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Raising dust
CONSTRUCTION of a road or a highway often brings development and sends property prices spiralling, but exactly the opposite is happening in Jammu. The very lifeline of the country, National Highway No. 1, is spelling doom for realty in the town of Bari Brahmana, 13 km short of Jammu.
In the twilight zone
GROUND REALTY
Tax tips
TREND MILL
Agni Property to invest Rs 60 cr, will open 16 new offices
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Raising dust
CONSTRUCTION of a road or a highway often brings development and sends property prices spiralling, but exactly the opposite is happening in Jammu. The very lifeline of the country, National Highway No. 1, is spelling doom for realty in the town of Bari Brahmana, 13 km short of Jammu. The stretch of NH-1 passing through the town is being four-laned. So far, so good. In the widening process, the National Highway Authority of India (NHAI) elevated the one-kilometer stretch by raising 30-40 feet surface constructing concrete walls to lay a new, elevated road. Consequently, the town has been virtually cut into two separate, unconnected halves with no passage for vehicles to drive under. Only pedestrians can walk through the three-four openings. Shops and business establishments that once boasted of facing NH1 are now in trouble. As sales plummeted due to the new construction, so did property prices. A 12x15 sq.ft. shop that once fetched upwards of Rs 3.25 lakh has no takers even at Rs 1 lakh. It would be convenient and safe to earn interest than wasting Rs 1 lakh from where business has virtually disappeared was the general refrain among the people here. While the trading community on the left side of the highway (from Jammu) is witnessing a 25 per cent business loss, their counterparts on the right side are bearing a whopping 60 per cent loss. Sample this: Cash sales have slumped to Rs 1 lakh from Rs 4 lakh a day at petrol filling stations. On lean days, sales hover around the Rs 50,000-mark. The Indian Oil Corporation filling station established in 1978 has recorded a whopping loss of Rs 60 lakh a month. “Heavy vehicles and long distance vehicles don’t come to us and we are forced to cater to local vehicles,” said an official. Things are no better at Shivalik Autoliners, owned by a retired police officer. Lone employee Satpal said that before the project began, they would get 22 oil tankers a month. “Now we barely order two to three tankers. Sales have come down from Rs 1.2 crore to Rs 1.5 lakh a month,” he said. A three-storey hotel with a bar and restaurant now earns a petty Rs 6-7000 a day. Gazelle Bar, Restaurant and Hotel owner Satinder Singh, who had invested Rs 75 lakh to raise the hotel, is struggling to repay the bank loan. “We have nine rooms. Most of them remain vacant as no one likes to stay here,” he said. The trading community in the industrial town of Bari-Brahmana has been bearing the maximum brunt of ‘ambitious’ schemes part of the north-south corridor project. “Usually, such projects see a steep increase in real estate prices but here, not only have our livelihoods have been hit hard, property rates too have gone down drastically,” said 70-year-old M.L. Khanna, who has been running a steel workshop for the past two decades. “It is impractical even for pedestrians. There are just three-four openings in the one-kilometre stretch. It would have been lot better had they constructed a flyover like the one in Jammu city, Khanna added. Tarsem Gupta, a businessman dealing in cosmetics, readymade apparel and branded shoes since 1982, said that his business, too, had been ruined. “My business has come to zero after NHAI raised the surface to build an elevated road. We now want to sell our shops, but there are no takers,” said Gupta. We have made numerous representations to the state government through the then Jammu divisional commissioner B.R. Kundal, Congress MPs Lal Singh and Madan Lal Sharma, sitting minister Surjeet Singh Salathia and former minister Gulchain Singh Charak but nothing worked out. “We also contacted NHAI and suggested that a flyover be made instead, but they turned down our request saying rules did not allow it,” said Gupta. Had NHAI raised a flyover, the space underneath could have been utilised for parking lots besides providing wider passage to the people easily to cross over, he added. Pawan Kumar Garg, manager of NHAI’s technical wing, said that five-six openings had been maintained in the stretch, but only for pedestrians. “Keeping openings for vehicles increases the risk of mishaps,” he said. He said that flyovers could be constructed on highways, but the bearing capacity of Bari Brahmana soil was poor. “NHAI had no choice but to raise the surface. Half the work running into crores of rupees had been completed by the time objections were raised,” Garg said.
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In the twilight zone
THE relief in colonisation norms announced by the Punjab Government has been short-lived. Now, the Greater Ludhiana Area Development Authority is working on a zoning plan for townships in Punjab and developers seeking permission to have colonies in under 75 acres will have to wait for the official notification of a zoning plan showing actual area details.
Confirming the development, Greater Ludhiana Area Development Authority chief administrator A. K. Sinha said plots of less than 75 acres, as announced recently, would only be allowed in densely populated areas. Housing societies in all other parts of the state will have to conform to the condition of minimum 75 acres. “We have asked the town planners to work out the zoning plans to show us possible areas for new colonies. A team of more than a dozen experts is already on the job and we are expecting the plans very shortly,” Sinha added. As per official procedure, the department will first have to approve mapping followed by a notification before allowing any changes. As a senior officer puts it, “We cannot allow all housing societies seeking permission to go ahead. Area maps need a clearance because we have to keep in mind the future development of the town.” Till date, the authority has cleared no application regarding new housing societies in smaller areas announced by deputy chief minister Sukhbir Badal recently. In fact, no fresh applications have been received though the relaxed rules could mean approximately 100 new colonies in Ludhiana area alone. Developers had met Sukhbir Badal and apprised him of the problem of housing societies in big cities, which had very little open area. Says property dealer Vishal Kumar “There are many aspects of the change which will be clarified only after the notification. One of the issues is that it is very difficult to find a 75-acre piece for a housing project most parts of the state. The coloniser is expected to pay Rs 35 lakh per acre as development charges to the government, which is very steep. This meant only big players could enter the market.” Developer Kuldip Singh agrees that the small developer operating on the regional level was being left out. “We small developers cannot muster even a fraction what the biggies could spare for housing projects. Local people are being edged out of the market,” he says. A senior official said that one of the dictating reasons for allowing only big companies to develop housing societies was to ensure state-of-the-art infrastructure before a colony was approved. “Instead of promoting big residential colonies, why doesn’t the government lay stress on and ensure that all colonies – big and small -- provide basic infrastructure? A fitness certificate should be made compulsory and the order implemented strictly by giving more powers to enforcers,” says Kuldeep Singh. Retired government official Jeet Ram says buyers would benefit from the new decision. “Scores of small players had duped buyers into investing in their housing projects promising all modern facilities. Several constructed societies were even lacking in basic infrastructure like drains, roads and parking places,” he says. Builders had been exploiting buyers, chips in timber merchant Naval Kishore. “There were certain societies in which constructors had handed over possession of half-built houses. Imagine a person spending his entire life’s earnings on the dream house and then being duped. After repeated appeals to constructors, these buyers are now probing the option of moving court.” A clearance now has meant that development on a number of ongoing projects, stalled because of government orders, will start in the near future. One immediate action on ground will be removal of huge signboards all over the city asking people to refrain from investing in projects not cleared by the government.
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Balcony Beautiful
Magnificent to see, tricky to build. Balconies and cantilevers need not be a disaster. JAGVIR GOYAL lists some basics that will ensure your balcony looks good forever THE most common structural failure noted in the buildings is the collapse of the balconies and extra-projecting sunshades. Most of these failures occur due to the ignorance of masons and building contractors unaware of the correct placement of steel reinforcement in cantilevers. A cantilever RCC slab is the unsupported portion of a slab projecting beyond the face of the wall. Similarly, a cantilever beam is the unsupported projecting portion of a beam beyond a wall or column. Balconies, sunshades and canopies are often constructed as cantilevers. Failing and falling balconies or sunshades are a common sight and sometimes these failures prove fatal for the people standing under them. In order to construct failure proof balconies, sunshades and other cantilevers, here are a few guidelines:
Hire an engineer: As the size, span or support system of slabs and cantilevers varies from building to building, it is always better to get a cantilever or balcony designed from an engineer. The unsupported projection or span of the cantilevers really matters. More the span, more steel reinforcement is needed near the top face of the cantilever slab. Then the support-system also varies. Sometimes, the slab for a balcony is totally unsupported and sometimes a column may exist somewhere below it. An engineer can have a look at the site conditions and design the thickness of cantilever and decide the steel in it accordingly. Thickness of slab: A cantilever slab need not have uniform thickness like the normal slab. It can be kept thickest at the support and thinnest at free end. Generally, builders or masons skip this variation in thickness and keep it uniform. This is tolerable when cantilevers are small spanned, but for large beams and slabs, both the thickness of slab or depth of beam as well as the steel reinforcement in them should be reduced as we move away from the support. Cost-saving should be made on this account. General thumb rule: More is the overhang of a balcony, canopy, sunshade or any cantilever, more is the thickness of its slab at the support and heavier is the steel to be put in it. Though cantilevers should always be designed by a professional, as per general experience, for a three-foot overhang, if 1:2:4 concrete is used, slab thickness at support can be about 90 mm. For a 5-foot overhang, the slab thickness may be 130 mm while for a 10 feet overhang it should be about 300 mm. In a three-foot wide balcony, 10 mm diameter steel will have to be kept at just 4.5 inch spacing. A five-foot wide balcony will need at least 12 mm diameter steel placed at just 7 inch centre to centre spacing. For cantilever beams, depth of beam at the support should not be less than one-tenth of its span. For cantilever slabs, thickness of slab at support should not be less than one-twelfth of the span of the slab. Anchoring of cantilevers: Another very important point to keep in view to avoid failure of cantilever beams and slabs is to provide sufficient counter-weight at the support to stop overturning of the overhang. For it, best method is to construct the cantilever slabs as monolithic in continuation of the slab over the rooms. This avoids overturning of balconies. Similarly, if the beams are to be extended beyond a wall as cantilever beams, these too should be kept continuous and monolithic with the beam portion inside the rooms. Otherwise, we must put enough load over the supported end of cantilever to hold it against overturning by building a wall over it. If it is not possible to provide this load, then the balconies or cantilevers need special designing. The shuttering for cantilever should not be removed till the time the anchoring load provided over it gains its full strength. This loading of supported end of cantilever will counter the negative forces in the cantilever. When the cantilever steel is designed, see that it is taken into the beam or slab for the minimum anchorage length required for that overhang. Better is to extend the main slab steel bars themselves into the cantilevers after cranking them. Use good quality concrete: For laying cantilevers, always use machine-mixed concrete. Use a mixer for production of concrete. Avoid manual mixing as it never gives satisfactory results and requires extra cement. A RMC plant owner may not agree to supply small quantities of concrete. In that case, use controlled concrete such as M20 instead of nominal mixes such as 1:2:4 or 1:1.5:3 concrete. This will save on cement as well. These days, everyone prefers a mixer and vibrator to lay concrete and cement is generally of good quality. Thus, controlled concrete can be easily used. Ask an engineer to design a concrete mix for you and adopt it. For example, while one cubic metre of 1:1.5:3 concrete may require 8.5 bags of cement, concrete of same strength can be designed with 6.5 bags of cement per cubic metre. Use a good mixer: Use a tilting mixer instead of pan type, paddle type or non-tilting type mixer. Tilting mixers are noted as 100T, 140T, 200T. Use a 200T mixer. T means tilting and 200 means a capacity of 200 litre. A 200T mixer is also called 10/7 mixer which tells that 10 cft of loose material mixed in it gives 7 cft of mixed material. Choose a mixer yourself instead of just ordering for it on phone. Look for a mixer having a baffle plate in it. Mixers without baffle plates do not mix the aggregates well. Check the brake, clutch and wire rope of the hopper as workable. Check it for rotation before toeing it to the site. Check that the gap between mixer drum and the blades is not more than 1 inch. Concrete mixing: Whenever you are going to lay concrete by using a mixer, butter the concrete mixer and the platform on which concrete is to be unloaded before start of concrete. For buttering, use a rich cement mortar having same cement sand ratio as is in the concrete to be laid. So, to lay 1:2:4 concrete, use 1:2 mortar for buttering. Put in a small batch of the mortar in mixer, give it a few rotations, unload on the platform and remove. Buttering helps in saving the cement of first batch of concrete from clinging to walls of the mixer or to the platform and the first concrete batch is not poor in quality. More tips in the next episode. Till then, happy building! (This column appears fortnightly) The writer is deputy chief engineer, civil,
PSEB. He can be reached at www.jagvirgoyal.com
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Tax tips
— Sam Desilva A. According to the provisions of Wealth-tax Act 1957, a residential house which has been let out for a minimum period of 300 days in a previous year as well as one house or part of a house belonging to an individual are not includible in the net wealth to be computed for the levy of wealth tax. If both the residential houses are self-occupied, one of the residential houses would come within the purview of wealth tax. The agricultural land situated within the municipal limits would also be subject to wealth-tax.
— Lt col
(retd) S.S. Bhatia A. Section 13A of the Income-tax Act 1961 (the Act) provides for the exemption of the house rent allowance subject to conditions prescribed in the Income-tax Rules. As per Rule 2A of the said rules, the amount of house rent allowance not includible in the salary is to be worked out as under: n the actual amount of such allowance received by the assessee in respect of the relevant period; or n the amount by which the expenditure actually incurred by the assessee in payment of rent in respect of residential accommodation occupied by him exceeds one-tenth of the amount of salary due to the assessee in respect of the relevant period; or n an amount equal to — where such accommodation is situated at Bombay, Calcutta, Delhi or Madras, one-half of the amount of salary due to the assessee in respect of the relevant period; and—where such accommodation is situated at any other place, two-fifth of the amount of salary due to the assessee in respect of the relevant period. n Whichever of the above is the least would not be includible in the income from salary. It would be observed from the above that one of the requirement is that the amount of deduction is limited to the excess of the amount actually incurred by the assessee in payment of rent over 1/10 of the salary of the relevant period. The issuance of mere receipt would not, therefore, be of any help and there has to be an actual payment of rent by your wife to you. It is not possible to compute the deduction allowable as the figure of total salary received by your wife is not indicated in the query. I would like to caution you that the department is not likely to agree for allowing a deduction as it seems to be most un-natural for a wife making payment to her husband towards house rent for the residential accommodation occupied by her though both of them are living together in the same house which is owned by the husband.
Is it possible to get a new copy of the registry? If yes, who is the competent authority to issue it and what is the right procedure? In any emergency, can property be sold or divided between daughters in the absence of original registry. As we both are senior citizens and don’t keep good health, please suggest a simple method to resolve this problem, keeping in mind income tax limits. —
J.S. Anand A. Your queries are replied hereunder: n You can obtain a certified true copy of the sale deed from the sub-registrar’s office where the same had been registered at the time of acquisition of the property. n It may not be possible to sell the property without the original papers. However, you may be able to gift the property by executing a gift deed in favour of your daughter. The gift deed also has to be registered and has to contain all the particulars of the property on the basis of the original sale deed. I would, therefore, advise you to obtain a certified true copy from the sub-registrar’s office before taking any action with regard to the sale or gift of the property.
Utilise amount within three years
Am I entitled to exemptions under section 54 of the Act from the LTCG for the amount (which was earned after selling plot) invested in my old demolish house for new construction thereon? What is the procedure for spending the earned capital gains? — Hardeep Singh A. You would be entitled to the benefit under section 54F of the Act provided the amount of the net consideration realised on the sale of the plot is deposited under capital gains scheme account before the due date of filing the return and the amount so deposited is utilised for the construction of the residential house within a period of three years of the date of sale of the plot.
Inherited property
What is the cost inflation index for the financial year 2008-09? Mr A born on 01.04.1944 would complete 65 on 31.03.2009. For which financial year shall he qualify as a senior citizen? Gift to a relative is tax-free. Can a gift be given to would-be son-in-law or to a fiancé/fiancée? Mr A gets as a gift or inherits some property and sells the same in the same financial year. Does it entail any capital gain? Will it be a short-term or long-term capital gain? — Lalit Bharadwaj A. Your queries are replied hereunder: n The cost inflation index for the financial year 2008-09 is 582. n Mr A should be able to claim the status of senior citizen for assessment year 2009-10. n Gift to a relative as defined under the provisions of section 56 of the Act is exempt from the leviability of Income-tax. The definition as contained in the aforesaid section does not provide for any exemption of a gift to son-in-law or a fiancé if the same exceeds Rs 50,000. n In case of a property received as a gift or by inheritance, the period of holding of the previous owner is taken into account. Therefore, in case the previous owner has held the property for a period of three years or more, the profit arising on the sale of such a property would be treated as a long-term capital gain. In case the aforesaid condition is not met, it will be a case of short term capital gain.
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Global Rentals Greater Noida records eighth highest jump Indian industrial areas post highest growth in rental values in Asia Pacific, Heathrow still most expensive industrial location in the world GREATER Noida in the National Capital Region (NCR) saw the eighth highest annual growth in rental values in the world as on December 2008, a report by a global real estate consultant said. According to a Cushman & Wakefield report 'Industrial spaces across the world 2009', Peenya Industrial Area and Bommasandra Industrial Area in Bangalore recorded the 12th and the 16th highest annual growth in rental values, respectively. Industrial areas in India saw the highest growth in rental values amongst the locations in Asia Pacific. Greater Noida, Peenya Industrial Area, Bommasundra Industrial Estate and Jigani Industrial took the top four positions in the Asia Pacific Region. Mumbai’s Thane Turbhe Creek, which had recorded the highest growth last year and had finished on the 26th position as the most expensive industrial locations, slipped eleven places to settle on the 37th spot. NCR’s Greater Noida area, which has been developed to attract medium to large-scale industries, recorded an annual growth of 25 per cent in industrial rental values in 2008. This location is particularly promoted for campus development and has in recent past not received much supply. This, coupled with marginal vacancy, has pushed the rental values northwards. Demand only marginally exceeded supply and mostly emitted from large corporates sectors like engineering goods, electronic goods, auto and auto ancillary industries amongst others. The area has also attracted sectors like warehousing and logistics. On the other hand, Manesar in Gurgaon saw a eight per cent fall in rental values in the same period as a result of large industrial area supply that entered the location outstripping demand and was mostly catered to small to medium size industrial sheds and locations requirement. This area continues to be popular with small to medium scale industries due to good connectivity and infrastructure, the report said. Peenya Industrial Area and Bommasandra Industrial Area around Bangalore also recorded healthy growth in rental values of 19 per cent and 11 per cent, respectively, in 2008. These established industrial locations around the IT city of Bangalore witnessed demand from small and medium scale industries. These locations have very little fresh supply, but due to favourable factors, have seen increased demand. Typically demand for this sector emits from sectors like manufacturing, electronics, storage and warehousing. London's Heathrow retained its position as the most expensive industrial location globally. — PTI
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Agni Property to invest Rs 60 cr, will open 16 new offices
NEW Delhi-based property broking firm Agni Property has said it plans to invest Rs 60 crore to expand its presence in the country by opening 16 new branches across West and South Zone by next 18 months.
“We will now open offices in the Western region in the first quarter of 2009-10 and, thereafter the Southern region in the last quarter of 2009-10 at a total investment of about Rs 60 crore,” Agni Property managing director Samarjit Singh said. The company, which has already invested Rs 20 crore for opening four offices in Northern region, further plans to make inroads into the tier II and tier III cities in due course of time, he said. The company has more than 500 registered users and more than 100 completed transactions. It is already close to break-even within 11 months of its operations, Singh said. Asked whether the company has tie-ups with financial institutions to provide loans to its customers, he said that the firm is working towards the purpose but there are no exclusive agreements yet. The company is a one-stop real estate avenue offering an entire range of property related services that include buying, selling, renting, legal services and other value added services. Currently, the promoters and management own about 70 per cent of the company’s equity, while investors hold 30 per cent stake. —
UNI
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Shop prices crash 70% 
Relief in colonisation norms: Developers seeking permission to build smaller colonies now wait for fresh zoning plan, may or may not get
go-ahead
THE most common structural failure noted in the buildings is the collapse of the balconies and extra-projecting sunshades. Most of these failures occur due to the ignorance of masons and building contractors unaware of the correct placement of steel reinforcement in cantilevers. A cantilever RCC slab is the unsupported portion of a slab projecting beyond the face of the wall. Similarly, a cantilever beam is the unsupported projecting portion of a beam beyond a wall or column.
Lay correct reinforcement: The main reason behind failure of balconies and cantilevers is the wrong placement of steel. In a cantilever, the main steel must be near the top face and not near the bottom face. In the roof slab or beams of a house or building, the main steel is near the bottom face. If this point is ensured, chances of the failure of a cantilever are reasonably reduced. Always get laid steel for cantilevers checked by a qualified engineer. 
Q. I want to know whether wealth tax is applicable to the owner of the property? Suppose my father owns two residential houses in different cities in the same state and some agricultural land within municipality limits. On what property would wealth tax be applicable? And what is the exemption, if any?
Q. I am a retired defence officer getting pension along with disability pension. My wife is a KV teacher, a tax payee and gets a house rent allowance of Rs 4,346 a month. We are staying in our own three bedroom house (total covered area 4,000 sq feet) registered in my name. Since I am a disabled soldier, my pension (the disability element and service element) is exempted from income tax. Can I issue a receipt of rent to my wife to get a tax rebate on
HRA? If yes, then to what limit? Of course, I will show the amount as income from house property in my return.
Q. My wife is a senior citizen, very old and does not keep good health. We have two married daughters. We have our own house, but my wife has misplaced or lost the original registry of the plot. All other papers are intact. Please advise:
Q. I have two residential houses in one city. One is self-occupied and the other — purchased through bank loan in May 2005 — is 25 years old and in bad state. I propose to construct a new house after demolishing this house. I also had one plot purchased in December 1985 and sold in December 2008 after 23 years. The capital gain from sale of plot has been deposited in a fixed deposit account. Now I want to spend such capital gains amount on new construction. My queries are as under:
Q. I solicit your valuable expert-advice on the following: