenditure would take a quantum jump and reach a peak of Rs. 3.42 lakh crore during this period, the per capita being Rs. 75,270 as against the national average of Rs 68,747. The commission complimented the State as Mr. Reddy explained the launching of the sub-plans for Scheduled Castes and Tribes, Bangaru Thalli, girl child protection scheme, and Amma Hastham through which nine essential commodities were being sold to white cardholders at subsidised rates.

At a media briefing later, the Chief Minister, however, ruled out the possibility of implementing the cash transfer scheme for scholarships and pensions as the Centre was meeting only a part of the expenditure on them.

He said as advised by the commission, projects worth Rs. 20,000 crore would be submitted for approval later under Phase II of the Jawaharlal Nehru National Urban Renewal Mission.