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PMC takes steps to drain out rain water

Thursday, 30 July 2009 07:05 administrator
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The Times of India 30.07.2009

PMC takes steps to drain out rain water

TNN 30 July 2009, 06:21am IST
PATNA: With monsoon getting active, the Patna Municipal Corporation (PMC) has put its field officials on alert as part of its effort to keep the city free from waterlogging this rainy season. All the sanitation inspectors have been asked to keep a vigil in their respective areas of jurisdiction and they have to assess the situation every two hours.

Pumps of all the sump houses are being made operational and there are standing orders to run the pumps in accordance with the need. If required these pumps would be run continuously too to drain out water.

"Apart from existing pumps we are keeping 20 additional high power pumps in ready position to drain out accumulated water in case it rains heavily," PMC commissioner K Senthil Kumar said on Wednesday.

Regarding water accumulation at a few places on Tuesday, including Kadamkuan locality, Kumar said that quick action was taken and the accumulated water was drained out within three hours.

The PMC has also directed field officials not to allow accumulation of garbage at any point of the city.
 

Rs 58 crore sanctioned for JNNURM projects

Thursday, 30 July 2009 06:21 administrator
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The Times of India 30.07.2009

Rs 58 crore sanctioned for JNNURM projects

TNN 30 July 2009, 04:18am IST
SHILLONG: The Union ministry of urban development has sanctioned Rs 58 crore for implementation of three projects under the Jawaharlal Nehru urban renewal mission (JNNURM) in the state.

State urban affairs minister Paul Lyngdoh said, "Under the first project "basic services for urban poor" housing projects will be undertaken for BPL families."

Altogether five localities in the state capital Pynthorumkhrah, Kynjat Phutbol in Raid Laban, Demseiniong, Mawbah and Lower Mawprem would be covered under this project, Lyngdoh said. He added that Rs 21 crore has been sanctioned for the purpose. "The second project on solid waste management will be taken up in Tura and Nongpoh," the minister said. He added that Rs 10 crore has been sanctioned for the project in Tura, while for Nongpoh an amount of Rs 9 crore has been earmarked.

The third project under JNNURM relates to construction of houses at Nongpoh and Williamnagar.under the Integrated Housing and Slum Development Project (IHSDP).

Lyngdoh said while Rs 9.18 crore had been sanctioned for Nongpoh, Williamnagar got Rs 10.47 crore. He added that he had requested Union minister for urban development Jaipal Reddy to exempt Meghalaya from the purview of the 74th Amendment, which relates to panchayati raj and holding of civic polls during a recent meeting.

Though JNNURM projects are connected with holding of civic polls, no such election has been held in Shillong Municipal Board as the hill state, does not follow the panchayati system and adheres to its traditional tribal administrative bodies.
 

Pre-2000 slums may be regularised

Thursday, 30 July 2009 05:06 administrator
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The Times of India 30.07.2009

Pre-2000 slums may be regularised

Sanjeev Shivadekar, TNN 30 July 2009, 01:35am IST

MUMBAI: Despite reservations expressed by a section of ministers, the state cabinet pres-ided over by CM Ashok Chavan on Wednesday approved the controversial proposal to regularise slums constructed prior to January 1, 2000.

When the cabinet took up the proposal, a senior Congress minister obliquely opposed the proposal, saying, before taking a final decision on regularisation of slums, there should be wider debate on it. "Mumbai is already saturated. The urban infrastructure is on the verge of collapse. Under such circumstances, if we regularise the slums, it will be suicidal,'' a minister told TOI.

"Secondly,'' the minister asked, "If the government decides to regularise pre-January 2000 slums, what will happen to the slums that have come up between 2000 and 2009. Are we prepared to raze the slums that have come up after January 2000? Before taking any policy decision, we must draft a new policy or there will be chaos.''

An official said, "Since the whole issue is pending before the apex court, the government will have to seek the SC's approval before issuing an official order."

"The move is clearly aimed at wooing slum voters who comprise more than 60% of Mumbai's total voters. However, the opposition may find it hard to criticise the decision for fear of alienating the voters,'' said a political observer.

Incidentally, the Congress and NCP has won all six parliamentary (Congress-5 and NCP-1) seats in Mumbai.

TOI was first to report that the state government is all set to move an ordinance to extend the cut-off date to regularise slums from January 1, 1995, to January 1, 2000.

In fact, since 1976, the cut-off dates for regularising slums have been extended on various occasions. In 1995, the Shiv Sena-BJP came to power and formed the Dinesh Afzulpurkar committee to look into the slum removal issue. In the same year in December, the saffron alliance amended the 1971 Act to provide for the creation of the Slum Rehabilitation Authority (SRA) and announced January 1, 1995, as the cut-off date.

Later, when the Congress came to power it filed an affidavit in court that it will not extend the 1995 cut-off date. But the Congress in its election manifesto of 2004 promised to regularise the slums till January 1, 2000, and filed a fresh affidavit in Bombay high court seeking extension of the cut-off deadline till 2000.

But with the court unwilling to extend the deadline, the state government has filed an affidavit in the Supreme Court.

 
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