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Apartment culture knocks on Doaba’s door
If
rows of vacant kothis, owned by NRIs, is your first impression about the heart of Doaba, get ready to notice the change. NRIs as well as the elite are now opting for apartments. No more prolonged lawsuits with relatives and occupants, who refuse to vacate houses, and no more estate upkeep.
Bigtime real estate houses are giving NRIs and the affluent facilities that fantasies are made of. Tailor-made apartments and renting out through the company on a time-share basis are new concepts making the dream unbelievably true for many. Outskirts of the city from Mithapur, Kapurthala to Hoshiarpur and Nakodar road, is the hotbed of bustling construction activity. Owners of major builder groups point out some very basic reasons for the elite and NRI investors to shift to a very cosmo culture of living in flats. Amritpal Singh from AHR Promoters and Developers says security angle of the property, while being away, rules the minds of the NRIs. “NRIs can just lock the apartment and forget about security hassles while being away. No botheration of a relative grabbing the property anymore,” says Amritpal. “With November-December as months for bookings to begin, as many as 30 per cent of bookings registered by us are by the NRIs. The Indian moneyed class is also shifting towards flats,” he adds. “Open space provided by us is another advantage people cannot get in those houses which are coming up in unapproved areas,” he adds. The group launched a scheme to build 200 flats on Wadala Road. “Rising property prices is making buying a plot and constructing a kothi almost impossible for the middle class,” says Manpreet Singh, who is planning to buy a flat. Since his wife also works, security of children is of prime importance when they are away,” he says. “In the price of a plot of land, we can get a whole house and may not have to waste hard-earned cash in paying rents,” says Sudeep Kumar, a teacher. “Prime of our life is not wasted waiting for facilities like parks, security sanitation and water works,” he adds. Jai Verma, manager, marketing Hansmukhi Projects Private Limited, says the concept of living has changed in the city as local exporters, businessmen and the upper-middle class want a good quality of life and not just property. “With no maintenance and security hassles, the two to three bedroom luxury apartments sell like hot cakes,” he says. The group has come up with Kings Garden luxury apartments on the Hoshiarpur road with facilities like swimming pools, gyms and jogging tracks. Launched in September last, the group has already booked more than half of the flats. The PPR Group is one of the oldest groups into the construction of such schemes in Jalandhar since 2001 and has already delivered 700 flats in various schemes on the Mithapur and Kapurthala roads. “Our group is coming up with the concept of serviced apartments, which will be on time-share basis, aimed especially for the NRIs. When an NRI leaves, his apartment will be rented out and the profit will be shared by the company as well as the owner. The company will charge for the maintenance,” says Rajan Chopra. Renting through the company saves the NRIs legal hassles afterwards and is finding many takers, he adds. Rocky Kamboj GM, Marketing, Bellevue Greens on the Mithapur Khurla Kingra road, says the group, which is from the NCR region, entered the city as the people here require organised real estate by way of approved projects. “House is a whole lifestyle statement and people invest life’s earnings on it. They take loans which they pay throughout their life. They do not want to compromise on the quality,” Kamboj says. “We are providing tailormade cluster apartments for those who want to live together as well as separately in pairs of two or three bedrooms,” says Kamboj. People are buying two three floors of such flats as per their requirements, he adds. “Security is the main concern and with facilities like gym, club houses, maintenance staff, security guards, power backup, there is practically nothing to worry about for the new cosmo breed in
Jalandhar.
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Advance tax payments by realty firms surge
Advance
tax payments by cement, realty and financial services companies were up by 30 per cent thereby reflecting better showing while telecom and automobile firms’ payments for the second quarter this fiscal fell substantially.
Total advance taxes paid by September 15 rose by 30.2 per cent to touch Rs 24,861 crore during the quarter, against Rs 19,090.98 crore in the corresponding period of previous year. Finance Ministry has fixed a target of Rs 2,67,490 crore to be Sources said with continuing boom in housing sector, real estate firms and related sectors such as banking and cement also deposited more taxes. Tax payments by realty firms rose more than four-fold to Rs 345 crore by September 15 this year as against Rs 65 crore in the Unitech, DLF, Raheja Group, Ambuja Cements and Mangalam group were the top taxpayers in construction sector, the sources said. With the success of “Incredible India” campaign, the hospitality sector, too, doubled its tax payment to Rs 123.50 crore. —
PTI
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Pathankot land cost goes up
Ordinary residential plots are also going out of the range of the common man fetching more than double the price prevalent a year ago. This all has been due to the fast development of the city, which has added two new feathers to its cap — one the Mamun cantonment and the other, a new airport. Pathankot, which was earlier known as the gateway to Himachal Pradesh and J & K, has now attained multi-dimensional status as one of the major towns of Punjab, with the inclusion of an army base and an airport. The newly constructed civil airport has changed the whole scenario, giving boost to local economy and the status of living. The city, earlier having an Army transit camp in front of the local railway station and a brigade headquarter on the Chakki bank-Sarna road, has been developed into a full-fledged cantonment on the Pathankot-Dalhousie road near Mamun. The area is known as the Mamun cantonment area. The multi-dimensional expansion of the city has not only made the residents proud but also inculcated a feeling that they have been a part and parcel of this growth since they have engaged themselves in estate business, making huge investments. The trend to have residential and commercial properties in and around posh colonies near the Army base and the airport, besides the colonies already in existence on the Mission Road and around, has hiked the rates of the properties. Price of land, which were in the range between Rs 30,000 and Rs 40,000 per marla (225sq. ft.) last year are now not available even for Rs 1 lakh. As far as the rates of the commercial properties are concerned, it has seen a sharp increase. No property is being sold for less than Rs 20 lakh per marla if the property in question looks like mud or an old house in need of renovation. Rising trend witnessed in the prices of the properties have also made the people living in the old and small streets rich. Properties located in Androon Bazaar, Sarain Mohalla and Sant Nagar are being offered rates between Rs 6 lakh and Rs 8 lakh per marla to facilitate the expansion of existing showrooms and new business ventures as per the details collected by The Tribune. According to Hemant Khanna, a leading architect, properties are likely to go out of reach of the common man if the trend of price rise continues for some more time and the basic infrastructure is strengthened. Residents and shopkeepers have converted residential properties and first storey of their shops on the railway road into well-furnished guesthouses without caring for the norms set by the building department of the local municipal council. These residents are earning handsome amounts catering to the needs of those visiting the city after landing at the airport. Like metropolitan cities, the trend of colonisers has been to construct and sell.
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Lend colour to walls
Devendra Malik talks about trendy painting techniques Painting is one of the easiest and the least expensive ways to change a dull, boring house into a bright, clean one. Painting, as such, is the smallest part of the job. Preparation of the walls for the same is be the biggest errand. If possible start with an empty room or try to remove as many obstacles as possible. Cover all surfaces that will not be painted. Finally put down a few thick sections of newspapers, or a heavy-duty drop cloth to protect the floor. As far as equipment to use, your local paint store will be able to help you. For a decorative look, there are different painting techniques available to give the walls a special look. We are listing a few ones here Sponging This technique creates a soft-focus colour or intense colour contrast on your walls. Sponging should always have a soft and delicate look. Keep the glaze on the sponge to a minimum. Usually there are three types of sponging patterns - separate non-touching image, overlapping images and total overall pattern sponging. By several glaze coat colours you can achieve a more subtle pattern. Check with your local paint store to get more information on this technique.
Rag Rolling With this technique, your base coat will be latex flat enamel. Next, you will apply a coloured glaze coat with a brush or roller. While the glaze is wet, take a soft clean rag and bunch it in a loose, long roll. Apply pressure while gently rolling the rag across the wall of the wet glaze. Start from the bottom and work up. The more pressure you apply, the more glaze you will remove. Heavier pressure gives a light, airy look while less pressure will give you a darker design.
Stencil Stencil designs should be simple. Keep your colours to a minimum for best pattern results. Accurately measure and align patterns with a straightedge and chalk. Attach stencil to the wall with a masking tape so that it does not shift when stenciling. Choose either a regular, repeating pattern or a whimsical, random design for your walls.
Combing Combing is one of the most versatile of the decorating techniques. The patterns used range from stripes to sophisticated compositions like traditional woodgrains and country-chic basket weaves. Combing provides an unlimited palette of easy-to-achieve design possibilities. Here are a few tips on combing:
Woodgraining This technique is used primarily to mirror dominant woodgrain pieces in your room settings. It requires that the ground colour or background colour be similar to the actual colour of the desired wood. Then you must select your graining colour. This is the colour for the tinted glaze that will actually make the grain patterns. It should be a contrasting colour to the background colour. As a rule of thumb, you should keep your ground colour several tones lighter than the graining colour. Check with your local paint store for tool requirements and woodgraining techniques.
Texturing Texturing walls does not require any hi-tech equipment. A variety of patterns can be created by dragging a brush, comb or even a wet sponge through sand-textured surfaces. Freeform, natural hand motions are imperfect, but uniform enough to create an overall pattern. The simplest way to achieve a textured look today is the use of textured paint. This is just a latex paint, thicker than usual, with texturing added. This is the most common method used today. The most important thing is to choose a texture finish that is appropriate for your application. Manufacturers supply directions on different mixing procedures. Be careful as to follow their specific guidelines when mixing for proper performance textured paint finishes can be applied with a spray. Besides spraying, you can brush, roll or sponge. Using a roller gives the wall a stippled look. Vary the stippling by changing the roller-nap; longer nap makes the peaks higher and further apart. Stucco brushes can be used to create swirl patterns. — The writer is a New-Delhi based interior designer. His email id is
devendramalik@yahoo.co.in
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Simple FD no substitute for capital gains account
By S.C. Vasudeva Q. I had a residential plot, which was purchased during 1984-85 and was sold during accounting year 2004-05. Amount received could not be deposited in the capital gains account with the bank and capital gain tax was not given. However, the whole of the amount was deposited in the bank as FD. This amount was withdrawn and a residential plot was purchased during accounting year 2005-06, which is within two years. Now my question is whether any action can be taken for not making payment of capital gains tax, particularly considering that the whole of the amount was spent for purchasing a residential plot within two years even though it was not deposited in the capital gain account before filing of the return. — S.S. Kanwar, Amritsar A. On the basis of the facts given in the query, the capital gain arising on the sale of residential plot would be a long-term capital gain as the residential plot was held by you for more than three years. The exemption from tax under Section 54F of the Income-tax Act, 1961, (the Act), is available in respect of the long-term capital gain arising on the transfer of any long-term capital asset, not being a residential house if the net consideration received on transfer of a long-term capital asset other than the residential house, is invested in the acquisition of a residential house within a period of one year before or two years after the date of the transfer of such capital asset or in the construction of a residential house within a period of three years from the date of the transfer of such capital asset. Since you have acquired a residential plot and not a residential house within a period of two years, it may not be possible to claim the exemption from tax in respect of the long-term capital gain arising on the sale of the residential plot. You have also committed a default in not depositing the amount of net consideration in the Capital Gains Scheme Account before the due date of filing the return. The fixed deposit made by you would not be construed as a deposit under the capital gains scheme account unless it can be so proved. Loan to brother
Q. I gave interest-free loan, not time-bound, of Rs 6 lakh to my elder brother during the financial years 2002-03 and 2003-04 for house construction. I now want to give this interest-free loan amount as gift money to my elder brother in view of my natural love and affection for him. Kindly clarify: (i) Is there any tax liability on this interest-free loan amount of Rs 6 lakh on either of us till it is repaid back to me by my elder brother? (ii) Can I now gift this interest-free loan amount of Rs 6 lakh to my elder brother without inviting any tax liability either on the donor or the donee? — HPS Thakur, HP A. The answers to your queries are as under: (i) There is not tax liability on you with regard to the interest-free loan of Rs 6 lakh advanced to your brother provided you have not paid this amount from the funds borrowed from any source and/or are not paying any interest on the amount so borrowed out of which the amount has been advanced to him. (ii) You can gift the amount of interest-free loan to your brother. There is no tax liability on such gift either in the hands of donor or in the hands of donee.
Compensation
Q. I have a residential property, which has been acquired by the Punjab Government in June 2004 (cost of acquisition in the year April 1981 Rs 2 lakh). The government has awarded Rs 30 lakh as the initial compensation, which has been received in June 2007. The appeal against the said compensation is pending in the High Court and I expect to receive a further sum not less than Rs 10 lakh. Please advise me with regard to my tax liability on the capital gain arising on the acquisition of the house property and any method to save the payment of such capital gains tax. - Mohit Gupta, Amritsar A. The capital gain in your case would be computed as under: Sale consideration (initial compensation) Rs 30,00,000 Less: Indexed cost of acquisition (Rs 2 lakh x 480/100 / 100) Rs 9,60,000 Balance Rs 20,40,000 The above amount would be taxable @ 20 per cent plus applicable surcharge @ 10 per cent and education cess @ 3 per cent thereon. In case you want to save the capital gains tax, the above amount should be deposited in the capital gains scheme account with a scheduled bank before the due date of filing the return for the assessment year 2008-09. Further the amount so deposited should be utilised for the acquisition of a residential house within a period of one year before or two years after the date of receipt of compensation or invested in the construction of a residential house within a period of three years of the date of receipt of the compensation. You can also invest the amount of capital gain in tax saving infrastructure bonds issued by the National Highway Authority of India or Rural Electrification Corporation Ltd. Such investment can be made within six months of the receipt of compensation. As and when you receive the enhanced amount of compensation the same can be invested in the acquisition of a residential house or in the acquisition of infrastructure bonds within the period referred to hereinabove. I may add that the enhanced compensation would be chargeable to tax in entirety, as there would be no cost of acquisition in such a case.
Agricultural land
Q I am a farmer and holding agricultural land in Haryana as well as in Punjab. I intend transferring a portion of my land in Punjab and the said portion is quite far away from where I am living and is not covered within the notified area. After selling the same, I would purchase another piece of agricultural land in Haryana for carrying on the agricultural operations. Will the capital gain arising on the agricultural land, which I intend to sell, be exempt if I purchase the agricultural land with the sale proceeds thereof? — Aanshul Garg, Haryana A. Section 54B of the Act exempts the capital gain arising on the transfer of an agricultural land provided the following conditions are satisfied: (i) The taxpayer is an individual. (ii) He transfers an agricultural land, which had been acquired at least two years before the date of transfer. (iii) The agricultural land so transferred was being used for the taxpayer or his parents for agricultural purposes for a period of two years immediately preceding the date of transfer and (iv) The taxpayer has purchased another land for agricultural purposes within a period of two years from the date of transfer. If you comply with the above conditions, the capital gain arising on the agricultural land would exempt from tax. This reply is based on the presumption that the agricultural land, which you intend to transfer, is not within the specified distance of a municipality etc. This is because the agricultural land so situated is not covered within the definition of the term, capital asset, and the capital gain arising on such land is in any case exempt from tax.
The writer can be contacted at sc@scvasudeva.com
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GREEN HOUSE
There
are wide ranges of plants that are well known and are common. Those gardening enthusiasts who are always on a look out for a new introduction are continuously on the job of exploration. The reason is to have an edge and get the attention of a visitor. However, there are other ways.
There are a few indoor plants that are so common and can be seen at any display that they make most of the presentations monotonous. They qualify just a cursory glance from a visitor. Attractive specimen plants get superficial looks, sometimes, as they are not given a proper display. Most of the time when the judging in a show is done, a good plant loses merit due to ‘dirty shoes’, or the pots. Let us concentrate on this aspect of horticulture. When it comes to using earthenware, gardeners submit to traditional practice of using ordinary earthen pots. The cement or the plastic pots do attract them but gardeners are not sure about the merits and demerits. We have also seen people painting the pots but end up messing. It is also a point of debate for those living on the upper storey where the consideration could be the weight of the pot. With the passage of time, this aspect has seen transition and now you get all type of fancy pots available. Even the traditional cement pots have attained a new look. The earthen pots are valued to keep the roots ‘cool’ as there is evaporation of water from the walls of the pots. But it warrants frequent watering when these are used at places that are exposed to fierce sun. It is all the more problematic where there is water scarcity. Modifications have, however, been done by a few by painting in and out of the pot and giving it a natural look. There are now fancy earthen pots available, the ones with potbelly and terracotta look. There could be a problem with such pots. At a time when there is blockade due to one or the other reason and the water does not drain out, it is not easy to vacate for repotting. Cement pots are strong but heavy. They are preferred only for locations where they find a permanent display. There are small 10 inches pots too which are now available with designer looks. For ‘marble’ looks, there are pots with red-stone colour. Nurserymen have also started making small and big (three to four feet diameter) cement pots with no hole at the bottom. These are meant for keeping aquatic plants and fish. Before putting any life in such pots, one should change water at least twice keeping it filled for a week each time to wash off the ‘poisoning’ effect of cement. Plastic pots come handy when it comes to putting them on stands. They are light, retain moisture for long and also last long. Exposure to direct sunlight for long duration, however, makes them weak. Under such situations they also get heated up and may ‘burn’ the roots at times. — The writer is a senior horticulturist at PAU. His email id is
satishnarula@yahoo.co.in
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