The Hindu      12.09.2014 

Govt. plans beautification of Delhi

Water-logging, bad roads, and dirty parks may soon be history for Delhiites as the Urban Development Ministry along with civic agencies is working on a plan to clean and beautify the Capital.

Taking a step further towards the ‘Clean and Green Delhi’ drive, Urban Development Minister M. Venkaiah Naidu on Thursday discussed the plan with officials of the Delhi Development Authority, Delhi Jal Board, the three municipal corporations, and the New Delhi Municipal Council .

Mr. Naidu said that the general public's perception of management of public places and utilities is poor and it should be changed though a special drive.

Among the measures discussed at the review meeting , the most important ones were removal of malba from the roadside, anti-water logging measures, repair and painting of roads and footpaths, and cleaning and facelift for urinals.

Out of the total Delhi Urban Area of 44,777 hectares, 8,722 hectares is under green/recreational land use. Of this, 5,050 hectares is with the DDA (42 per cent).

The DDA , the nodal agency for the beautification of Delhi, has been given the responsibility of tree plantation, streetscape improvement , increasing number of streetlights, installing street furniture and public conveniences besides reviving 59 water bodies and building toilets in parks and public areas.

The DDA will upgrade facilities in 25 children’s parks, play fields in 80 parks, construct open gyms in 20 parks, and come up with more shelters, food kiosks, open spaces and plazas.

Knowledge Parks for children would also be promoted by the DDA. One such park for differently-abled children will be developed at sector 21 in Dwarka at a cost of Rs. 14 crore.

Five bio-diversity parks developed by the DDA would soon be opened to the public.

Mr. Naidu urged all the organisations to designate officers for coordinating and monitoring the clean and green activities.

The Minister also asked the Delhi Government to evolve a strategy to address the issues relating to beggars, rag pickers, homeless, and migrants.

The Hindu      12.09.2014 

MCC on overdrive to complete road, beautification projects

City corporation Commissioner Chandrashekar G. Betsurmath and other officials inspecting the chairs installed inside the Town Hall, one of venues of Dasara-related cultural programmes, in Mysore on Thursday.— PHOTO: M.A. SRIRAM

Mysore City Corporation (MCC) has gone into overdrive to meet the deadline set by the government for completing road and beautification works in view of Dasara.

While the renovation of the Town Hall has been expedited to ensure that the venue will be ready for hosting Dasara cultural events, road schemes are expected to begin in a few days as tenders for 55 works will be opened on Friday.

A sum of Rs 1.63 crore would be spent on filling potholes, while Rs. 3 crore would be spent on asphalting roads. The remaining amount will be spent on beautification, according to the MCC.

The State government has sanctioned Rs. 5 crore as Dasara grant this year to the MCC.

Along with last year’s unused grant of Rs. 2.23 crore, work on 55 projects costing Rs. 7.23 crore would begin soon, according to Chandrashekar G. Betsurmath, Commissioner, MCC.

Review of progress

Mr. Betsurmath, accompanied by officials, engineers and the contractor who bagged the the Raja Marga and Town Hall renovation projects, inspected the progress of works being expedited to meet the Dasara deadline.

Speaking to presspersons, the commissioner said that the “much-delayed” Raja Marga project, which was going on at a snail’s pace, had been speeded up and works scheduled under it were expected to be completed soon.

The debris and construction materials dumped in the surroundings of Town Hall, a century-old building known for its impressive architecture, were being removed from the place and interior works, including fixing of chairs for spectators, were nearing completion, the commissioner said after inspecting the Town Hall.

He said, 350 chairs had been fixed and wall panelling work would be done within a few days.

The work on the exterior of the building would be taken up after Dasara, he added.

Additional labour force and machines, if necessary, would be pressed into service to complete the works at the earliest, he added.

To a question, the commissioner said that the 55 works included beautification of parks and painting of kerbstones in the city centres.

The work on asphalting a portion of the stretch between vegetable market on M.G. Road till Karanji Lake through Race Course has commenced. It’s a major link road to tourist spots, including Karanji Lake Nature Park, Mysore zoo and Chamundi Hills and Somanathapura.