All construction activity comes to a halt in Gurgaon (Hindu 02 September 2012)

District administration notice to builders to use only treated sewage water

All construction activity has been stalled in Gurgaon till the builders make arrangements to use recycled water from the Sewage Treatment Plants (STP) of Dhanwapur or Behrampur.

The district administration has sent notices to 81 builders in this regard asking them to stop construction immediately till they produce a confirmation from the Haryana Urban Development Authority (HUDA), Gurgaon, to the effect that they are no more extracting ground water and would use recycled water from an STP of HUDA or any other source approved by HUDA for construction purposes.

Financial Commissioner & Principal Secretary (Town & Country Planning) S. S. Dhillon on Saturday visited the local Golf Course Extension Road and conducted random checks at some construction sites along with Deputy Commissioner P. C. Meena, HUDA Administrator Praveen Kumar and other senior officials. At almost all the places, the construction was found stopped.

Mr. Dhillon said that in compliance of the orders of the Punjab & Haryana High Court, the builders who have obtained licence from the Town & Country Department have been directed to make arrangements for recycled treated sewage water for construction purposes. He said HUDA would keep a record of treated water taken by each builder from its STP and whether it was sufficient to meet its needs. He said HUDA and MCG would provide primary and secondary treated sewage water and the builder would have to finally treat it (tertiary treatment) at the construction site before using it for construction purposes.

According to Mr. Dhillon, even supply of water from tankers at construction sites was prohibited because the entire Gurgaon district has been notified by the Central Ground Water Authority (CGWA). He said now if any builder is found using underground water for construction purposes contempt of court proceedings will be initiated against him.

Mr. Meena said the district administration has constituted 25 teams for keeping vigil in their respective areas and to ensure that underground water is not used for construction purposes. Till August 20 this year, he added, as many as 634 illegal tube-wells were sealed and dismantled. After that, intensive checking was carried out which took the number of sealed and dismantled illegal borewells to 824. According to an estimate, about 150 million litres of sewage water is treated daily in Gurgaon. This includes 30 million litres a day (MLD) from Dhanwapur plant of MCG, 68 MLD from Dhanwapur STP of HUDA and 50 MLD from Behrampur STP of HUDA. The builders have now been left with no option but to make use of recycled water from these STPs at their construction sites.

New water project aims to lower school dropout rate (Hindu 02 September 2012)

Solar Power:Chief Minister Sheila Dikshit inaugurating a solar water purification station in New Delhi on Saturday. Education Minister Kiran Walia is seen at right.— Photo: PTI

Water is a fundamental human right and managing this most precious gift of nature is essential, Delhi Chief Minister Sheila Dikshit said on Saturday while inaugurating the first solar water purification plant at Rajkiya Pratibha Vikas Vidyalaya in Surajmal Vihar in East Delhi.

The Chief Minister lauded the initiative stating that the water treatment plant set up by Social Awareness Newer Alternatives (SANA) will help produce over 5,000 litres of drinking water per day as per the World Health Organisation standards through use of solar powered panels and via a micro-ionising water purification processes.

Ms. Dikshit said by converting brackish, contaminated water into clean drinking water, the project will help over 750 school children from economically backward homes. Under the scheme every child will be allocated five litres of clean potable water daily for taking home so that his/ her family residing nearby also gains access to pure water.

Incentive

East Delhi MP Sandeep Dikshit said the initiative will bring down the dropout rate by providing incentive for continuous education. Mr. Dikshit said it will also alleviate the burden of disease in a community.

Greens oppose residential yoga facility on river bed (Hindu 02 September 2012)

New Delhi: Even as questions are still being raised about the legality of the location of the Akshardham temple and the Commonwealth Games Village on the Yamuna river bed, a new structure between these buildings is making the greens see red.
The yoga-cum-residential complex being built by the Akshardham trust is located on 25,497 sq m land but authorities have not applied for clearance to either the Delhi state environment impact assessment committee or the Delhi urban arts committee.
According to spokesman of the temple trust, Janak Dave, all necessary permissions have been obtained for the project. “This is a yoga centre with residential facilities for our volunteers. Whatever permissions were necessary have been obtained,” he said.

For any construction with a built up area of 20,000 sq m or more, an environment clearance is necessary. Sources in SEIAC confirmed that no such request had come to them. “This project — on grounds of its size and location on the river bed — would need a goahead from the committee. However, it has never been submitted to us and is a violation of the Environment Protection Act,” said a member.

DUAC also confirmed that their permission was necessary for the same reasons but nobody had approached them. “The project has never been submitted to us and hence permission from DUAC is out of the question,” said a source.

Manoj Misra, convener of the Yamuna Jiye Abhiyaan, brought the matter to the notice of the LG in 2010 but government officials had claimed that the project had been cleared by the agencies concerned. “Work on the project started around November 2010. The land on which the building is coming up was not part of the original Akshardham temple and this extra land was transferred to the trust after the temple was built. We filed an RTI with DDA in September last year but are yet to receive a reply from them,” said Misra.

He added that in 2000, DDA had sold 12 hectare land to Akshardham. Later, Akshardham procured additional land in front on lease from the UP irrigation department under a commitment that its land use would be ‘green’.

“However, much of that was converted to a parking lot. On the other hand, construction work is also going on in the area which has been earmarked as ‘parking’ under the zonal plan for zone ‘O’. When there is already such a huge parking lot available, we have asked DDA what work is now taking place. DDA is yet to respond to the query,” said Misra.

Kalindi Kunj bypass project revived (Hindu 02 September 2012)

NEW DELHI: The Kalindi Kunj bypass project, which is expected to reduce travel time between Delhi and Faridabad, has been revived and is being planned in a public-private partnership (PPP) mode.
After the project, which was initiated by the Delhi government in 2002, ran into several hurdles due to land acquisition issues with the Uttar Pradesh government, the public works department (PWD) is planning a realignment of the bypass to minimize the hindrances and will soon appoint the consultants for the new plan.
"The consultants have been chosen keeping in mind their experience in handling such projects and can suggest a plan where hindrance-free land is available. It will be a joint venture between two consultants who will submit a detailed project report in eight months. This report will include statutory clearances for land acquisition, a new alignment for the bypass, soil testing and a topographical survey as most of the bypass will run along the Yamuna," said a senior official connected with the project.
Construction will start only after getting the requisite clearances from the Delhi government, Delhi Urban Art Commission (DUAC) and UTTIPEC, the apex infrastructure body. As the 27km bypass — from Kalindi Colony near the Yamuna to Palwal in Haryana along the western banks of the river — will be close to the Jasola bird sanctuary, the project will also need environmental clearance. Land will also have to be acquired from the UP irrigation department as it has an office and a residential colony in the area, said PWD officials.
"The consultants will conduct a detailed feasibility study and work around the hurdles faced by the project. The government will then take a final call on the suggestions," said the official.
They will also consider a plan to build the road near the Yamuna bank on stilts. "The road will be elevated. The earlier plan had the road on the embankment, which invited objections," added the official. Around 30 boundary pillars have already been built near DND to mark the site of the bypass project and two kilometers of the land on the Yamuna embankment strengthened.
The bypass is supposed to create an alternative route for commuters travelling from Delhi to Faridabad apart from the Mathura Road, and would cut travel time. "It will decongest traffic on NH-2 between Kailgaon near Faridabad in Haryana and Delhi," said the official.
The government had earlier sanctioned nearly Rs 100 crore to construct the 14km stretch of the bypass that falls in Delhi. The remaining 13km in Haryana has already been constructed.
Construction on the 6.5km bypass from the Kalindi Kunj Colony Ring Road to Kalindi Kunj Road was awarded in March 2003 at a cost of Rs 63.41 crore. The project was to start on May 15, 2003, and to be completed by May 14, 2005. However, the UP government refused to part with its land.
Then In June 2006, the Delhi high court passed an order prohibiting road construction within 300 metres from the edge of the river. Later that year, the court modified the order, allowing a road to be built 120m away from the river. But the UP government refused to budge an inch on the bird sanctuary and sand mound near the Yamuna. In May 2007, PWD decided to stop the work after having spent Rs 52.50 crore on the project.

Paddy cultivation on the way out in Punjab, Haryana? (The Hindu 28 August 2012)

Centre mulling alternative crops

The Union Government is looking at the possibility of replacing rice crop in Punjab and Haryana with alternative crops such as pulses, fodder and oilseeds that help in nitrogen fixation. The water-intensive rice cultivation over the years has become unsustainable in these two States and the water table has fallen to precarious levels.

Giving this information to members of Parliament’s Consultative Committee for his Ministry, Agriculture Minister Sharad Pawar said a meeting had been planned with the two Chief Ministers in September to consider various aspects related to the proposed crop substitution. This will include suitability of alternate crops, their impact on water production, and cost of production, marketing and processing.

Commenting on the proposal, Planning Commission Member (Agriculture) Abhijit Sen told The Hindu that this would succeed only if the Punjab farmers got a profitable alternative crop because they were used to a Minimum Support Price for kharif paddy.

At the same time, the quantum of rice production that would go down with substitution had to be assured from the Second Green Revolution States in eastern India.

Asked if this was linked to climate change and the pressure on India to reduce rice cultivation, he said: “No, this is not linked to climate change. It was recommended by a panel. There was an attempt by the former Punjab Chief Minister Amarinder Singh to implement it some seven years ago.”

The implication for the States’ farm economy too would have to be studied considering the high stakes for rice millers, another expert pointed out, adding that wheat cultivation would have to be continued so that food security would not be impacted.

Punjab, the third largest producer of kharif rice, contributes about 10 million tonnes to the country after West Bengal and Uttar Pradesh.