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Tamil Nadu News Papers

Dindigul municipality maps out its development schemes

Wednesday, 05 February 2014 06:14
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The Hindu            05.02.2014

Dindigul municipality maps out its development schemes

On track:Students preparing for the digital mapping in Dindigul on Tuesday.— Photo: G. Karthikeyan
On track:Students preparing for the digital mapping in Dindigul on Tuesday.— Photo: G. Karthikeyan

Preparation of base map, property and utility map using Geo Spatial Techniques, the first of its kind in the State, commenced in Dindigul municipality. Through this process, the municipality is all set to chalk out its future plans and development schemes.

Launching the project here on Tuesday, Dindigul Municipal Chairman V. Marudha Raj said door-to-door survey would be undertaken to create a data base for the convenience of officials to chalk out future development plans. Details of all buildings, including commercial buildings, houses, water bodies, hotels, lodges, water streams, drinking water pumping stations, schools and colleges, in all the 48 wards would be digitised in the satellite image. At present, satellite image of Dindigul municipality did not have specific details of buildings.

Information like drinking water connection, EB connection, number of shops or houses in each building or apartments would also be tagged in the map, he said.

Survey of utilities like street lights, dust bins and underground drainage channels in every street and lane in Dindigul municipality would be tagged in the satellite images to enable municipal officials in Chennai and Dindigul to view it on the computer screen, he added.

A total of 60 field survey staff would do physical verification to collect the data and students of Geo Informatics from Gandhigram Rural Institute, Mysore University and Barathidasan University would create a data base and do the mapping work, said P. Nandha Kishore, consultant of the project. The State government had given approval to prepare a base map for 12 urban local bodies — Salem, Vellore, Erode, Tuticorin, Dindigul, Virudhunagar, Sivaganga, Udhagamandalam, Tambaram, Krishnagiri, Pudukkottai and Namakkal.

A sum of Rs.6.4 crore had been sanctioned for this project. The State government had received funds in the form of credit from International Bank for Reconstruction and Development for preparing the map, municipal officials said.

 

Slum dwellers to be shifted to Ammankulam tenements soon

Wednesday, 05 February 2014 06:09
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The Hindu            05.02.2014

Slum dwellers to be shifted to Ammankulam tenements soon

Ready for occupation:Tamil Nadu Slum Clearance Board tenements at Ammankulam constructed under the Jawaharlal Nehru National Urban Renewal Mission (JNNURM) scheme.- Photo: K.Ananthan
Ready for occupation:Tamil Nadu Slum Clearance Board tenements at Ammankulam constructed under the Jawaharlal Nehru National Urban Renewal Mission (JNNURM) scheme.- Photo: K.Ananthan

The Coimbatore Corporation would soon initiate measures to move to the Ammankulam tenements, the urban slum dwellers that lived along water bodies on encroached land.

The Tamil Nadu Slum Clearance Board (TNSCB) that had constructed the flats was ready to hand them over. Once the formal handing over was complete, the Corporation would start the process of handing them over to beneficiaries whom it had already identified.

The first to go and occupy the tenements would be the slum dwellers from the Highways Colony on Trichy Road, who occupied the Valangulam banks, said Mayor S.M. Velusamy a few days ago.

As and when the Corporation handed over the flats to the beneficiaries, it would mark the beginning of the next step in its efforts to rehabilitate the urban slum dwellers. At Ammankulam, 729 flats are ready for occupation.

Though the TNSCB had constructed 1,608 flats, it had to scale down the number after two apartments — 2B and 4B — sunk 50 cm and 25 cm triggering the need to demolish the top floors to restore stability to the structures. The sinking happened in 2010.

The Corporation had asked the TNSCB to construct the tenements under the Central Government’s Basic Services for Urban Poor programme of the Jawaharlal Nehru National Urban Renewal Mission project. The Government had also given more than 50 per cent of the project cost. Mr. Velusamy said that the Corporation had also decided to handover 20 acres to the TNSCB to construct 5,000 flats to complete the housing project for the urban poor. The 20 acres it had identified was in Vellalore and part of the Vellaore compost yard land.

Once the construction of 5,000 flats was complete, it would take the total number of houses constructed to more than 12,000. The TNSCB had constructed 7,000 apartments at Ukkadam.

He added that the Corporation deciding to hand over the 20 acre was based on a request from the TNSCB.

 

TNHB residents asked to pay for property sale deeds

Wednesday, 05 February 2014 06:06
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The Hindu            05.02.2014

TNHB residents asked to pay for property sale deeds

Residents of the tenement in Kodambakkam are opposed to the TNHB’s decision to charge them anything between Rs. 1.8 lakh and Rs. 3.5 lakh, as the differential amount owed to the Board —Photo: M. Vedhan
Residents of the tenement in Kodambakkam are opposed to the TNHB’s decision to charge them anything between Rs. 1.8 lakh and Rs. 3.5 lakh, as the differential amount owed to the Board —Photo: M. Vedhan

Nearly 20 years after moving into flats constructed by the Tamil Nadu Housing Board (TNHB) in Kodambakkam, owners have been asked to pay a few lakhs to obtain their property sale deed.

Residents of this cluster of TNHB flats at Puliyur, in Kodambakkam, recently received a circular from TNHB asking them to pay amounts varying between Rs. 1.8 lakh and Rs. 3.5 lakh, as the differential amount they owe to the Board, to get the sale deed of their flats. Land cost was fixed at Rs. 16.18 lakh a ground (2,400 square feet) in March 2009.

“We purchased a single-bedroom flat for Rs. 2.29 lakh in 1993 by borrowing from various sources and completely using up our savings. We rushed as the flats were built by the government but now we regret our decision,” said S. Varadhan and S.N. Eshwaran, who were among the first to move into the TNHB complex in 1996.

Residents say rarely does a day pass by without a portion of a balcony, ceiling or terrace crumbling and falling. There are a total of 428 flats, comprising 64 two-bedroom flats, 124 single-bedroom flats and 240 flats constructed in 10 blocks.

“A team of government officials should visit and see for themselves the pathetic condition of our flats. We are living under the perpetual fear of being buried in rubble, and demanding more money of us is unfair and arbitrary,” said Vasantha Viswanathan.

Jecintha, a resident living in a ground floor flat, had a narrow escape on Monday evening. “I was sitting outside my flat on the ground floor when the plaster on the sun shade of the flat on the third floor fell in a heap,” she said.

Chitra Bhaskaran, another resident, said the quality of construction was poor and the overhead water tanks were resting on weak and brittle concrete slabs and pillars. Several owners had sold their flats at a pittance and shifted elsewhere, she added.

TNHB officials said they had issued the circular following a High Court direction. There was nothing wrong with the quality of the construction, the officials claimed, adding that the maintenance of flats was the responsibility of the owners and occupants.

 
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