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Number of unauthorised colonies swelling in holy city
Body trapped under debris recovered
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Emerging trends
Forum issues notices to MC officials
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Number of unauthorised colonies swelling in holy city
Amritsar, September 13 The number of illegal colonies from 343 in April last year has gone to 402 now. The Punjab Urban Development Authority (PUDA), which detected illegal colonies in the city, has failed to stop the mushrooming growth of the illegal colonies. Apart from the violation of the established norms, a high number of illegal colonies indicates the sharp rise in the demand for housing units. PUDA registers cases against these colonies for violating the Punjab Apartment and Properties Regulatory Act, 1995. The mushrooming unapproved colonies underline the failure of the government to realise the demand of residential units and absorbing the growing population. Majority of these illegal colonies have developed along and around the bypasses of the city, which have become black spots on the urbanised development. Residents of these localities are deprived of basic amenities, like wide enough roads, sewerage and streetlights. Once the area is developed, it soon turns into a congested one and residents cope with traffic blues. Rattled with problems like non-existence of private and government transport, absence of sewerage, potable water and many more, residents can neither live there nor find buyers. A resident of illegal colony, Manbir Singh, said the rise in a number of nuclear families and high prices of approved colonies pushed people to procure plots in illegal colonies. Almost all houses had installed submersible pumps to directly draw underground water, while septic tanks have been constructed on the roads in front of the houses to discharge waste. Transportation is another major problem. Ashish Kumar of Suraj Avenue said to own a conveyance in these areas was almost a pre-requisite as many colonies were situated in the exteriors and neither government nor private mass-transportation was available. What deters investors from developing a regularised colony: People associated with real estate are of the view that there are many reasons which hold back people from going ahead with an approved colony. It escalates the cost manifold and would debar a large number of people from realising their dreams. As per the rules framed in 2007, the external development charges (EDC) have been divided in two parts constituting high potential zone of two categories. The category I is the area within the radius of 5 km outside the Municipal Corporation limit. For developing a residential area on an acre one has to pay Rs 26.78 lakh as EDC and Rs 3 lakh as licence fee. Conversion charges for national highway are Rs 5.38 lakh, state highways Rs 4.53 lakh and Rs 3.60 lakh for other roads. With a view to developing the same area for commercial purposes, one has to shell out Rs 93.95 lakh per acre and Rs 1 crore as licence fee. Besides, for the commercial area conversion charges for national highway are Rs 43.18 lakh, state highways Rs 35.98 lakh and Rs 28.81 lakh for other roads. Meanwhile, area outside the municipal limits within the radius of 5 to 15 km falls under category II. For development of residential area on an acre, one has to pay Rs 22.76 lakh as EDC and Rs 3 lakh as licence fee. Besides, conversion charges for national highway are Rs 5.38 lakh, state highways Rs 4.53 lakh and Rs 3.60 lakh for other roads. To develop the same area for commercial purpose, one has to pay Rs 79.85 lakh as EDC and Rs 1 crore as licence fee. Conversion charges for national highway are Rs 43.18 lakh, state highways Rs 35.98 lakh and Rs 28.81 lakh for other roads. Senior citizen Sukhwinder Singh says that if a person decides to follow the procedure laid down by the government for raising a house, it would remain a dream for a large number of people. Senior officials and politicians involved in preparing these rules must keep in mind the need and demand of affordable houses. However, officials in PUDA say that once a colony is approved, it offers many civic amenities and services like roads, sewerage, streetlights and other works. Meanwhile, the 13-member team of legislators, led by Akali MLA Virsa Singh Valtoha, found 158 illegal colonies. realtor Speak
President of the district unit of the CREDAI Krishan Kumar Sharma Kukku said 35 city-based major realtors had become its members. Besides, they would be bound with many responsibilities. They would have to follow 32 clauses of the code of conduct, which ensured establishment of only approved townships, quality products to the customers, support developers in case of liquidity crunch and provision for formation of grievances redressal forum for resolving disputes between customers and developers. He added that the code of conduct regulated booking of premises, agreement of sale, payments, escalation, construction of building, quality of construction, area, time frame, penalty, tree plantation, labour welfare and others. — Krishan Kumar Sharma, President of the district unit of the CREDAI Official Speak As per the law PUDA is acting against the illegal colonies. Regarding the 402 illegal colonies, 245 FIRs have been filed, while 157 complaints registered in police stations in different parts of the city. — Swinder Pal, Executive Engineer, PUDA
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Body trapped under debris recovered
Amritsar, September 13 His body was pulled out of the debris at 11.30 pm last night and was handed over to the police station concerned. The Police Station C-Division in charge Manjit Singh said that a case under Section 174 has been registered in the matter and the process is on to identify the person who died in the mishap. The dead was working as a helper with a mason named Mohinder Singh. Both were repairing the roof of this building which was more than a century old when its roof tumbled down on them. Though, Mohinder was successfully taken out after 20 minutes’ operation, his helper could not be located till 11 pm. Sadiq Masih, the sub-fire officer who led the rescue operation told that he was actually trapped under the mangled remains of a heavy paapar- drying machine which was being operated right over the portion of the roof that collapsed. The owner of the building, Ashok Aggarwal, had engaged them 10 days ago to repair the roof which became ramshackled during the incessant rains that lashed the city recently. It has been learnt that for the past over three decades, one Gurinder Singh was running his paapar-making business from the upper floor of this building that had been rented out. The AMC Commissioner Dharampal Gupta said that the onus of this incident lies with the owner of the building and the mason who did not take precautionary measures while carrying out the repair job. “The owner too should have not allowed such heavy machinery to be operated from his house which was already a shambles”, he said. Over 15 such old buildings in a row which are awaiting the same fate any day, but the residents are not ready to vacate them. Most of these buildings have been engaged in litigation on account of owner-tenant disputes and in the hope of getting rich, continue to live under these “roofs of disaster”. The AMC has recently identified 135 such old crumbling structures which were occupied, “We are issuing fresh notices to the occupants to move to a safer place. Besides this, it has also been conveyed to him not to alter any portion of such old houses without taking the AMC into consideration”, he said. The SGPC and Durgiana temple have also opened their doors to accommodate those families who are handicapped in terms of moving to a safer accommodation on their own. It is an irony that MC has not received even a single applicant for the same.
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MC swoops on hoardings
Amritsar, September 13 This speedy action is courtesy the stern directions issued recently by the High Court to the secretary, Local Bodies Department to remove all the hoardings put up by political leaders, parties and commercial organisations on road berms or land abutting municipal roads in Punjab be removed. The department has been ordered to submit a status report before September 26. Neverthless, in Amritsar, despite a staff crunch, the MC has formed a special team under the leadership of one superintendent and one inspector to ensure compliance with the HC orders. A viewpoint is that there should be a concrete uniform advertisement policy to regulate this menace. Though the HC directive is to remove the hoardings that have been fixed on national highways, state highways or on respective corporations land in the state, yet it, apparently, has remained silent on hoardings and banners which have been placed on the rooftops in an illegal manner, the officials viewed. Till date, around 400 such eyesores have been successfully removed and they expect twice this number to be still there. About the sanctioned unipoles in the city to support advertisement and banners, official records say, there were around 195 unipoles which were sanctioned for putting advertisement or banners. Out of these, 82 were removed and the remaining 113 cannot be disturbed for quite sometime because they have been engaged under a contract signed by the AMC. Sukhdev Singh, head of the advertisement cell (AMC), said that 91 unipoles were engaged under a contract till December 2012 and 22 unipoles have been legally occupied till 2013. Besides this, there are other authorities like the Improvement Trust or the Railways which have separately signed pacts with firms. Those cannot be disturbed. “We are removing hoardings which have been illegally placed the corporation land since September 7. We have removed at least 400 hoardings and many more are still enjoying the immunity. In the absence of a concrete and uniform advertisement policy, we are facing difficulty in implementing the HC directions in toto”, he said “As per norms, such advertising should be done on unipoles, but the rules are being flouted,” he added. Unipoles to remain
It was an agreement of five years between the private players and the MC during the earlier government. Under this agreement, these unipoles were placed at various places of the city. The MC gets remuneration to the tune of Rs 5,500 per unipole per month. Definitely, it disrupts the attention, if placed on the roadside or traffic points. Three years are still pending under the agreement and before this no alteration can be made. But for sure, its renewal can be intercepted after the lapse of the contract
period.
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Emerging trends
Sports, beer, cars and girls…what else would a guy need? Now they also want spa, facial, manicure and waxing. Girls are often accused of going to extreme lengths in order to get that picture-perfect look. But it’s the opposite sex which is out to prove they are not a negligent lot when it comes to grooming and beauty. If not outnumbering the girls but at least on a par with them, men in the holy city have found their aesthetic sensibilities.
Taking the concept of metrosexuality seriously, men are more than ever before conscious about looks and personal grooming, availing beauty services that were once limited only for girls. “The concept of beauty no longer remains a girl’s domain. We have men of all ages coming to us for specialised beauty and hair treatments,” says Harpreet Arora, centre head, Orane Day Spa, Green Avenue. And that includes facials, spa, rebonding, getting their eyebrows made and the list is long. “In fact, I believe men are becoming more conscious about their looks given the high standards set for them by social media tools. Also, young professionals with touring jobs are aware of the importance of looking good. So, they don’t mind getting a makeover once in while,” she adds. Age is no bar for this head to toe beauty regime, popular services availed of include fairness facials, anti-ageing treatments, manicures and hair treatments. “Beard setting and rebonding are also popular with them. From 15 to 70, we have customers coming from all ages, each with different kinds of requirements,” says Harpreet. Some of the salons have found regular customers. “On Sundays, we have a house packed with guys who come over for their grooming and clean ups,” says Sugandhi, centre head, Sylvie’s, Ranjit Avenue. If that’s not all, here’s some more. Salons have come up with pre-groom packages for guys who are getting married. “It won’t be wrong to say that men are more conscious than women when it comes to looks and they know what good grooming is all about. We have special packages for grooms with facial, hair spa, mani-pedi services along with basic grooming,” says Sugandhi. “They even ask for make-ups and touch ups. And while doing so, they know the basics and want the best results,” says Lisa, make-up artist at
Orane.
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Forum issues notices to MC officials
Amritsar, September 13 The notices were issued following a complaint by the People Welfare Society regarding the problem of overflowing of drains and spilling over of sewage on streets in the city during rainy season. Admitting the complaint, the forum has issued notices to the parties concerned for September 29. The PWD and Water Supply and Sewerage Board have also been issued notices for the same day. In his complaint, executive member of the People Welfare Society Sanjeev Sharma said, “There is conspicuous fault, imperfection, shortcoming and inadequacy in the quality, nature and manner of performance on the part of opposite parties, which apparently amounts to grossest and inexcusable deficiency in services under section 2(1)g of the Consumer Protection Act.” The complaint added that the sewerage system in the whole city is totally defunct. Every time after the rains, the drains are filled with the filth and garbage. The overflowing solid wastes emanate foul smell, making life of the residents miserable. The main areas listed by the society with an acute problem of overflowing of drains and spilling over of sewage on streets are Hall Gate, road in front of Khalsa College, Putlighar, Pink Plaza, Chehartta, Majitha Road, Gopal Nagar, front of the railway station, Lawrence Road, Ranjit Avenue, Katra Moti Ram and Green Avenue. Kanwar Pahul Singh, counsel for the society, informed, “The Consumer Redressal Forum has been requested to impose a penalty of Rs 90,000 on the authorities, which can be used for the welfare of general public and for buying medicines for the first-aid centre run by the society at courts complex.”
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Making Amritsar a sparkling city
Amritsar, September 13 The drive, which started from Beri Gate, covered Katra Bhai Sant Singh, Bazaar Tokerrian and Shakti Nagar Chowk and culminated at Lahori Gate. The Municipal Corporation provided garbage-lifting autos, ditch machines, road-sweeping machines, water-sprinkling machines, fogging machines and
tippers for the drive. On the route volunteers displayed placards and distributed leaflets before and during the cleanliness drive to increase awareness about it. City residents came out in full force to support the movement. The volunteers distributed leaflets and explained the value of the cleanliness drive to various shopkeepers, who also agreed to keep the city clean and sparkling. The campaign covered over 300 shops throughout the route. Dr Prodipta
Sen, Executive Director, Marketing, Corporate Affairs & Retail, Alpha
G:Corp, said the drive was aimed at creating awareness about hygiene and environmental issues and thereby promoting solutions essential for a sustainable, healthy and greener environment. “We are committed to creating positive awareness about sustainable and healthy living in
Amritsar, with the goal of making it a model city in terms of hygiene and civic amenities. We have been fortunate to have the required support from the Mayor’s office and the Municipal Corporation for our eco-drive.”
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Talent search competitions conclude
Amritsar, September 13 In the creative writing competition, Harpreet Kaur of BA-I, Babli of B.Com-I and Amanjyoti of B.Sc-I secured the first position in Punjabi, Hindi and English, respectively. Samya of BA-I topped in embroidery. Priya Sharma of the same class excelled in cooking and Sofia Sobikhi was the winner in handicraft. Contests were held in rangoli, card-making, pot-painting, flower-making, photo frame and others.
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With the formation of the district chapter of the Confederation of Real Estate Developers’ Association of India (CREDAI), Punjab, major city-based realtors had joined hands for planned urban growth of the city.