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The inter-ministerial Board of Approval (BoA) on SEZs, headed by Commerce Secretary Rahul Khullar, will also consider framing a policy for setting up units for recycling of plastics in SEZs, an official said.

As of now, there is no specific provision in the SEZ Act for such units.

The new SEZ proposals include Infosys Technologies IT SEZ in Bangalore, Lepakshi Knowledge Hub's proposed aerospace SEZ in Andhra Pradesh and the Gopalan E-Park IT SEZ at Mysore, Karnataka.

The board will also take up the requests of 24 developers, including Wipro, Mahindra and Mahindra, Ansal SEZ Projects and Wockhardt Infrastructure Development, who have asked for more time to execute their projects.

The BoA will also take up the request of real estate major Raheja Universal for de-notification of its IT SEZ in Maharashtra. Base Realty has also asked for permission to surrender its IT/ITeS SEZ in Maharashtra.

Source: Realty Plus Govt to take up 8 new SEZ proposals on Sept 16

However, a section of developers felt the deduction of interest paid on home loans could have been raised from the existing limit Rs 150,000.

"The move to retain the tax benefit will help home buyers. However, it does not help developers much. The government could have considered raising the limit to Rs 2.5 lakh, instead of maintaining it at Rs 1.5 lakh," Rajiv Talwar, executive director of DLF, said.

The Income Tax Act, 1961, provides for deduction from taxable income of up to Rs 150,000 towards interest paid on a home loan availed for purchase or construction of a property.

Source: Realty Plus Realtors, Banks Cheer As Home Loan Rebate Stays

Occupier markets picked up further in Q2, with more countries indicating that lettings demand moved higher compared to the first quarter. That said, the rise in lettings activity remains insufficient to exert upward pressure on rents in the majority of markets as available space continues to move higher in all but a handful of countries.

Indeed, rents continue to fall in 30 of the 46 countries surveyed. Available space continues to increase in 8 out of 10 countries surveyed.

Confidence towards commercial rents in Q3 2010, in India ranked 6th highest amongst 46 countries even though lettings activity ranked lower at 13th position. While confidence towards capital values in India was relatively strong at 10th rank, investment activity in India was relatively lower as compared to other countries, implying that other countries offer better investment returns.

पहले एफएआर 1.5 था जो बढ़कर 1.75 कर दिया गया है। इससे रेजिडेंशल प्लॉट पर ढाई मंजिल की बजाय 3 मंजिल तक घर बनाया जा सकेगा। यही नहीं, एक प्रस्ताव के तहत अगर कोई समूह अपने प्रोजेक्ट को ग्रीन बिल्डिंग के रूप में डिवेलप करेगा, तो उसे अप्रूव्ड एफएआर में से एक पर्सेंट एफएआर मुफ्त मिलेगा।

150 वर्गमीटर से ज्यादा एरिया वाले प्लॉट पर यानी स्टिल्ट पार्किंग के लिए ग्राउंड फ्लोर को ओपन छोड़ने का भी प्रस्ताव पारित किया है। स्टिल्ट बनाने का प्रस्ताव अनिवार्य नहीं है। इससे पार्किंग समस्या काफी कम की जा सकेगी। इंडस्ट्रियल प्लॉट में भी एफएआर बढ़ाने का फैसला किया है।

रेट बढ़ाए गए
यमुना एक्सप्रेस-वे अथॉरिटी ने अपने सभी कैटिगरी के प्लॉट्स के रेट बढ़ा दिए हैं। साथ ही डिवेलपमेंट फीस में भी बढ़ोतरी कर दी है। यमुना एक्सप्रेस-वे के डीपीआर में बदलाव किए गए हैं। साथ ही यमुना एक्सप्रेस-वे के सेक्टरों में गंगाजल की सप्लाई का भी फैसला किया गया है।

Issuing an order, the UP Housing and Urban Planning Department has fixed the accountability of housing commissioner and vice-chairman of development authorities to ensure provision of these services in such housing schemes.

According to officials, the objective is to provide `self sustaining rehabilitation' to ing rehabilitation' to the poor and increase occupancy of houses in such schemes.

Principal Secretary, Housing, Ravindra Singh said: "The provision of services like community centres, hospitals and schools would be made in the housing schemes meant for LIG and economically weaker section (EWS) categories."

Officials said such services are provided in housing schemes as per the building bylaws and zoning regulations. "But the government has noticed that such basic services are being provided only in housing schemes meant for higher and middle income groups, while housing schemes meant for low income groups and economically weaker sections are lacking these services," said an official.

"Majority of the complaints are made in respect of damage to bumper of cars, especially those of luxury cars. The contractor should use rubber tyres during towing process and exercise precautions to prevent damage while it is being towed away," a senior police officer said.

In the event of any damage caused to private vehicles while towing, the officer said, the owner of the crane "must reach the site of occurrence or traffic circle office immediately to settle the issue." The claim against damage, if any, caused to the vehicle during the process of towing will have to be compensated by the contractor, the officer said, adding these clauses were incorporated in the tender. "Traffic Police will not be responsible in any manner for any damage caused to the vehicle or claim sought by the vehicle owners in consequence to the towing activity," he said.

Traffic personnel on duty on the crane will maintain a register of vehicles towed or lifted along with time and exact location. "They will also take photographs of every vehicle towed as proof for justification of its removal from the location. The photograph will clearly show the registration number of the vehicle and the description of the location.

Source: The Pioneer Towing contractors to pay for damage to vehicles

This is for the first time the traffic police have become so stringent with this rule. Call centre cab drivers are infamous or rash driving and resultant accidents in which many people have been injured or killed.

The GPS system in cabs will help us to prosecute the call centre cabs driver caught violatign traffic norms on Delhi's streets AJAY CHADHA Special CP (Traffic)

About 1,500 call centre cabs ply on Delhi roads daily.

"We have categorically asked all call centre cab owners and operators in a meeting on Tuesday to immediately install GPS in their cabs. This will help us to prosecute the cabs that will violate traffic norms on Delhi's streets," said Ajay Chadha, Special CP (Traffic).

Deepak Ohlian, president of Business Process Industry Association of India, said: "We welcomed the recommendation of the Delhi traffic police. GPS is already installed in some of the call centre cabs and other cabs will also have this technology soon."

Source: Hindustan Times By Subhendu Ray Keeping Track:  Traffic Police Wants GPS In Call Centre Cabs

The New Okhla Industrial Development Authority (NOIDA) has prepared a draft of Master Plan-2031 which proposes to increase the green area by 2 to 3 per cent (200 to 300 hectares more) against the existing 2021 plan.

The Noida Authority, which held its 169th board meeting on Tuesday, has constituted an expert committee to go about ushering in the future course of infrastructure development.

New standards for the purpose are being fine-tuned.
Against the population estimation of five lakh in Noida's first Master Plan in 2001, the proposed figure, which stood at 12 lakh in the last plan, has now gone up to 25 lakh.

Citing Tuesday's decisions, Board chairperson Mohinder Singh said private players would be roped in for the green campaign.

ON GAMES "The preparation is almost complete. There was some communication gap with the Games organising committee. We'll meet the deadline," Singh said.

PLANS FOR SECTOR 18 The main market area of Noida, Sector 18, will be completely modernised "on the lines of some of the best cities of the world with top-class provisions such as skywalks and no-vehicle zones".

"But we will allow institutions and not individuals. The public-private-partnership model would be followed -the authority will deposit security money and private players will be allowed standard-size spaces for their publicity."

Source: Hindustan Times By Darpan Singh Laying Foundation For a Green Noida , Development Authority Prepares Draft of Masterplan 2031

The Municipal Corporation of Faridabad (MCF) on Tuesday passed a resolution for regularisation of 67 unauthorised colonies in Faridabad.

The 35-member House met this afternoon and besides many other issues deliberated on the issue of unauthorised colonies.

Amid the din, the resolution for regularisation of the 67 unauthorised colonies was passed with almost all the corporators describing it as "a landmark step for overall development of Faridabad". This was the second time such a resolution was passed.

Last year, a resolution for regularisation of 77 unauthorised colonies was passed and sent to the state government for approval. But, officials said, the proposal was returned with a few objections, forcing the civic agency to conduct a new survey.

The proposal for regularisation of 67 unauthorised colonies will now be forwarded to the state government through Gurgaon divisional commissioner for final approval.

"Some unauthorised colonies form part of my ward, which I represent. The clearing of a regularisation proposal will certainly make life in these colonies worth living," said Rajinder Bamla, Corporator of Ward number four.

Own vehicle best transport option

People have no option but to hitch a ride on an overload auto, in Sector-32, Noida

Ranked among the most developed and planned cities, Noida's transport options include cyclerickshaws, autos, city bus service, Delhi Transport Corporation (DTC) buses and the latest Delhi Metro trains.

The regional transport department figures, till July this year, reveal that about 28 four-wheelers and 55 two-wheelers are added daily to the city roads. The number of two-wheelers and cars constitutes around 91 per cent of the total vehicles registered with the regional transport department till July 2010.

The UP State Road Transport Corporation (UPSRTC), which also operates city buses, has connectivity to Delhi only on seven fixed points and fixed routes. The DTC runs 95 low-floor non-AC buses to various destinations -Noida Phase-II other sectors and Delhi areas like Dhaula Kuan, New Delhi Railway Station, ISBT and Mehrauli. Combined, the DTC and UPSRTC buses bear a daily commuter load of around 74,000-odd passengers.

Commuting to smaller distances is a smaller distances is a big problem for the residents.

Sushil Aggarwal, a resident of Sector 12, often hires a cyclerickshaw to travel to a nearby market by paying about Rs 20.

Aggarwal says, "I can hire an auto to the Sector 18 market but they ask anything between Rs 70 and Rs 100. I don't use city buses as they are mostly over-crowded, erratic and not a worth mode of transport to take the family for an outing," Aggarwal said. He also uses his car.

The Delhi Metro brought a glimmer of hope for those commuting to Delhi.But there are no feeder buses to ferry residents to nearest stations.

"It's really a struggle during peak hours to reach a Metro station. All your energies are spent on commuting as there are not feeder buses. Auto drivers charge according to their whims and fancies as meters are not installed in them," said Rahul Sharma, a Sector 71 resident.

Source: Hindustan Times By Peeyush Khandelwal Lack of a Proper Transport System Make Commuting A Nightmare In Noida

"The root cause being, inflation, which in-spite of RBI's efforts has not come down to satisfactory levels, and is further spreading from food items to non-food items. RBI is cautious and it is expected that, it will act soon to counter that," said, executive director, HDFC Bank Ltd, Paresh Sukthankar.

He said, "Due to tightening of liquidity, we could see a hike of 50-75 bps in the lending rates. The rise is likely to impact loans across the board including home loans, personal loans, and the like. The rise however, will not happen at the first instance. It will take place in tranchesby the end of current fiscal," said Sukthankar.

He said the move will not dishearten the low and mid-income group from going ahead with their buying decisions.

The first draft of Direct Tax Code (DTC) was silent on exemption on interest paid on housing loans. However, after adverse feedback from

"It is a very good thing that the government has retained the exemption. It will have a feel-good various quarter, the second draft proposed to retain this exemption, which is also incorporated in the bill.

Commenting on the development, the country's largest realty firm DLF Group executive director Rajeev Talwar said: "It is good that the exemption has been retained. However, the industry was expecting enhancement of the limit.

"I think, in future the government has to consider increasing the limit to include more people in the bracket."

In its 169th board meeting held Tuesday, it passed a resolution to build a head regulator at the Upper Ganges Canal (UGC), and branch canals to carry 37.50 cusec water to be supplied to different residential sectors of this township.

The Noida board also simplified the rules to build educational institutes. The board cleared 10 percent allotment amount instead of 20 percent rules earlier.

The board also passed a resolution to set up an Industrial Training Institute (ITI) in the town to train youths to meet the increasing demand of skilled workers in industrial units.

नोएडा डिपो में 40 प्रतिशत ई-टिकटिंग मशीनें खराब हैं। इन मशीनों के खराब होने के कारण टिकटों से नोएडा डिपो को छुटकारा नहीं मिल पा रहा है। मशीनों के खराब होने पर उनको हाथ से टिकट देना पड़ रहा है। ये मशीनें कब खराब हो जाएं इसका कोई भरोसा नहीं। हर कंडक्टर अपने पास प्रिंटेड टिकट भी रख रहा है। मशीनों के खराब रहने के कारण डिपो में पूरी तरह से ई-टिकटिंग लागू नहीं हो पा रहा है। डिपो के अफसर भी स्वीकार करते हैं कि मशीनों के खराब होने के कारण पूरी तरह से ई-टिकटिंग लागू नहीं हो पा रही है। अक्सर उनको मशीनों को ठीक कराना पड़ता है।
यूपी रोडवेज के मुख्यालय से चार सालों से नोएडा डिपो को पूरी तरह से ई-टिकटिंग से संचालित करने का प्रयास किया जा रहा है।

छह महीने से लेकर एक साल तो यहां के कंडक्टरों को इन मशीनों को चलाने की ट्रेनिंग दी जाती रही। पहले तो कंडक्टर इसको चलाना सीखने से कतराते रहे लेकिन अब जब सभी मशीन चलाना सीख चुके हैं तो मशीनें धोखा दे जा रही हैं। इन मशीनों को यूपी रोडवेज ने हैदराबाद से खरीदा है। वहीं के इंजीनियर इनको ठीक करते हैं। इन मशीनों के साथ कंडक्टरों का अनुभव बहुत बुरा है। नोएडा सेक्टर 35 से गाजियाबाद रूट चलने वाले एक कंडक्टर ने बताया कि उसने मशीन से गाजियाबाद का टिकट निकाला तो उस पर कीमत 170 रुपये आ गई। जबकि वास्तविक किराया 15 रुपये है ऐसे ही नोएडा से नई दिल्ली के रूट पर ई टिकटिंग मशीन 168 रुपये निकालने लगी। बार बार कोशिश के बावजूद मशीन टिकट 168 का निकालती रही। उसने मशीन डिपो में लाकर जमा कर दी।

ऐसे ही नोएडा से हापुड़ चलने वाले कंडक्टर को दी गई मशीन अचानक 25 रुपये के टिकट को एक लाख रुपये से अधिक का टिकट निकालने लगी। इसी रूट पर चलने वाले एक कंडक्टर ने बताया कि एक दिन उसकी मशीन आपरेट करते ही पेनाल्टी लगाने का ऑप्शन मांगने लगी। न तो वह मशीन आगे हो और न ही पीछे हो। ई टिकटिंग मशीन से कंडक्टरों को इस तरह के झटके झेलने पड़ रहे हैं। एक कंडक्टर ने एक एमएसटी का नंबर फीड किया तो उसमें उसका स्टेटस विक्लांग शो करने लगी। डिपो की ओर से कंडक्टरों पर दबाव बनाया जाता है कि जो लोग एमएसटी पर सफर करते हैं उनका नंबर ई टिकटिंग मशीन में फीड करें। दरअसल कंडक्टर अधिकतर पैसेंजर से पैसे लेकर विदाउट टिकट सफर करा देते हैं और डिपो में दलील देते हैं कि बस में एमएसटी वाले पैसेंजर अधिक थे।

But if you are one who has a home loan running for a few years now and are under the BPLR system, you may be feel- ing cheated. So, does it make sense for you to switch to the new base rate system, which is fairer? If yes, how can you do it and would it really make a dif- ference to your equated monthly instalments? We ad- dress these issues and more.

What makes base rate fairer than BPLR?
Under the BPLR regime, you paid more when interest rates went up because some banks were prompt in hiking the BPLR.

Click On Image For PDF View...

However, their BPLR never come down even when interest rates head south. So, a drop in interest rates didn't mean you paid less.
This made the BPLR system un- fair and non-transparent.

The new base rate system promises to give a fairer deal, at least to new customers. Since the base rate is the minimum rate at which banks are permit- ted to lend, the banks will have to alter it whenever their cost of funds and other parameters al- ter, owing to change in key rates announced by the Re- serve Bank of India (RBI). The change in loan rates will be equal to the change in base rate and would, therefore, lend transparency to the system.

Source: Live Mint By Bindisha Sarang Home Loans: BPLR Rates Are Rising, Shift To Base Rate

• How can you shift?

• Should you shift?

Mineral Water suppliers are doing risk business in Noida

There has been a steady rise in demand for safe and clean drinking water. The residents are ready to shell out more for bottled or canned water.

Water purifiers and RO systems are in high demand as considerable number of families has installed them. The present situation is that against the demand of 167 MLD, the authority supplies 248 MLD of water to residential and non-residential areas.

To bring down the hardness, 48 MLD of the Ganga water is presently mixed with the water supplied. This initiative began in 2005 but the Ganga water supply remained the same ever since, despite the rise in water demand.

According to officials, Noida residents get about 50 per cent subsidy on water. Besides, Noida has a unique distinction of having an exclusive master plan for water supply and sewage in the country. Also, the city is working for attaining "zero water wastage" status by 2020.

With the authorities having failed to provide quality water, residents have adopted their own means to tackle the problem. They are waiting for the arrival of another192 MLD of Ganga water which is expected by 2013 as per official estimates.

"At present, we depend on RO systems and water purifiers to meet our drinking water requirements. The water quality is not up to the mark and contains certain substances, which lead to health complications in the long run.  Various health complications like dry-skin, colitis, gastroenteritis are common," said Sushil Aggarwal of Federation of Noida RWA (FONRWA).

However, the residents also claim that turbidity levels are also high. Officials admit that turbidity may be due to chlorination and presence of hard water layers.

"The water quality is bad. Earlier, we used to boil the water. But now we depend on water purifiers. Officials should also check the condition of groundwater on a regular basis," said Commodore (Retd.) Lokesh Batra, an RTI activist from Sector 25.

Source: Hindustan Times By Peeyush Khandelwal Quality water hard to come by

Although Noida is a 'no-power-cut' zone, residents have to put up with long hours of load-shedding, like sector-2(in-pic)

It's not that they don't pay for electricity. One-third of the revenue generated by Uttar Pradesh through electricity comes from Noida and Ghaziabad. In fact, as compared to other districts in UP, Noida has the highest average per unit cost.

As a specially-planned city, which remains a favourite with BPOs, IT companies, MNCs, professional colleges and export zones, Noida has also witnessed a real estate boom in recent years. Still, residents are subjected to unscheduled power cuts over more than three-four hours daily.

In the absence of uninterrupted power supply, residents have to rely on generators and invertors. In around 100 high rises, mostly developed by private builders, power backup costs as much as R12 per unit.

"During load-shedding, we rely mostly on power supplied by our builders.That is very expensive and burns a hole in our pocket. Many residents have installed expensive generators," Dr.
Dineshwar Sharma, a member of the Sector 50 Resident Welfare Association (RWA), said.

Officials of the Federation of Noida Resident Welfare Associations (FONRWA) termed the condition pathetic.
"The power situation is worse during summer. There would be power cuts for over seven hours a day," said N. P.
Singh of FONRWA.

Apart from 1.5 lakh commercial and residential connections in Noida, power supply to industrial units also experiences four-six hours of cuts every day.

Uttar Pradesh Power Corporation Limited (UPPCL) officials, however, dismiss the claim. According to them, there is only a two-hour `emergency cut' daily, thanks to local faults, breakdown of transmission lines or overloading of sub-stations.

Source: Hindustan Times By Peeyush Khandelwal Officially Noida Is A `No-Power-Cut' Zone. But Load-Shedding Is An Unending Problem In This IND. Hub

The commission said that the buyer is also entitled to refund of entire money with reasonable interest and any deduction on the said amount is unjustified.

"The petitioner was fully justified in opting out of the (hire-purchase) scheme and demanding refund of the money that she had paid along with interest," it said.

The commission passed the order on a petition of Agra resident Indira Gupta seeking quashing of Uttar Pradesh state commission direction to deduct 20% from the amount to be refunded to the complainant by the Agra Development Authority.

"We direct that Rs66,000 along with 15% interest be paid to Gupta by the authority, as ordered by the District Forum, within six weeks along with Rs2,000 as cost of litigation," the commission bench headed by president justice Ashok Bhan said.

"The fact that the authority had erred in not giving the possession of the house to Gupta as envisaged under the scheme and in the absence of any rules and regulations by which 20% could be deducted from the refunded amount, we are unable to uphold the order of the state commission and therefore set it aside," the commission said.

Source: www.dnaindia.com Buyer Can Opt Out Of Housing Project If Possession Is Delayed

ट्रांसपोर्ट विभाग के सूत्रों का कहना है कि जिस तरह से मेट्रो का विस्तार हो रहा है, उससे इंटरचेंज पॉइंट तेजी से बढ़ रहे हैं। लाइनों का विस्तार इस तरह से होना चाहिए कि पैसेंजरों को एक से ज्यादा इंटरचेंज पॉइंट का इस्तेमाल न करना पड़े। तीसरे फेज में दिल्ली मेट्रो 70 किमी के प्लान में मेट्रो का पूरा रिंग नहीं बनता। ट्रांसपोर्ट विभाग ने जो स्टडी कराई है, अगर उसे लागू किया जाता है तो मेट्रो को अपने तीसरे फेज की लाइनों में लगभग 25 फीसदी बदलाव करना पड़ेगा। लेकिन ऐसा हो जाता है तो पैसेंजरों को एक जगह से दूसरी जगह जाने के लिए बार-बार मेट्रो लाइनों को बदलने की जरूरत नहीं पड़ेगी। इसी तरह अगर रिंग रोड पर भी मेट्रो लाइन बनाई जाए तो उसका भी फायदा पूरी दिल्ली को हो सकता है।

दिल्ली के परिवहन मंत्री अरविंदर सिंह लवली के मुताबिक, यह सही है कि तीसरे फेज के लिए मेट्रो की लाइनों को लेकर स्टडी कराई गई है, लेकिन अभी इस बारे में कोई फैसला नहीं हुआ है। जल्द ही मीटिंग करके लाइनों के बारे में फैसला किया जाएगा। इसके बाद ही दिल्ली मेट्रो से बात की जाएगी।

यह दूसरा मौका है, जब ट्रांसपोर्ट डिपार्टमेंट ने मेट्रो की लाइनों के लिए खुद स्टडी कराने का फैसला किया है। दूसरे फेज की लाइनों के मामले में तत्कालीन ट्रांसपोर्ट कमिश्नर की राय दिल्ली मेट्रो से अलग थी। उस वक्त ट्रांसपोर्ट विभाग चाहता था कि गुड़गांव के लिए मेट्रो लाइन द्वारका के रास्ते ही तैयार की जाए, लेकिन दिल्ली मेट्रो की चाहत केंद्रीय सचिवालय से गुड़गांव को जोड़ने की थी। ट्रांसपोर्ट विभाग के तत्कालीन अफसरों ने जो स्टडी कराई थी, उसमें कहा गया था कि गुड़गांव से आने वाले पैसेंजरों में से ज्यादातर के धौला कुआं पहुंचने के बाद उन्हें पश्चिमी दिल्ली की ओर ही जाना होता है। इसके बावजूद गुड़गांव लाइन को केंद्रीय सचिवालय से ही जोड़ने का फैसला किया गया था।

गौरतलब है कि तीसरे फेज की मेट्रो लाइनों के लिए वित्तीय मॉडल को लेकर पसोपेश की स्थिति बनी हुई है। यही वजह है कि अब तक न तो दिल्ली सरकार ने तीसरे फेज के लिए अपनी मंजूरी दी है और न ही केंद्र सरकार ने। दिल्ली सरकार की मांग है कि तीसरे फेज के लिए डीडीए ही पैसे का भुगतान करे लेकिन डीडीए ने अब तक इस पर अपनी हामी नहीं भरी।