REAL ESTATE
 

 

‘Aashiana’ for slum-dwellers

Haryana proposes to build apartments for economically weaker sections, Bijendra Ahlawat finds out

With housing facilities being thrown open on a large scale through private sector in Faridabad, thus providing ample opportunities to the economically-sound class, it is perhaps the government that is left with the burden to look after the housing needs of the poor.

The Haryana government proposes to build apartments for the economically weaker sections (EWS) in near future. Though the government had been providing reservation in the allotment of plots for the EWS in the various housing schemes launched earlier, it is perhaps for the first time that a decision has been taken to build flats for those residing in slums, including jhuggi clusters and unauthorised colonies.

While this scheme is yet to be launched in various cities of Haryana, officials of the Town and Country Planning Department have already begun their exercise.

Authorities in Faridabad have identified nearly 50 to 60 acres of land in the district, parts of which are located in Sectors like 55, 56-A, 62 and 65. These areas are either partly developed or under development.

According to sources, a meeting to this effect was held recently at Chandigarh. It was presided over by the Director, Town and Country Planning. It is reported that the scheme, if launched, would not only solve the housing problem of the poor, but also tackle the problem of encroachment on government land. It is learnt that over 100 acres of land, worth hundreds of crores, has been under encroachment in the city.

There are at least 67 unauthorised residential colonies in the city, with population of three lakh. While several residents are migrants and have been living with no civic amenities, there are about 45,000 families living in such clusters. According to an official of the department, the proposed flats will be two-room set units for each such family and the cost of the unit could be paid in instalments spread over 10 to 15 years.

He, however, said that such a scheme could be success only if a condition is attached that the allottee will not be able to sell the dwelling unit for a stipulated time period and the allotment would stand cancelled, if the allottee is found residing somewhere else.

Aashiana, as the scheme would be called, is to be aided by the Centre and Haryana Urban Development Authority (HUDA) would provide the land. HUDA would also be responsible for the construction of the housing units. Sources in the state government confirmed that another proposal is lying with the government, where all vacant land lying in the vicinity of the urban residential areas or the cities, is to be acquired by the state government, to provide housing facilities to the poor.

It has been claimed in the proposal that this would not only desist the land mafia from purchasing or encroaching upon the government land, but would also solve the problem of slums clusters in the cities. It may be recalled that there are a total of 91 urban sectors, which are already developed or under development in the city.

Of these, many of the sectors have been coming up in the area lying across Gurgaon and Agra canals, which had been an agricultural patch so far. Over 5,000 acres of land has been purchased by the private builders in this area.

Another housing scheme for the poor has been launched by the Municipal Corporation, Faridabad, (MCF) within the civic limits of the city.

This scheme proposes to provide about 6,000 EWS flats mainly to those residing in slums. Ration cards and resident ship will be provided as has been a part of the national-level Jawahar Lal Nehru National Urban Renewal Scheme (JNURM), launched with the help of the Union and state government.

Faridabad is the only city which has been covered under the scheme and will receive about 2,300 crore to revamp the civic infrastructure, MCF Commissioner, Mr Mahtab Singh, says. 

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Urban poor face massive housing shortage

While India eyes a GDP growth rate of 9 per cent plus in the next five years, there is still no answer to the housing woes of the economically weaker sections of the society.

According to an official in the Union Housing and Urban Poverty Alleviation Ministry, whether it is West Bengal, Tamil Nadu or Maharashtra, most states across the country will experience a massive shortage of over 11 million dwelling units for the urban poor in 2007.

Maharashtra will have a cumulative shortage of 3.72 million housing units this year.

“Over 95 per cent housing shortage is related to the economically weaker sections (EWS),” a senior official in Union Housing and Urban Poverty Alleviation Ministry was quoted as saying.

The shortage of housing in 2007 at the national level stands at 24.71 million. Out of this 21.78 million shortage relates to the economically weak section, the report said, adding that in the category of lower income group, there will be shortage of 2.89 million housing units.

According to the National Building Organisation (NBO), an agency under the Housing and Poverty Alleviation Ministry, there will be an estimated 0.04 million shortage of housing in the middle and high-income category in 2007.

The NBO’s estimation of housing shortage for 2007 in Maharashtra, Tamil Nadu, Uttar Pradesh and West Bengal is 3.72, 2.82, 2.38 and 2.04 million units, respectively.

Delhi, which is on its way to becoming a world-class city, faces a shortage of 1.13 million housing units.

Andhra Pradesh, Gujarat, Karnataka and Rajasthan are other major states where projected housing shortage is 1.95, 1.66, 1.63 and 1 million, respectively.

The Union Housing and Urban Poverty Alleviation Ministry in the National Urban Housing and Habitat Policy-2006 has emphasised the need for addressing the housing problem of urban poor in slums.

The policy mandates the earmarking of up to 20 per cent of dwelling units for EWS people in every private and public housing colony.

As per Planning Commission estimates, the population living in urban slums in 2001 was pegged at 61.8 million, which reflects approximately 12 million families, which by themselves would need 12 million proper houses along with all civic infrastructures.

Lack of access to basic amenities in urban areas is also a key problem to be addressed. There is a 9 per cent deficiency in drinking water, 26 per cent in toilets and 23 per cent in drainage.

“The gap in qualitative terms would be much higher. Thus, the real challenge before the government is to ensure sustainable development of human settlements while emphasising a solution to the core problem of housing,” the official was quoted as saying. — ANI

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Khatamband pattern faces gradual extinction

Steps should be taken to save this Kashmiri art, says Ehsaan Fazili

Khatamband, one of the traditional architectural techniques of panelling the ceiling with wooden pieces arranged in an intricate geometrical pattern, has been a unique feature in the residential houses and other structures in Kashmir.

This six -centuries-old handicraft is believed to have come from Iran and Arab world where geometrical and calligraphic patterns are preferred to imaging of objects.

This art that was mainly used on the ceiling roofs of mosques and other shrines, witnessed a gradual transition to the official buildings and the houses of affluent class of people in Kashmir. With the beginning of economic upliftment of masses by the second half of the 20th century, this became a common feature in the houses of middle-class in Kashmir. However, it has remained more common in Srinagar than in the rural areas, due to varying financial background of people. When it became common in the middle -class domestic use, it was initially fitted in the smaller rooms and then graduated to halls, lately even to the corridors of big houses and bathroom ceilings.

Builders of houseboats have kept this old craft alive, as it is the only design used in the ceilings inside the houseboats, known the world over. Most of the high-rise buildings, including hotels and new constructions undertaken by the state government, make use of the Khatamband ceiling to give it a “Kashmir exclusive look”.

It is distinctively visible in the main shrines like that of Sheikh Nooruddin Wali at the newly constructed shrine at Chrar-e-Sharief and the shrine of Shah-e-Hamadan at Khanqahi Mohalla. The ceiling was also installed at the newly designed temple inside Srinagar’s Civil Secretariat.

It takes a lot of sustained delicate work on highly finished wooden panels by the workers and a distinguished lot of carpenters to fabricate the woodwork. It is a traditional technique of panelling the ceiling with wooden pieces arranged in an intricate geometrical pattern. These masterpieces are made of soft pinewood called fir or budloo in Kashmiri.

It is brought out with the combination of two different shapes that are interwoven to fabricate the structure on the ceilings and finished according to the room size. No nails are used to join different wooden pieces in making the ceiling.

Small squares, with a thickness of about three fourths of an inch and with length and breadth ranging between two and five inches, are interwoven with each other through tiny grooves on 4-feet long shafts to fabricate the woodwork. The woodwork fabricated in these units gets assembled on the roof ceilings, be it traditionally made of the wooden shaft or concrete cement slab.

This is fabricated at the centres in household units in Safakadal, Iddgah and adjoining localities in Srinagar. There are about 200 members associated with the Khatamband Ceiling Carpenters Union having 64 registered units. Even the educated youth, including some graduates belonging to these families, have preferred to be associated with this flourishing craft of Kashmir. But for the support to provide adequate quantity of timber at affordable prices, this art may be going out of the hands of a select class of artisans. There have been over 100 designs of art, out of which only 60 are being produced by handicraft men presently.

“Only six to eight designs find a good market,” says Abdul Hameed Najar, president of the union, himself supervising a unit spread over three rooms in his residential house. Commonly seen patterns include Dwazda Girdh, Punch Muraba, Hashkan Chot and Mooj. Computer designs are also available now, as the educated youth try to bring out more and more attractive designs, he claims. Depending upon the design it takes 10 days to one month to fabricate the ceiling for a spacious room, says Bilal Ahmad, working in one of the units. The cost of doing one square foot of Khatamband ranges between Rs 70 and Rs 160.

Wooden ceiling is needed in Kashmir for cold weather conditions, opines Bashir Ahmad. He laments that the wood is not made available to the carpenters who used to get it from the government depots, which, according to the president, Abdul Hameed, is issued for two months a year. For the remaining season, carpenters have to get it on the black market. “The wood should be easily available throughout the year and on concessional rates,” comments Bashir Ahmad. That would make it affordable and popular, he opines.

The Union Minister for Water Resources, Prof Saifuddin Soz, opines that the craft had suffered a great neglect and this age-old cottage industry lies in shambles.

“It is not exactly a dying craft, but there is a need to further strengthen it for suitability to the weather conditions,” an expert says.

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Estate talk
Ansals set to change Amritsar skyline
R. Suryamurthy

The skyline of the Land of Five Rivers is set to change by the end of this decade with a real estate major planning to develop five townships and 15 commercial projects, including a state-of-the-art entertainment and hospitality plaza in the Golden Temple town of Amritsar.

With the peace process taking strides, Ansal API is pinning hopes that the trade and movement of people and goods would increase with growing trust and confidence amongst the two South Asian nuclear neighbours.

Although Radcliff Line partitioned Punjab, it has not divided spirit of the people living on either side of Punjab. “We are expecting greater trade and movement of people in Amritsar, which would be the trading centre hub, apart from a place of religious significance in the coming years,” Ansal API President Deepak Sachdev said.

He said “Ansal Plaza at Amritsar is designed by world renowned architect Oru Bose and is being developed as the regional retail, entertainment and hospitality powerhouse, offering best in the class experience and product.”

The company plans to invest Rs 11,000 crore in the next four years in building 20 projects. The company plans to raise the money through debt and internal accruals. The Foreign Institutional Investors have increased their stake in the company by 9.45 per cent to 14.47 per cent at the end of December 31, 2006, compared to 5.02 per cent the previous quarter.

The major FII shareholders at the end of the latest quarter includes Citigroup Global Market Mauritius, Lehman Brothers Asia Ltd, Morgan Stanley and co and UBS Securities Asia Ltd.

Mr Sachdev said the company has plan lined up for Ludhiana, Jalandhar, Bathinda, Pathankot and Amritsar for real estate projects.

In Ludhiana, he said the company has tied up with Ritesh Industries to develop housing project and business park which would replicate the Hampton Court of London.

Mr Sachdev said the company has entered into an agreement with Sanjeev Arora of Ritesh Industries, a garment exporter, to build a housing project and business park spread over 42 acre in Ludhiana, with an expected revenue of about Rs 800 crore.

It has signed with Roots Corporation for setting up budget hotel, Ginger, at the housing project in Mohali.

Apart from Mohali, it has plans to develop a township, business park and boutique mall in Ludhiana. In Jalandhar, it is coming up with two townships, shopping mall and has plans for multiplex and township in Amritsar, Bathinda and Pathankot. 

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City of Nawabs embraces mall culture

The City of Nawabs and old world charm is going modern with a vengeance with all big names in the business setting up shop in the half a dozen glitzy malls coming up.

Leading business houses have either already set up base or are in the process of establishing their presence in this Uttar Pradesh capital.

The Wave multiplex marked the advent of the mall culture here about 20 months ago and there has been no looking back since.

Wave was followed by the Sahara group’s, Sahara Ganj, marketed as the Gen Next version of the downtown market Hazratganj. And last week witnessed the inauguration of Zee Fun Republic.

Three more ventures in the pipeline include Singapore Mall, City Mall and Riverside Mall — all in the thriving Gomti Nagar hub.

For the city’s booming middle class with increasing purchasing power, there are choices aplenty. Name a brand and it is bound to be available in one of these malls if not at a full-fledged retail store of its own — be it Marks and Spencer, Bossini, Blackberry’s or Globus, to name just a few.

Other retail chains like Big Bazaar, Vishal Mega Mart and Citimart have also come up.

And now all eyes are on the arrival of the big-ticket food and grocery retail chain, Reliance Fresh, to be shortly launched by Reliance Industries.

Reliance Fresh has already identified 20 sites in different parts of the city to launch its outlets for a range of products - essentially groceries, vegetables, fruits and dairy products — latest by mid-April.

“Competition is gong to be tough and only players with solid base will be able to survive,” warned a senior Reliance official.

However, Zee Mall CEO Atul Goel sees tremendous buying potential. “We see Lucknow emerging as a Rs 6 billion ($136 million) organised retail market and this should ideally witness an annual growth of 20 per cent.”

“This is the right time (to enter the market). With right brands and attractive pricing, companies with deep pockets and smart marketing strategies are bound to do good business,” he added.

Added Shoppers’ Stop operations chief S. Ranganathan: “Our target is the higher income segment that is more keen on good quality, luxury and class.

We are not here to compete with local retailers.” “Lucknow is now on the move and I am sure the trend is here to stay,” is how Rakesh Verma of the upcoming Riverside Mall put it. — IANS

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Big malls, SMall towns
Shveta Pathak

It is not only the large towns that remain the focus of builders and developers when it comes to setting up malls, small towns too have begun capturing attention. Kochhar Land Developers Private Limited, an Ambala-based company, too, has planned to set up a mall-multiplex in Mandi Gobindgarh. The company, which has a couple of township projects in Ambala, Khanna and Sirhind, plans to go ahead with construction in round two months.

“The state has a high per capita income which is not restricted to big towns. However, development in areas like malls has been restricted so far. We plan to fill this gap and provide people with a global shopping experience for which they had had to go to places like Chandigarh so far,” says Mr Kuljeet Kochhar, Managing Director of the company.

Giving further details, he said the project, which is expected to be complete in around two years, would involve an estimated cost between Rs 45 and Rs 50 crore. “We are conducting a consumer survey through which we would be able to get a clear idea of requirements of people in this area. Through this mall cum multiplex we would cater to Khanna, Sirhind and Amloh, besides Mandi.” 

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Break and rebuild!

Mumbai builders mull cluster redevelopment, says Shiv Kumar

After pushing through the redevelopment of individual buildings across Mumbai, the powerful builders’ lobby in the city are pushing for ‘cluster redevelopment’ or entire clusters of buildings.

Interestingly, the proposal envisages demolition and reconstruction of even those buildings which are in good shape and which their owners intend to preserve the way they exist. Last month, the Lok Group of Builders submitted a proposal to the Maharashtra government under which entire clusters of buildings in different parts of Mumbai be handed over to the company for ‘redevelopment’.

However, bureaucrats refused to pass the file on the grounds that the government could not be seen favouring just one builder. Now other builders have got into the act and pressure is on to get the Maharashtra government notify entire neighbourhoods for redevelopment.

Should such a measure go through, the owners and tenants of buildings in such neighbourhoods would have no say in the redevelopment of such structures. They would, thus, be forced to accept the terms offered by the developer.

At present, NOCs from 70 per cent of the tenants or residents of a building are required for the redevelopment project to go through.

“Often redevelopment projects are stalled as owners and tenants and even housing societies bargain hard with builders,” says an official of the Maharashtra Urban Development Ministry. Though such hard bargaining has resulted in windfalls to many residents in the upmarket areas of Mumbai, projects in other areas have been stalled.

Opponents of such forcible redevelopment fear that the builders lobby in cahoots with politicians would grow rich at the expense of the city’s residents.

As it is, redevelopment of structurally sound buildings are facing a major hurdle from a Bombay High Court order. The court had stayed the redevelopment of sound buildings. Now the builders’ lobby has moved the Supreme Court to stay the Bombay High Court’s order.

Supporters of the cluster redevelopment plans aver that such projects allow for better town planning and provision of better infrastructure.

“Such projects need vision and governmental will to succeed. If Mumbai has to be transformed into another Shanghai, a holistic approach needs to be adopted,” says Nainesh Shah, Director, Everest Developers.

Though Maharashtra’s politicians are said to be supportive of such a proposal, they are so far silent because of the forthcoming elections to the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation. Observers say, with the opposition to the entire redevelopment projects mounting, supporters of the redevelopment may face severe setbacks at the hustings.

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Baddi ban eased partially

Realtors, common man confused, says Ambika Sharma

With a view to facilitate planning in the prime industrial area of Baddi-Barotiwala-Nalagarh, the government has now granted partial relaxation to various departments. In a notification issued by the Financial Commissioner (Revenue), different government departments have been given permission to sell land with effect from January 3.

The notification states that the temporary bar on the registration of instruments relating to transfer of property for sale, lease, gift, mortgage and exchange will not be applicable in those cases where permission has been granted by the government under the Section 118 of the HP Land Reforms and Tenancy Act. It has also allowed land sale by the Himachal Pradesh State Industrial Development Corporation, HP Financial Corporation, Himuda and the state Industries Department. Further, agriculturists of Himachal have also been allowed land purchase relaxation.

This relaxation would enable the government to acquire land from the locals and sell it as per the development plan. It is worth mentioning that the Town and Country Planning (TCP) Department is already preparing a master plan for carrying out planned development. Though a draft development plan had already been devised in 2003 yet since there was little coordination between the Department of Industries and the TCP, thereby hitting the implementation. This had led to the haphazard development of the area with industries coming up in areas earmarked for green and open spaces.

The TCP Department is now updating the earlier plan by taking into consideration the ground position and future planning. The partial relaxation has, however, given rise to many vital questions.

Foremost, the relaxation granted to the Himachalis has been welcomed by the local community. Since in a number of cases the land sale was left in a lurch, due to the sudden ban, such landowners heaved a sigh of relief.

But confusion prevails over this partial relaxation amidst the realtors as well as the common man. The local property dealers feel it is an attempt by the government to dictate terms to the landowners by acquiring land at a nominal prices. Illustrating this point a property dealer says, “The government had acquired land for as less as Rs 2.80 lakh per bigha at Batoli Kalan while it was auctioned later for as high as Rs 3.31 crore per bigha far exceeding even its reserve price.”

The hapless landowners in other villages like Kalujhinda and Mandhala, too, were paid a measly Rs 7 lakh per bigha while the land was sold at nearly Rs 20 lakh per bigha. Protests by irate villagers in the form of abstinence from the panchayat polls did not deter the government from going ahead with his acquisition.

These acquisitions were undertaken by the Himachal Pradesh Housing and Urban Development Authority (Himuda). The authority now proposes to acquire another 250 bighas of land on the Nalagarh-Swarghat road at Nangal village. The process to acquire another 60 bighas land for residential purposes at Bhatoli Khurd village is at an advanced stage.

Further, confusion persists among those buyers whose permission for acquiring land under the Section 118 of the H.P. Land Reforms and Tenancy Act is in the final stages. Though the government has granted relaxation to buy land to those having procured this permission yet the government is still to take a decision about the pending cases. According to an estimate, there are at least 100 such cases. If granted permission, the master plan would fall haywire.

There is a need to either reconsider these permissions or refer them to the Town and Country Planning (TCP) Department. This would ensure that the future planning undertaken would not be offset by this land sale. The local authorities are now contemplating to enhance the area under Baddi-Barotiwala-Nalagarh-Industrial Area (BBNIA).

The Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of the BBNIA, Dr Amandeep Garg, said since there was a little scope of expansion in the existing scope of this authority, there was a proposal to increase the area from the present 150 sq km to 250 sq km by adding another 123 villages to it. 

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MNCs take-off halts for want of land

Jagmeet Y. Ghuman says the Department of Industries faces plot shortage in Baddi

Even as ample land is available in and around Baddi, certain units, including those of big MNCs, have failed to set up their projects for want of land.

Though private land is in plenty yet the shortage of land with the Department of Industries (DoI) has badly hit the plans of units.

To fill the deficit, though the DoI has forwarded the proposals to acquire more land yet, at present, there was no land with the department to offer for new projects. The non-availability of land has proved a dampener on industrial growth. Haphazard planning is a major reason behind the current land shortage.

The state government has now woken up to the need to plan the things properly by forming the Baddi –Barotiwala- Nalagarh Development Authority (BBNDA)

As per information available, a good number of projects are in wait to get the land. Some big name seeking land in Baddi belt include LG, Saint Gobain, Eveready and Lupin Pharma. While LG has sought 300 bighas of land, Saint Gobain, Eveready, Cipartyre and Lupin Pharma are in the need of 200, 200 and 300 bighas of land, respectively. Many more pharma and packaging units have applied for land but to no avail.

The Department of Industries is presently exploring the option of locating new land available to accommodate the flow of new units. Efforts are being made to develop the land beyond Nalagarh for industries. There are certain locations in the district meant for industries but the lack of infrastructure has kept industries to invest in these locations.

The newly formed authority has been entrusted with the prime responsibility to manage the show in the belt as per planning. The authority, besides preparing a master plan for Baddi, is nowadays busy developing land beyond Nalagarh to attract new investment.

Mr H.S. Thakur, General Manager of Solan District Industries Centre, acknowledges land shortage in Baddi area. “The units, which have provisional registration have presently no land on offer, he asserts. The department is in wait to get clearance from the Revenue Department to acquire 2,000 bigha of land,” he points out.

“This land is scattered in different patches in and around Nalagarh. Efforts are also under consideration to acquire around 1,800 bigha of private land in Baddi area,” Mr Thakur informs.

Moreover, the department seems to be very keen to develop around 553 bigha of land in Banalgee near Subathu mainly to decongest the Baddi belt. Inquiries showed that the department is process to send final notices to 13 defaulters units who have failed to set up the projects in allotted plots at Banalgee.

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Calculations go awry

Nishikant Dwivedi finds out how forward trading has hit sellers and purchasers in Yamunanagar

Several farmers of Ratoli village and its surroundings areas in Yamunanagar in hope of selling their 200 acres on double the prices entered into agreements with Delhi-based “builders”. The prevailing price of the land was between Rs 12 lakh and Rs 17 lakh per acre and the builder agreed to purchase land anywhere between Rs 30 lakh and Rs 42 lakh.

The ‘builders’ paid them 10 per cent advance money. The farmers used the advance (also added more money to it) to pay advance for new pieces of land in far-flung areas and other states. The plan of the farmers was very simple. Sell the owned land on higher prices and then use half of the money to purchase new land in areas where the land prices were low. This way they dreamt of saving lakhs. But their simple arithmetic went wrong.

Now they fear they would lose the advance money they paid to land owners to purchase cheaper land pieces as they do not have the money to pay the remaining amount and get the land transferred.

The problem with these 35 farmers is that after repeated extension of time period to complete the deal, the ‘builders’ now do not seem little interested (probably as of now, townships are not becoming an idea in the area). However, the ‘builders’ are reportedly pressurising the farmers to transfer the ownership in their favour on General Power of Attorney (GPA) against post-dated bank cheques. The farmers are not ready to trust bank cheques. “What if those bounce?”, asks Harnek Singh, who in the hope of making fast money entered into a deal with a builder.

Farmers claim that legally the deals (with builders) stand cancelled and they do not need to return the advance. And yet they are worried! “We cannot sell our land for next three years to any other person because of the technical nature of documents that we signed with the builders,” says Vijay Rana, of Ratoli village of Yamunanagar who, too, had taken advance for his land. Harnek Singh had paid Rs 60 lakh as an advance sum to acquire new chunk of land to a landlord in Khezrabad block of the district. And like him, all 35 farmers had paid advances ranging between Rs 10 lakh and Rs 30 lakh.

“We had planned that as soon as the builders paid us for land we too would pay the remaining amount to the landlords where we had further stuck the deal,” says Nikkar Singh. But the builders did not pay the remaining 90 per cent and the farmers do not have the money to pay the remaining amount for the land, which they had eyed.

The same logic regarding the advance money also applies to the farmers. “This way the builders stand to lose the advance and we too would lose the advance we paid,” explains Nikkar Singh.

Information collected by the Tribune reveals that several ‘big’ property dealers based in Delhi had formed housing companies and some of them eyed the land in the district for developing townships or selling plots and entered into agreement with farmers. Several local property dealers were of the opinion that at least for the next five to 10 years people would not prefer to invest in townships in this part of the state. “It seems the so-called builders did not find enough buyers for the constructed property and that is why they are not paying the rest of the amount to farmers,” says Deepak Sondhi, a leading property dealer of the area. According to him such builders totally depend on forward trading and in this case forward trading did not take place.

Another property dealer said that Section 4 of the Punjab Land Acquisition Act, 1894, issued in the area was also keeping builders away. “It seems the builders are ready to lose the advance which runs into a few crores then to invest more to purchase the land,” says a property dealer. 

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Evolve to ready mix concrete

Ready mix concrete can do away with many construction problems, says Jagvir Goyal

Every house builder desires to have good quality concrete in the columns, beams and slab of his house. It is the beam-column framework that lends real strength to a structure. More strong and durable this framework is, the more the life of the structure and least are the post construction problems. That’s why numerous precautionary steps are taken while raising the columns or laying the beams and slab of a house.

However the reality is that despite remaining fully alert towards producing good quality concrete, desirable results are not achieved. The reason for this is that the house builder is worried on many fronts - successful completion, stability of shuttering, non-wastage of cement and clear weather. A vibrator stops working or the mixer operator adds more water to the concrete or a plank tends to give way or heap of concrete keeps lying-with cement getting set with every minute that passes. Rarely do the house builders go back fully satisfied after the laying of slab and beams.

The problem has been solved in the tricity of Panchkula, Chandigarh and Mohali. RMC (ready mix concrete) is now available here! And there can’t be a better-control concrete than RMC. Not only that, the headache of arranging cement, sand, aggregate, mixers and water is avoided. Simply calculate the concrete quantity required by you, decide the mix, place the order and get it delivered on site on the desired date. It is as simple as that.

What is RMC?

RMC is Ready Mixed Concrete produced by computerised RMC plants. It is a household term abroad but is yet to make a significant mark in India. While the RMC shares not more than 7 per cent of total concrete produced in India in a year, the USA uses 75 per cent of the concrete from RMC plants only. Ready Mixed Concrete is prepared and supplied to construction sites in a plastic, unhardened and ready-to-use state. The consumer avoids all sorts of burden of procurement of various aggregates, cement, plant and machinery. Above all, a strict quality control is ensured at the RMC station. The batching and mixing of different ingredients is done at a central batching and mixing plant. Final mixing is done in the truck-mounted transit mixers which carry the concrete to the site of its pouring. In a way, RMC is the concrete produced as per specifications laid by the buyer and delivered to him under strict quality controlled conditions.

Versatility

A RMC station has a computerised and fully automatic arrangement for batching and mixing of ingredients. As many as 100 mix-designs can be stored under the RMC computerised control and concrete can be prepared for any of these mix designs. RMC can be prepared both by mixing the ingredients at the centrally installed plant itself or in the transit mixers while being carried to the site. Revolving speed of transit mixers is controlled to avoid segregation of concrete and to keep the concrete in plastic and unhardened state. First mixing option is exercised when the distance of site from the RMC plant is smaller and second option suits large transportation distances.

The consumer decides the concrete mix i.e. M15 or M20 or M25 etc, works out the quantity of concrete required from the drawing prepared by the engineer, decides the date of pouring the slab of his house and lodges his concrete requirement with the RMC producer after negotiating the rate and amount to be paid. Concrete is supplied to the desired location on the desired date and accounts are settled.

A RMC plant was set up in Panchkula nearly two years back and catered to the requirements of various builders and industrial houses. The plant was set up by one of India’s leading construction company, L&T. Now, another RMC plant has been set up by this company in Mohali. Capacity of each of the plants is 400 cubic metres per day. Many construction companies like Parsvnath Limited, GMR, Emaar MGF, Sunny Enclave, ATS infrastructure have used RMC from these plants. Quark, Punjab PWD, PCA stadium have also availed the facility.

Mixes available

These RMC plants are producing concrete of all mixes from M 7.5 to M 70. So a wide range is available. In houses, mostly M15 or M20 concrete is used. Such concrete can be most easily available from these plants.

The rates are also quite competitive. M20 concrete costs about Rs 2,500 per cum at RMC plant. One cubic metre (35.3 cubic feet) of this concrete generally needs seven bags of cement. At the present market rates, the cost of cement itself shall be more than Rs 1,400 per cum. Then there are sand, bajri, admixtures and labour cost. Keeping in view the distance involved, the rate of supply of concrete at destination can be negotiated and finalized by the supplier and the consumer. Obviously, more is the quantity of concrete, lesser should be the rate per cum. The most important to be kept in sight is that good quality of concrete gets ensured when RMC is used.

The writer is Superintending Engineer (Civil) in PSEB

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TAX tips
Goodwill sum taxable as capital gain
By S.C. Vasudeva

Q. I am running a general mercantile business in a market area. The shop has a very large clientage on account of the situation in which my shop is located. I am now 70 years of age and both my sons have migrated abroad and do not intend to get back. My daughters are married and settled. I, therefore, intend selling the shop lock, stock and barrel. I have been approached by someone who is prepared to buy the same and pay a sum of Rs 10 lakh towards the goodwill of the shop. Please let me know whether the amount of goodwill so received would be taxable.

— A.B. Gaur, Hoshiarpur

A. There is a specific provision under the Income Tax Act, 1961 (the Act), by virtue of which transfer of a self-generated asset, which is in the nature of goodwill of a business, is chargeable to tax under the head “capital gains”. In such case, the cost of acquisition is taken as nil and the sale consideration minus expenses on transfer is, therefore, brought to tax under the head “capital gains”.

Partnership

Q. We have a partnership firm. The firm owns a capital asset in the shape of an immovable property. On account of differences between the partners it has been decided to dissolve the partnership. By virtue of dissolution, the immovable property would be taken over by one of the partners. We have been told by our tax adviser that this has income tax implications. We seek your advice in this regard.

— Sudhir Sachdeva, Batala

A. Section 45(4) of the Act provides that the profits or gains arising from the transfer of a capital asset by way of distribution of capital assets on the dissolution of a firm or otherwise, shall be chargeable to tax as the income of the firm, of the previous year in which said transfer takes place and, for the purposes of Section 48, the fair market value of the asset, on the date of such transfer shall be deemed to be the full value of consideration received or accruing as a result of the transfer.

On the basis of facts given in the query it seems that the provisions of the Act as stated above are applicable in your case. Accordingly, fair market value of immovable property on the date of transfer shall be taken as full value of the consideration and brought to tax in the hands of the firm.

Acquisition

Q. I own a plot of land, which is adjacent to the main road and is being acquired by the government for the widening of the road. Please advise me as to how the compensation receivable from the government would be taxable.

— Shubham Gupta, Karnal

A. In case of transfer of a capital asset on account of compulsory acquisition under any law and the consideration is approved or determined by the Central Government or the Reserve Bank of India, the initial compensation in such a case is taken as full value of sale consideration and the capital gain is brought to tax in the previous year in which initial compensation is first received. The enhanced compensation by a court or tribunal or any authority would be taxable in the following manner:

(1) It shall be taxable in the previous year in which enhanced compensation is received by the assessee; and, the cost of acquisition and the cost of improvement shall be taken as nil.

(2) If the enhanced compensation is received by any other person (because of the death of the transferor or for any other reason), it is taxable as income of the recipient.

Wealth tax

Q. I shall be thankful if you could enlighten me with regard to the applicability of the wealth tax as to the nature of assets, which are chargeable to the aforesaid tax and whether the shares and bank deposits are covered for the purpose of applicability of the wealth tax?

— Deepak Parashar, Panipat

A. Section 3(2) of the Wealth Tax Act, 1957, provides that there shall be charged for every assessment year commencing on or after the first day of April 1993, wealth tax in respect of net wealth on the corresponding valuation date of every individual, HUF and company @ 1 per cent of net wealth by which the amount exceeds Rs. 15 lakh.

Section 2(ea) of the said Act defines the word ‘asset’, in relation to the assessment year commencing on April 1, 1993, or any subsequent assessment year as under:

(i) any building or land appurtenant thereto (hereinafter referred to as house), whether used for residential or commercial purposes or for the purpose of maintaining a guest house or otherwise including a farm house situated within 25 km from local limits of any municipality (whether known as Municipality, Municipal Corporation or by any other name) or a Cantonment Board, but does not include-

(1) a house meant exclusively for residential purposes and which is allotted by a company to an employee or an officer or a director who is in whole-time employment, having a gross annual salary of less than Rs 5 lakh;

(2) any house for residential or commercial purposes which forms part of stock-in-trade;

(3) any house which the assessee may occupy for the purposes of any business or profession carried on by him;

(4) any residential property that has been let-out for a minimum period of 300 days in the previous year;

(5) any property in the nature of commercial establishments or complexes;

(ii) motor cars (other than those used by the assessee in the business of running them on hire or as stock-in-trade);

(iii) jewellery, bullion and furniture, utensils or any other article made wholly or partly of gold, silver, platinum or any other precious metal or any alloy containing one or more of such precious metals:

Provided that where any of the said assets is used by the assessee as stock-in-trade such asset shall be deemed as excluded from the assets specified in this sub-clause;

(iv) yachts, boats and aircraft *(other than those used by the assessee for commercial purposes);

(v) urban land;

(vi) cash in hand, in excess of Rs 50,000, of individuals and Hindu undivided families and in the case of other persons any amount not recorded in the books of account.

It would thus be noticed that shares and bank deposits are not covered within the definition of the term ‘asset’ and therefore are not chargeable to wealth tax.

Capital asset

Q. I own a residential house, for the sale of which I have entered into an agreement to sell. By virtue of this agreement I have handed over the possession of the house. The sale deed is yet to be executed as part of the consideration is to be paid by the buyer. I have been advised that the capital gain on sale of such residential house would be taxable in the year in which the registration of the sale deed is affected. Is this position correct?

— T.K. Gopal, Ambala

A. Section 2(47) of the Act defines the word “transfer” in relation to a capital asset. Clause (v) of the said section provides that any transaction involving the allowing of the possession of any immovable property to be taken or retained in part performance of a contract of the nature referred to in the Section 53A of the Transfer of Property Act, 1882, would be treated ‘transfer’. According to the facts given in the query, the transfer will be deemed to have been affected in the year in which you have handed over the possession of your house and capital gains tax would be charged in the year in which such possession has been handed over.

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