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Government has sought to hike the penalty amount

Wednesday, March 10th, 2010

The Government has sought to hike the penalty amount on all types of offenses, including tampering of meter, connection to the Board sewer without  permission, execution of work by any person other than a licensed plumber and constructing a building without drains.

The Bangalore Water Supply and Sewerage and Certain other Laws (Amendment) Bill, 2009, tabled in the Legislative Assembly,seeks to enhance the penalties on various offenses under the Bangalore Water Supply and Sewerage Board (BWSSB) Act.The bill also seeks to empower the Board to insist house owners to adopt water conservation methods.

Illegal use and wastage of drinking water and tampering of meters will soon attract severe punishment. Presently there is no provision to imprison an offender. New bill includes a penalty of imprisonment from six month to three years if water is wasted or misused. Board has been empowered to insist on the building owner to adopt water-conservation methods like rainwater harvesting and recycling of waste water for potable purposes.The bill is yet to be debated in the assembly.

The amendment to the Bill also brings developers of apartments and high-rise buildings in BBMP area to pay pro-rata charges (proportionate charges) towards cost of improvement of water and sewerage systems levied by the board from time to time.

Source : Deccan Herald

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Buying A Home and Home Loans get pricier

Tuesday, March 9th, 2010

A week after the Budget made homes more expensive by imposing a service tax of 10% on the cost of construction, banks are now ratcheting up interest rates by 0.25-0.50%. Bankers say they expect rates to rise by another 0.25-0.50% after two-three months when the Reserve Bank ups rates in general at its next credit policy review in April.

All new home buyers will now have to pay 0.25-0.50% of additional interest. This is because the Reserve Bank of India has impounded more bank cash to check inflation, with the cash reserve ratio being raised by 0.75% to 5.75% in February. New borrowers will have to shell out Rs633 more in terms of equated monthly installments (EMIs) compared to people who have already raised their loans.

Home loan vendors are not making the buying decision any easier. Kotak Mahindra Bank, too, has announced a hike in home loan rates. On Thursday, leading home financiers ICICI Bank and Housing Development Finance Corporation (HDFC) ended their “teaser home loan” schemes, under which rates were as low as 8-8.25% in the initial years.An ICICI Bank spokesperson said that the “two-year fixed-rate home loan scheme has been discontinued from March 1, 2010. The current floating home loan rates are 8.75% for loans up to Rs 30 lakh, 9% for Rs 30-50 lakh and 9.5% above Rs 50 lakh.”

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Submiting Annual affidavits mandatory for owners of high-rises

Tuesday, March 2nd, 2010

Last week’s blaze in Carlton Towers Bangalore has taught many lessons not just for the BBMP but all other departments.The State Government is now planning to make it mandatory for owners of high-rises to submit annual affidavits to the Bruhat Bangalore Mahanagara Palike (BBMP) certifying that all safety mechanisms are in place.

“Everyone knows that the building owner tries to comply with all norms before obtaining an occupancy certificate from the Palike. But the problem starts when violations take place after the construction,” Said A. Ravindra, Adviser to Chief Minister (Urban Affairs).

“Everyone talks about prevention and precautions only after the incident. We should plan something concrete to ensure that such tragedies do not recur. We are trying to fix the responsibility of ensuring safety mechanisms on both the owner and the occupants,” he added.

Apart from periodic inspections to check post-construction violations, it is also important for a coordinated effort from all departments to ensure that all safety aspects and precautions to prevent accidents are in place.

Reference:

The Hindu

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Carlton Towers has once again brought into focus safety in high-rise buildings

Thursday, February 25th, 2010

A fire broke out on seven-storey Carlton Towers on the Old Airport Road. Tuesday’s fire at the Carlton Towers Bangalore has once again brought into focus safety in high-rise buildings and the responsibilities of the owners/occupants concerned.

“Tuesday’s fire at Carlton Towers was due to negligence and was a violation of human rights.” said The Karnataka Human Rights Commissioner (SHRC) S R Nayak. “It was noticed that the common passage was constructed illegaly and we also suspect that there is deviation from the building plan and violation of building norms,” added Nayak.

Post-mortem reports on Wednesday confirmed what had been preliminary suspicions, that eight of the nine deaths due to the Carlton fire were caused by head injuries and only one by asphyxiation.

The building plan violations made fire-fighting difficult.The fire alarm didn’t go off. The sprinklers didn’t work because there was no water. The fire exits were locked. Nothing seems to have worked when the flames struck at cables in the duct beside the ground-floor lift. An opening, left unsealed on the top floors led to the smoke spreading, causing panic. This is a common violation in many high-rises.On some floors, the passage connecting the two staircases on either sides of the building was blocked. Advertisement hoardings and minor construction on the premises hindered the movement of fire engines.

“We don’t have the powers to undertake frequent inspections of fire safety measures.We gave the clearance in 1999. The owner has sold it room-wise and floor-wise. The [present] owners have the collective responsibility of adhering to the safety norms.We could not use the turntable ladders to evacuate people as the fire engines carrying them were stuck in traffic. Our men were injured by the glass facade being broken by those in the building.” Said B.G. Chengappa, Director, Karnataka Fire and Emergency Services.

Reference:

The Hindu

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Hike in power tariff may proportionally increase in your water bills

Tuesday, February 23rd, 2010

Hike in power tariff may propotionally increase your water bills as BWSSB has written to government for hike in water tariff. In order to meet BWSSB’s increasing monthly expenditure on power charges,BWSSB has written to the government asking for a proportional hike in the water tariff.

In case the government approves BWSSB’s proposal, there might be a proportional hike in water tariff for both domestic and commercial consumers. “We are incurring almost a 11.5% increase in our monthly power charges, paying Rs 2.5 crore extra a month. In case the government approves our proposal, there might be a proportional hike in water tariff” said BWSSB chairperson P B Ramamurthy at a meet at FKCCI.

On Tuesday, there will be no water supply in the North and East parts of Bangalore.The crisis follows a sudden sludge in the motors and almost all the machines have stopped functioning since monday evening. The supply will be restored after Tuesday as the repair work is in progress.

Source: The Time of India

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JBJ City Developers was arrested in connection with land scam

Friday, February 19th, 2010

Bangalore police arrested Manivannan, director of Chennai-based JBJ City Developers in connection with a Rs 20-crore scam in Tamil Nadu and a Rs 7-crore land scam in Bangalore. The case came to light when people complained that JBJ City Developers had collected money for land and then failed to allot plots.

JBJ City Developers having its corporate office in Chennai collected several lakhs from people and cheated them by not registering land and also not giving back their money. When the customers approached,they supplied several cheques, which bounced consequently.When the customers approached, the management allegedly threatened them.

The Economic Offences Wing (EOW) of the Tamil Nadu police commenced investigations into the multicrore fraud last week. More than 1,000 victims thronged the EOW office to file their complaints. With the arrest of Manivannan, the police have finally managed to bust a racket that came to light five months ago.

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SBI Loan Utsav 2010 Starts today

Friday, February 19th, 2010

State bank of India one of leading banks in India will organize a three-day ‘SBI Loan Utsav’. The SBI loan utsav 2010 starts on Friday 19,2010 on 4 pm at its local head office campus on St Mark’s Road.

While announcing that the bank will offer spot loans at an interest rate of 8 per cent, it said that customers can visit the stalls from 11 am to 7 pm on Saturday and Sunday.  Over 40 top builders/developers of Bangalore and major auto dealers are participating. On Friday, it is open between 4 pm and 7 pm.

The builders will showcase more than 25,000 apartments in SBI loan utsav 2010. SBI is partnering with SBI Card, SBI Life and SBI Mutual Fund in organizing the Utsav. SBI loan utsav is organized at its local head office campus on St Mark’s Road in association with The Times of India.

Customers can visit the stalls on three days to choose from over 25,000 apartments. Major auto dealers  will present the latest offerings from their stable.They can also select their favorite cars from a wide range available at the exposition.

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Get ready to pay the betterment charges from June

Wednesday, February 17th, 2010

The BBMP is planning to restart collecting betterment charges, which was stopped five years ago. To bail out the BBMP from the financial crunch, the government planned to bring the Sakrama scheme, which was turned down by Governor Hansraj Bhardwaj. Now the BBMP has recommended the collection of development fees from those who live in illegal layouts and want development activities in their areas.

There are around five lakh properties in the City which are illegal and have not paid betterment charges. The BBMP started working on this idea a few months ago and formed a committee led by the Palike’s zonal commissioners, chief engineers, finance and revenue officials.

According to the Palike sources, the BBMP has proposed to charge Rs 1.2 lakh for a 2,400 square feet site, Rs 60,000 for a 1,200 square feet site and Rs 30,000 for the 600 square feet site.

Source: Deccan Herald

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BBMP to Issue notice to defaulting property owners for 2008-09 and 2009-10

Tuesday, February 9th, 2010

According to an estimate, nearly 2.5 lakh property owners have not paid their property tax for 2008-09 and 2009-10. Now, the civic authority plans to do a door-to-door survey to issue notices to the defaulting property owners and make them pay the dues.The demand notice will give them 15 days time to make the payments with two per cent penalty.

“Our officials have been visiting all these buildings and issuing notices to the occupants, irrespective of whether they are the owners or not,” said an official. BBMP expects to meet the shortfall of Rs 400 crore in the two months time.

Despite issue of notices,many of property owners has not paid property tax 2008-09 & 2009-10 under SAS.If the property tax for 2008-09 has been paid, property owners can avail the facility of online paying for year 2009-10 by using Visa/Mastercard on BBMP’s website.

The property owners without Occupancy Certificate can pay property tax under Self Assessment Scheme (SAS) with their title deed (sale deed).The property will be registered in BBMP’s B-Register until regularization of property.The property owners cannot file self assessment declaration once assessment order is issued. BBMP requests property owners co-operation during inspection and assessement by BBMP officials.

Last chance for defaulters

  • For payment made after 30th November 2009, an interest of 2% per month will be levied.
  • Property owners paid property tax for 2008-09 can avail the facility of online paying for the year 2009-10 by using Visa/Mastercard on BBMP’s website.
  • The property owners without Occupancy Certificate can pay property tax under Self Assessment Scheme (SAS) with their title deed (sale deed).
  • The demand notice will give property owners 15 days time to make the payments with two per cent penalty.
  • Further action will be taken against them as per the provisions, if defaulters do not pay their dues even after receiving demand notices.
  • Log on www.bbmp.gov.in or your nearest Help center for more details.

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Rainwater Harvesting opened a new window of employment to plumbers

Tuesday, February 9th, 2010

Rainwater Harvesting (RWH) appears to have opened a new window of employment to plumbers, who are in huge demand.There are approximately 60,000 houses which need to implement the system in Bangalore by May 2010, and 8,000 of them have already implemented it, according to BWSSB.

Each project can cost from Rs 4,000 to about Rs 40,000, which includes the material and labour cost. BWSSB is also trying to get the 12.5% VAT exempted from materials required for rainwater harvesting.The mandatory clause will be applicable for all new structures on a sital area measuring 1,200 sqft (30×40) and above, in the case of existing structures, it will be applicable for those built on a sital area of 2,400 sqft (40×60) and above.

When the order was issued, there were hardly any plumbers to do the skilled job, now there are around 400 plumbers trained by BWSSB, Karnataka State Council for Science and Technologies (KSCST) and IISc, and are available to implement the system wherever required. NGOs like Samvada are also training youth. “Around 10 youth trained by Samvada are busy meeting the demands of several calls. Their charges are site-specific and they specialize in rooftop rainwater harvesting for houses, hospitals, factories or any commercial establishments”-said program associate, Samvada, Satish K S.

The training process for rainwater harvesting will continue for the next three years. From April, another 500 will be trained and certified. Anyone can take up this training, and no formal qualification is required. As of now, BWSSB’s registered plumbers are being trained.

The Bangalore Water Supply and Sewerage Board (BWSSB) has proposed relaxation of Value Added Tax (VAT) for filters intended to motivate the public to opt for RWH before the May 27 deadline. To motivate plumbers to carry out Rain Water Harvesting (RWH), BWSSB has announced cash incentives if they attain specific targets.

Source: Times of India

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