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Road of Hope
THINGS never looked better for farmer Mahinder Singh Grewal, who owns land in Balloke village near Ludhiana. His land, like that of many others, falls on either side of the Laddowal bypass road. As work on the project has revived, farmers are hoping that the bypass would put them on the road to fortune. The 10-km road under the project — being carried out with the help of NABARD — connect Ludhiana city to Laddowal. It would pass through Haibowal Dairy Complex and several villages including Balloke, Chuharpur, Laddian Kalan, Barewal Dogran before finally connecting to GT Road from Laddowal. Every acre of land in these villages already costs between Rs 1 and 2 crore. With the project, land adjacent to the road could be used for commercially purposes and its price would rise manifold. The bypass will be used by commuters from Moga, Jagraon and residents of outer Ludhiana to reach Jalandhar without having to manoeuvre the maddening city traffic. The public works department (PWD) has already started work, which is estimated to be completed within six months. “Let the project be completed. I will show you a full fledged market in the area within a year,” says Mahinder Singh Grewal Farmers in these villages are optimistic that the bypass would develop into a commercial hub since this would be the next major road passing through this part of the city where no commercial activity is going on. A farmer said some people had already visited the area looking for a site for a petrol filling station. Any major road that passed through Ludhiana saw shops and other establishments mushroom on both sides — be it the Grand Trunk Road, Ferozepur Road, Pakhowal Road or any other. Villagers readily left 40 square feet of agricultural land alongside the road and also gave up part of their houses for the project, being undertaken by the PWD. In many cases the houses would lose out on appearance too, but They did not demand acquisition charges, thinking their move would bring in rich dividends in the future. “The road would definitely turn their land into a goldmine. The villages would develop like small towns now. It is only a matter of months,” said a PWD official supervising the project. Villagers agree. “By the time the project is over, we are certain a market would have developed on either side. And the prices of land for commercial activity are always much more than residential or agricultural areas,” said Gurdeep Singh, a farmer adding that queries had already started pouring in. In fact, this belt is the only one in the district to receive buyer inquiries! “We are ready to deal with any consequence. We are told that traffic and pollution would be the accompanying problems. But who cares when pockets are full?” says Baljeet Singh, another farmer. “We had been demanding it for a long time now. Commuters wanted it for an easier way to Phillaur and Jalandhar. But for us it is a road to fortune.”
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Hug Wood!
Be it ceilings, walls, floors, furniture or curtain rods, timber is ruling over the hearts of homebuilders & design experts. Wood is good, finds Saurabh Malik RELUCTANT to pass your days in a concrete jungle with thick undergrowth of lofty buildings all around, you want to give your house a natural look. So naturally you have tried to pave way for the desired effect by replacing cement flooring on the driveway with minuscule mountain-slate tiles — like they have in some of the five star hotels, Taj Chandi-garh included.
Even the outer walls and the veranda pillars wear a new style with glossy stone tiles plastered on the surface nicely and properly. And then you have placed on the porch all those palm trees with massive leaves for adding a touch of greenery to your humble abode. This is not all. On either side of the driveway, you have placed with geometric precision potted plants. The arbor too is full of hanging evergreens and chuckling seasonal flowers. But something is still missing. The house even now lacks the appearance of a jungle cottage. Don’t worry. The way out is not far away. “All you have to do is to make use of timber in abundance for the natural effect to manifest itself,” suggests Ludhiana-based inside-outside expert Nidhi Verma. “You see, wood is back in vogue. It has pushed wrought iron furniture out of the gardens and the terrace. Even the metal closets have been relegated to the storerooms. You now have the heavy, Victorian, furniture giving your house that affluent look.”
Archway to style The house of Joshis is a living example on how wood can be put to use astutely to get the right effect. Enter their world in Sector 67, Mohali, and you find a massive arch leading you to the living room. The highly structured, detailed and well-crafted doorway is reminiscent of the glorious tradition of according a warm and elaborate reception to the guests. It somehow reminds you of the old cities of Punjab, where arcs were set up to welcome
the visitors. The arch has been adequately embellished with opulent carvings, similar to the ones you get for adding a touch of class to your ordinary furniture. Mohan Chander Joshi says they have spent something like Rs 10,000 just on the trappings. Cubbyholes in the pillars of the arch serve as slots to place decoration items, tiny flower vase and lamps included.
Beam with corbels YOU can imitate the Spanish home style by going in for wood posts, beams and corbels. Just in case you do not know, corbels are internal structural supports or brackets. Carved out of stone or wood, they can be decorative like in some of the newly constructed houses, or rather plain — the way you have in the houses in the hills. “The beams and corbels across the ceiling look the best if they have the handmade aura around them,” says builder Jasmeet Brar. “So, lesser the embellishment, the better it is. You should essentially go in for beams that resemble logs for enhanced natural look. Exterior wood posts glam up the house.” By the way, you do not have to worry about wasting the wood because the amount you use in a room is practically the same you require for that heavy cabinet. You can also use faux wood beams. They are equally good, comparatively inexpensive, eco-friendly and termite proof. Another solution is to go in for wooden effect on cement products. So many builders do it dexterously for you. It’s long lasting and you have the satisfaction of not depleting the green cover for giving a face-lift to your
house.
Sills that are chic ALRIGHT, now that you have made up your mind to go in for more than just wood flooring, ask your architect to design wide wood windowsills for you. The ones made of wood, or at least covered with a plank, not just function as aesthetic additions to the architecture, but are also designed to be cleaned easily. Just keep it well polished or properly paint coated. In the end, forget about all those fancy curtain rods. They are out, for good. Choose to give your house the final wildlife touch by picking up wood curtain rods. They look good and hold in the curtains nicely, allowing them to flutter softly and gracefully. Walnut, teakwood, mahogany, oak or other hardwood, the choice is yours, entirely. So, touchwood, give your house a uniquely innate and unaffected, yet graceful, look.
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Bright & beautiful
While concentrating on aesthetics, don’t give safety a miss. Use good quality, appropriate wires to protect your home from current leakage, short-circuit & fire Jagvir Goyal SUCH has to be the electric wiring of your house that no wire should ever burn inside a conduit even if excessive current is passed. Further, no fear of a short circuit should prevail in your mind. Lighting work should rather enhance your lifestyle and uplift your spirits. Continuing with tips on shock proof and short-circuit proof electrical wiring of your house, here are a few more useful guidelines.
Insulation: Good wire insulation is essential. It should have three layers — the first layer should be a water resistant coating, the second a heat and high temperature resistant one and the top layer should be fire retardant and low smoke. Heat generated in electric wires with poor quality insulation may even burn the insulation of other wires. PVC on burning emits toxic fumes that are dangerous for human beings. These days, chloride free-insulations are being used by some of these manufacturers. Such wires are a good buy. Make sure that the wires you buy can withstand high conductor temperatures even above 105-degree C. Opt for 105 HRFR house wires in areas susceptible to high voltage fluctuation. Buy multi-strand wires instead of solid strand wires. Some aluminium wires with copper coating are available in the market. Avoid these. The wires should actually be in copper. Please note that wires are supplied in coils of 90-metre length and rates are quoted on per coil basis. Commonly used sizes of wires are 1, 1.5, 2, 2.5 and 4 sq mm. The maximum retail price of a 90-metre coil varies from Rs 950 for 1 sq mm to Rs 3,000 for 4 sq mm. Discounts between 40 and 45 per cent on MRP are the norm. Size matters: USE wires of adequate thickness for different appliances. Use a 4 sq mm wire for AC points and a 1.5 sq mm one for lighting points. Don't run other wires like those of telephone or television cable in conduits carrying electricity wires. Choose 1.5 sq mm wiring for three pin, five-ampere points and call bell points, 2.5 sq mm for three pin, 15-ampere power plug points, 4 sq mm for ACs and 6 sq mm for any appliance of 2.5 KW or above. For split ACs, choose 6 sq mm wiring, as these draw more load. Diameter of each strand in these wires is 0.3 mm. A good electrician will never lay an undersized wire for an electric point. Colour code: Use the laid colour code for wires to detect neutral, earth and live wires. In India, live wires for three phases should be in red, yellow and blue insulation. Keep neutral in black and earth in green. The code is different for different countries. In the US, live wires carry black, red and blue insulation, Neutral is in white or gray and earth is in green. A large part of Europe is on bus bar and the three phases are in yellow, green and purple. A student reading a foreign book came completely confused as he mixed up the Black phase wire in USA with the neutral one in India! So take care and follow the country colour code strictly or there may be problems whenever any repair is needed. Simple plates: Modular switches are plate mounted and need no screws. Convex plates with high gloss and ultra smooth finish add elegance to the interiors. If you are using simple plates, these are also available in marble and wood finish or simple plastic matching the wall paint. Decide according to the colour scheme of your house. Anchor and super hylam are good varieties of switch box sheets. Look for the ISI mark. These are sold according to per sq inch. Use 3 mm thick sheets. These cost around 18 to 20 paisa a sq inch. Happy shopping! (This column appears fortnightly) The writer is deputy chief engineer, civil, PSEB. He can be reached at www.jagvirgoyal.com
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Fairy garden
Provide lights hidden behind plants in the garden. Nothing looks more attractive and festive than lights on trees placed in such a manner that it looks like they virtually grew on the tree! If you have created a small wooden pathway or bridge in your garden, light up its edges with a continuous strip of lights. Light up borders, steps, slopes, waterpool and even slippery spots. Avoid sodium vapor lamps and halogens. Incandescent lamps look beautiful but are not energy efficient. Instead, opt for mercury vapor lamps. On special occasions, add candles and oil lamps to the garden. However, take care to position them at places where there is no threat of fire. If you have a waterfall or fountain in your garden, provide underwater lights that are waterproof. In garden lighting, give prime importance to the fact that there should be no risk of electric shock or short-circuiting during rains. No wire should run without a conduit and all conduits should be so buried in the ground so that these don’t get damaged during normal gardening.
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SEZ norms to be tightened
THE Union Govern-ment has decided to tighten norms for special economic zones (SEZs) to weed out non-serious players. SEZ developers will now get in-principle approvals only when the state where the project is coming up clears the same. The developer would get a formal approval after land is acquired but the SEZ would be notified only once the infrastructure is ready.
The Centre has also asked states to clear SEZ proposals that have been pending for more than six months. So far, 530 SEZs have received formal approval. Of these, 270 have been notified and another 143 have received in-principle approvals. The land required for SEZs is 1885 sq km, which is .060 per cent of the country’s land area of 29,731,90 sq km. Although SEZ rules require promoters to get state clearance before the board of approval takes up the proposals, many applications are sent directly to the Centre. This way the promoters try and speed up the process of clearance both at the central and state level. Meanwhile, the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) draft guidelines on classification of commercial real estate exposure of banks may provide some relief on loans provided for acquisition of units in SEZs. The ceiling on housing and office space in the non-processing areas were imposed to prevent SEZs from becoming a pure play realty business, but the curbs were affecting the commercial viability of SEZs. RBI has not found merit in the commerce ministry’s argument to
keep loans for SEZ development outside the ambit of commercial real estate exposure. The draft guidelines issued have drawn upon the Base II framework on income producing real estate and high volatility commercial real estate and the us federal reserve’ definition of commercial real estate lending as income producing commercial property loans and commercial or residential developmental loans. According to RBI, in case of an SEZ, exposure towards purchase of land and its development will depend on the sale proceeds or rentals from the plots and leased units. The cost of plots would include the cost of land acquisition as well as the cost of land development. Around Rs 90,000 crore investment have been made in the SEZ sector so far. Around 84 per cent — or Rs 64,000 crore — worth of goods produced in SEZs have been exported in the last two years. Vice-chairperson Ansal Infrastructure Pranab Ansal has hailed the move, saying it would help serious developers. “Once we know how much land is to be acquired for getting an extension, we will be ready with the finances. This will also help the government avoid land related controv-ersies,” he said.
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Time matters: Use land-sale money to buy house
S.C. Vasudeva Q. My father is a retired employee of a semi-government corporation and owns some agricultural land out of municipal limits. At present, the land is cultivated by his brothers and he does not get any income from his brothers out of natural love. Now, he intends to sell this land to invest either in construction of first floor on his single story house located in an urban estate or to buy a new residential urban property. My queries are as follows: Can he sell his purely agricultural land to invest in either construction or purchase of an urban residential property? If yes, then what shall be the CGT liability? What is the procedure that may be adopted to reduce this CGT liability to the maximum possible extent? Where should the sale proceeds be deposited and how the funds may be managed before buying/ constructing the urban property? If the CGT is to be paid, in which IT form is the return to be filed? — Baljit Singh A. The replies to your queries given hereunder are based on the presumption that the agricultural land owned by your father was acquired more than three years before the date of sale: The amount realised on sale of agricultural land can be utilised for construction or purchase of an urban residential house. The capital gains tax would not be payable in case the net consideration realised on the sale of the agricultural land is utilised towards the purchase of such residential house one year before the date of such sale or within a period of two years of the date of sale or utilised in the construction of a residential house within a period of three years of the date of sale of the agricultural land. There will be no tax liability in respect of capital gains tax if the amount of net consideration is utilised as aforesaid. In case the net consideration realised on the sale of the agricultural land is not utilised for purchase or construction of a residential house before the due date of filing the income tax return as applicable to your father, the unutilised amount should be deposited with the bank under ‘capital gains scheme account’ before the due date of filing the return as aforesaid. The amount so deposited can be utilised for the purchase or construction of the residential house within the period as specified herein above. This question would not arise if the utilisation is made in the manner suggested hereinabove.
No escape; you’ll have to pay tax
Q. I booked a residential flat for residence purposes in January 2005 and paid a sum of Rs 45 lakh, of which the loan component from Citibank was Rs 20 lakh. I was given possession of the flat in December 2008. Despite the meltdown in the real estate market, I am being offered Rs 80 lakh for the flat. If I sell it today, what would be the position of the capital gain arising on such a sale? Can I buy tax saving bonds to avoid the CGT liability? — Sudhir Kohli It will not be possible for you to claim
the exemption from the taxability of capital gains by investing the capital gains in
the acquisition of bonds, as such benefit is available in case of a long-term capital gain.
In your case, the date of possession and the sale being within a period of less than three years, the capital gains
is to be treated as a short-term capital gain and taxed in accord-ance with the provi-sions of law indicated herein above.
It’s a short-term capital gain
Q. I sold one plot in 2008 for Rs 14.75 lakh. This plot was transferred to my name after the death of my mother, who was allotted the plot by Haryana Urban Development Authority in 2002 for Rs 5,39,479, payable in installments. The last installment was due in 2008
and was paid on time. Total amount paid to the authority, including interest, is about Rs 6 lakh. I have invested the whole amount jointly with my father in construction of a showroom. I am an unemployed engineer and have no other source income. Kindly advise if any capital gain tax is payable on this transaction. If yes, what would the total tax amount? Is their and way to save this tax? — D.P. Singh A. The facts given in the query do not indicate the date of possession of the plot allotted to your mother. In case the possession was given in the financial year 2008-09 when the last installment was paid, the capital gain arising on the transfer of the plot would be a short-term capital gain liable to be taxed at the slab rate applicable to you. On the basis of the facts given in the query, the short-term capital gain would work out to Rs 9,35,521. The total tax payable thereon, including surcharge for education cess, will be Rs 1,91,226. The computation is based on the presumption that you did not have any other income and you are not a
senior citizen.
Move court or seek media help
Q. I purchased a plot in Shahdara, Uttar Pradesh, in March 1957 and got mutation done. Measuring 755 sq yard, this plot has been usurped by the mafia. No amount of representation before the UP authorities is working. I am a retired defence personnel, 81 years old and with no shelter for myself. Is there any way to get compensation and or plot in
lieu of? n My brother-in-law has not shared the property rights with his sister, my wife, despite my request. The residential property was purchased by my father-in law. Please suggest a constructive and simpler method -- preferably free legal aid -- keeping in kind that I am a senior citizen. — Sham Lal Khera With regard to your wife’s share in the property of your father-in-law, it has not been clarified whether your father-in-law had died intestate. She would be entitled to her share only in case your father-in-law had not made a will in favour of his son. In case your brother-in-law has taken charge of the property without there being a will in his favour, your wife can approach the court to claim her share in the property.
Obtain a valuation certificate
— Vijay Gupta A. On the basis of the facts given in the query, it is evident that the plans for the purpose of renovating your house were approved by the MC. In case you have evidence to prove that the renovation is in accordance with the plan so approved, you should obtain a valuation certificate from the approved valuer for the purposes of certification of the expenditure incurred in connection with such renovation. A valuation certificate supported by the approved plan should help you in claiming the deduction for the amount incurred for renovation for the purpose of computing the amount of capital gains tax.
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OH no, you need not go in for wooden planks on the balustrade for that well-pronounced natural effect. “In fact, wood planks framed in aluminum or metal borders look all the more synthetic and artificial. Think beyond the railing. Go in for wooden arcs, beams and corbels for that naturally spontaneous look,” suggests Verma.
Use only ISI marked wiring for electric circuits. Choose copper conductor wires only. These are costlier than aluminium conductors but worth it. Go in for electrolytic grade 99.97 per cent pure copper wiring. This will ensure safety from short-circuits and electric firing. After silver, copper has the highest tensile strength and conductivity and least resistance. It also has high thermal conductivity, higher melting point and more flexibility than aluminium. Therefore, it will withstand heavier overloads. Check the wires to be IS 694 Part I marked. This ISI is for copper wires. IS 694 Part II is for aluminium wiring. So, be extra careful in checking Part I written on the coils and wires. Always go in for wires manufactured by a reputed manufacturer — Finolex, National, Incab, Havell, Ecko, Modi. The good thing is that brands like Empire and Plaza are cheaper, yet good. 
THE word ‘chandelier’ itself adds royalty and style to your house. Enjoy the thrill of adding it to the house you have so fondly built. Its choice depends on the size, shape and use of the room where you will want it to be installed. Mostly, a chandelier is installed in the lobby or drawing room. Choose a double step chandelier for a double height ceiling. For single height ceiling, choose a single step one or it will look
too glaring. 
FOR your garden and its fountain, use light emitting diodes (LEDs). These can change colour and brightness to limitless tones. Sky blue, red, amber and milky white colours really look attractive. When used with semi transparent acrylic sheets, these lights create great ambience. Use them in portico and even under the outer staircase.
IN a move to streamline SEZ-related operations, the department of commerce has completed most procedures related to setting up zones online. These steps will help developers of tax-free industrial enclaves to apply through a website as well as to track the status of their applications in real time. It would bring down the processing time of applications. The department of commerce will also be able to track data related to the large number of zones better. To avail this facility, zones will have to first register on the website www.sezindia.nic.in and send printed copies of the application form to the commerce department.
A. The possession of the flat having been taken by you in December 2008, the capital gain arising on the transfer of the flat would be a short-term one and taxable at the normal slab rate. In other words, the short-term capital gain would be added to your total income and taxed on the slab rate applicable to your total income. 
A. The Uttar Pradesh Police should have helped you in getting the plot vacated from the unauthorised occupants. Since the authorities in UP are not helpful, the only other alternative would be to go to court. You may also approach the media for taking up your case. 
Q. I have sold a house that was renovated about ten years back as per plans approved plans by the Municipal Corporation. However, I have no proof to tender with regard to the total expenditure incurred, as the vouchers for the said year are not available. However, my bank account shows withdrawals made for the renovation. Is it possible to get a relief while calculating the capital gains tax in respect of the above expenditure incurred on renovation?