Ghaziabad municipality removes illegal hoardings from public places

The Ghaziabad Municipal Corporation has finally decided to act! Responding to a court order on a PIL and an ensuing contempt case initiated by the petitioner on the same PIL, the corporation has started removing illegal advertisement hoardings from the city.

The PIL was filed by Alok Kumar, president of Federation of Apartment Owners Association (FedAOA), in 2014. In response to the PIL, the court directed the municipal commissioner to initiate action on illegal public ads — be it political, commercial or religious. However, the court’s order brought little action and the petitioner had to file a follow-up contempt petition in 2015. Ghaziabad News

In response to the contempt case, the court expressed dissatisfaction at the inaction of the civic body and granted it one more opportunity to act on the issue. apartment management software

The corporation, responded to the petitioner’s queries, said that the work of removing illegal hoardings, posters, ad-banners from public places has already started.

Speaking to City Spidey, Kumar said that he had approached the court since illegal ads not only defaced public property, but also covered up important road signs and direction boards.

“There’s not a single electricity or streetlight pole in the city which does not have some kind of advertising board stuck to it. All these advertisements — large or small — are generally political, commercial or religious in nature. Although residents have become used to such boards, it makes the city look ugly and also misleads people. In some cases, these boards have covered up important public signboards,” he complained. society management software

In the letter to Kumar, the corporation claimed to have removed 106 unipoles, 121 hoardings, 189 ad kiosks, 25 cantilevers, 36 ad lollipops, 88 boards and 24 banners over a period of almost two months from various locations across the city.

Kumar, however, maintained that the ground situation is way different from the facts on paper. He further said that the civic body must put in stringent efforts to rid the city of the problem.

Gurgaon: Unitech Fresco lifts still not serviced

Gurgaon’s Unitech Fresco in Sector 50, which recently experienced episodes of residents and children getting stuck in lifts, has still not witnessed any major maintenance upgrades of its frequently malfunctioning lifts.

On August 9, three children — all about 10 to 12 years of age — got stuck in the Tower 4 lift for nearly 30 minutes. A police complain was lodged after the harrowing episode, and the builder and OTIS — the maintenance agency — both were asked for an explanation. Gurgaon News

OTIS had claimed that the AMC, or the annual maintenance contract, of the lifts had expired. And, it was not willing to carry out maintenance work unless Unitech paid up Rs 40 lakh in dues.

The AMC could be renewed only after Unitech cleared its dues, OTIS further said.

“In the last couple of months, two incidents have already taken place. Are they waiting for a bigger tragedy to strike?” lashed out Yogesh Matta, a resident.

Currently, a payment of Rs 13.5 lakh has been made and the balance of Rs 26.5 lakh is still pending. The RWA has been waiting for response from the builder on the issue, but there has been no progress so far. 

Speaking to City Spidey, Nilesh Tandon, RWA president, said, “OTIS has red-flagged this property. Under such circumstances, if the engineer finds a faulty part, he puts up a request in the system, but as the property reflects a red flag, the approval will go through a lengthy procedure.”

Ghazipur landfill caves in, several vehicles swept into canal

Part of the landfill site at Ghazipur collapsed on Friday afternoon, killing a girl and pushing several vehicles into the nearby drain. East Delhi police sources have said that at least four people have been pulled out of the garbage heap and a massive operation is on to rescue more people who are feared to be trapped in the debris. 

Police sources have said that a car and a couple of two-wheelers have gone inside a drain flowing near the garbage dump after the landfill collapsed, which, in turn, caused the roadside railing to come down. The incident took place around 2.30 pm. Delhi Local News

National Disaster Response Force, or NDRF, immediately reached the spot for rescue operations. 

Dwarka: Community gathers at Sector 23 to mull greening ideas

Members from various social organisations, RWAs of the area and officials from the DDA and Dwarka police gathered today at the water body of Sector 23 to shore up efforts at revival of dying water bodies and spreading greenery.

Sukh Dukh Ke Sathi (SDKS), Association of Neighbourhood Ladies Get-together (ANHLGT), Rise Foundation, Dwarka Water Body Committee and other social organisations were present at the venue.

Director of horticulture, DDA, YD Sharma, and ACP Dwarka Rajender Singh was also present on the occasion. Dwarka News

Dwarka ACP Rajender Singh and director of horticulture at DDA, YD Sharma (in pink shirt), interact with each other

 apartment management software

Besides brainstorming on revival and greening initiatives, those present also planted saplings and took a round of the area. society management software

Talking to City Spidey, Sharma said that the department is on a mission to plant as many saplings as possible during the rains. He added, “The DDA has been supporting community greening initiatives. We are giving out as many plants as we can. This is really great, as the community itself is active in promoting greenery .We are with them!”

JM Orchid handed over to RWA but the builder refuses to return Rs 1.5 crore!

A delegation comprising members of the society’s management board and residents of JM Orchid, in Sector 76, Noida, met additional CEO of Noida Authority Atul Rai to lodge a complaint against the builder.  

Allegedly, the builder has been delaying the refund of Rs 1.5 crore, an amount collected from the 685 residents of the society as a fund for interest free maintenance service (IFMS). NoidaNews

The resident body of the society had taken over the charge of maintenance and security in May last year from the builder. While handing over, the builder had allegedly assured residents that he would return the amount. Now even after almost a year and a half, the builder has not refunded a single penny.  apartment management software

And this is not all. The builder had promised that he would continue the repair work of seepage. This, too, stands undelivered. Residents have now complained about seepage in the basement of the society, which  is weakening the walls.  

A letter addressed to the authorities says that the resident body had held a series of meetings with the builder to find a solution, before approaching the ACEO. 

Speaking to City Spidey, Sachin Goyal, president of the resident body, said they had urged the officer to initiate action against the builder. apartment management system

“We want the officials to order the builder to refund our remaining maintenance money of Rs 1.5 crore, with an interest of 18 per cent. The interest is to be charged on the basis that the money has been lying idle with him from May last year,” Goyal said.  society management software

ACEO Rai has ordered an inspection of the seepage sites in the society. He has also ordered a notice to be served to the developer, directing him to return the idle maintenance fund within 15 days. He added that the builder would have to notify Noida Authority officials once he had returned the money.  

BREAKING NEWS: Ghazipur landfill caves in, several vehicles swept into canal

Part of the landfill site at Ghazipur collapsed on Friday afternoon, killing a girl and pushing several vehicles into the nearby drain. East Delhi police sources have said that at least four people have been pulled out of the garbage heap and a massive operation is on to rescue more people who are feared to be trapped in the debris. 

Police sources have said that a car and a couple of two-wheelers have gone inside a drain flowing near the garbage dump after the landfill collapsed, which, in turn, caused the roadside railing to come down. The incident took place around 2.30 pm.

National Disaster Response Force, or NDRF, immediately reached the spot for rescue operations. 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?time_continue=9&v=ksvl3zy8R7w

Noida Authority to add 35 more traffic marshals in the city

Noida Authority will soon provide 35 more traffic marshals to Noida Traffic Police, which has been grappling with acute shortage of manpower for a long time now.

Layak Singh, traffic inspector (Noida), told City Spidey, “Earlier, we had only 50 traffic marshals, but now that number will increase to 85. But even that number is not sufficient to handle the traffic of a big city like Noida. SP traffic had written to Noida Authority and the state government, demanding more manpower. We had asked for 70 traffic marshals, but the authority has approved only 35 — not sufficient for the city.” Noida News

He added, “Now 25 marshals are on duty from 7.30 am to 3 pm, and the remaining 25 from 3 pm to 9.30 pm. However, when we have more marshals, the duty schedule will change.” 

On April 27, Alok Sinha, chairman of Noida Authority, had directed Authority officials to provide 200 more traffic marshals to Noida Traffic Police. But Amit Mohan Prasad, CEO of the Authority, shot down the proposal and agreed to provide only 20 marshals in June, and now has approved 35 more. Noida Local News

According to a Noida Authority official, the CEO is of the view that the 50 traffic marshals with the traffic police are seen at only some signals, and most of them are often missing from duty — and that’s a colossal waste of public money.

With a population nearing 6.5 lakh, the number of traffic personnel in Noida is only 162. This includes two inspectors, three sub-inspectors, 43 head constables and 114 constables.

In a letter to UP Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath, the city’s traffic police demanded an increase in the number of the traffic police personnel, but the demand is still pending.

Will this MLA be able to rectify the civic flaws in Dwarka Sec 7?

Dwarka’s Sector 7 is in a mess as far as civic infrastructure is concerned. Paucity of parking space, encroachments, dark, unlit roads and public drinking are some of the major concerns.

Incidentally, the RWAs have been active in apprising MLAs about these issues. They have organised meetings with area representatives requesting prompt redressal; letters have also been written to civic agencies.  rwa management software

The latest RWA endeavour has been a meeting with Bhavna Gaur, MLA of the area, at Dwarka Apartments, Sector 7.

Dwarka News

The coordinator of RWA Sector 7 and a resident of Shruti Apartments, Anurag Bahl, said, “Our meeting largely focused on the nuisance created by the wine and beer shop at Vardhman Mall, and the encroachments and parking issues in the markets around Ramphal Chowk. These things have created a lot of nuisance in the area, affecting residents of nearby societies." Dwarka Local News

According to the RWAs and members of various managements, most of the stretches in the sector are dark. Nearly 60-70 per cent of streetlights are not working.

Secretary of the Media society, PP Wangchuk, said, “We have discussed all the problems with the MLA. We have asked her to provide CCTV cameras at major locations in the sector, especially because the Delhi government has allocated CCTV cameras for each assembly in Delhi. Also, we asked her to support all development work, inside and outside the society, through the MLALAD fund. She has assured us that she will comply with our requests.”

NEFOWA: Government agencies must take up stalled projects

Placing its demand before the high-power committee of ministers formed by UP CM Yogi Adityanath, Noida Extension Flat Owners Welfare Association (NEFOWA) today said that a government agency, such as Noida Authority, should be given the responsibility of completing all stalled housing projects of Noida and Greater Noida.

According to NEFOWA, which represents homebuyers from several incomplete housing projects, many buyers had had booked their flats way back in 2010, and they are now desperate for possession.

Many of these builders have claimed that they do not have funds to complete the projects, but what are the buyers to do, asked angry NEFOWA members.

Noida News

Abhishek Kumar, NEFOWA president, said, “We have placed our demands before the high-powered committee. We told them since the builders have expressed their incapability in completing the housing projects, the responsibility of completing the work should be given to some government agency, such as Noida Authority or the Jal Board. This is one of the best options available to the government for solving our issues.”

Noida Local News

Shweta Bharti, NEFOWA general secretary, added, “Buyers don’t have faith in any builder — most of them have collected money from individual buyers and have not given them possession. Under such circumstances, the government should take over all housing projects from private builders and hand them over to a government agency. This will solve the problem of thousands of buyers, who have been relentlessly carrying out protests across the city for their own homes!”

Will Change.org or appealing to UP CM help Presidium parents?

Groups of parents who have been protesting against the repeated fee hikes and collection of annual and development charges by Presidium School, Indrapuram, have now taken to Change.org, an online petition platform. They are demanding that the authorities put a mechanism in place to regulate the fees charged by private schools. Indirapuram News

The petition, named “End bullying kids for fees in private schools of Delhi-NCR”, which was initiated by a media house, is addressed to the Ministry of Human Resource Development, HRD Minister, Prakash Javadekar, Child Welfare Association and UP CM Yogi Adityanath.

Indirapuram Local News

The school had also recently issued transfer certificates to about 34 students in the middle of the academic session. It had maintained that the children would be re-included on the school rolls only if the parents paid the outstanding charges. apartment management software

“The school is not allowing children to board the bus or enter the premises, despite having taken advance fees till September," said Sonali Puri, a parent. "The school management has been asking for annual and development charges, which are not legal as per CBSE by-laws. Children and their parents have been adequately harassed by these issues. However, despite at least 1,000 parents not having paid the additional charges, the management is targeting only a few children.” 

“Many of these children have been excluded from classes and made to sit in the school’s reception, library or other deserted classrooms till the end of the school hours. The children are too young to understand the situation and do not know why this is happening. On some occasions, these children have been blatantly told that their parents have not paid the fees,” said Meenakshi Singh, another parent. society management software

The distressed parents have been running from pillar to post to get their issues addressed. They have already approached the district administration, the UP education department and the District Inspector of Schools (DIOS). They have also pressed for an FIR against the school and raised demands in front of the Ghaziabad SSP. However, no outcome has been achieved.  

Meanwhile, several groups of parents have taken their protest rally to the UP CM and demanded the formation of state laws to regulate fee hikes in schools. The CM has asked the parents to be patient and assured them that a committee is being formed, along with regulations to resolve the issues.

UP CM met Armaan Sehgal's parents and assured them of thorough investigation

Parents of Armaan Sehgal met UP Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath today to demand a thorough investigation into their son’s death. It has been 31 days since Armaan Sehgal, a student of GD Goenka Public School, Indirapuram, died mysteriously on the school premises.

The meeting was held at the Central Detective Training School on Hapur Road, Ghaziabad, after the CM’s programme and closed-door party meeting with the top BJP brass of the state. The CM was in Ghaziabad today to lay the foundation stone of Kailash Mansarovar Bhavan. Indirapuram News

UP CM Yogi Adityanath meets Armaan Sehgal's parents
 

After Armaan’s death, an FIR was lodged against school officials, and the matter is now being heard in Allahabad High Court. Ever since the incident, the parents have left no stone unturned to find out what really caused their son’s death. Apartment management software

At the meeting with the CM, parents submitted a memorandum of 42 points they say are loopholes in the theory put forward by the school about what happened to Armaan. They demanded that a thorough investigation be launched into this.

Through the letter, parents once again raised questions about the suspicious nature of the injuries on the front and rear of Armaan’s head that caused his death, the CCTV footage, statements of various persons directly or indirectly involved in the incident, and the presence of defunct medicare instruments and expired medicines in the medical room, among others. rwa management software

Speaking to City Spidey, Swati Sehgal, Armaan’s mother, said that the chief minister assured them of a thorough investigation and said that a special cell would be set up to look into the incident. 

"We also demanded that immediate arrests with the school management be made, since the High Court order on the stay of these arrests expired on August 28. The CM assured us of prompt action on this count as well," she added.

Pay the remaining sum after possession: CM's committee urges Noida homebuyers

A high-power committee of ministers formed by UP CM, Yogi Adityanath, which has been investigating the causes of the Amrapali fiasco, has categorically asked homebuyers to pay their remaining amounts only at the time of possession. 

This mandate was pronounced yesterday at the auditorium of GB Nagar University (in Greater Noida), in the presence of a gathering of homebuyers and media representatives.

The high Cpowered Committee consisting of Suresh Khanna, Minister for Urban Development; Satish Mahana, Minister for Industrial Development and Suresh Rana, Minister in charge of Sugarcane Development and Sugar Industry however, stated that in case an individual buyer wants his property to be registered with the Registrar in the Department of Revenue, he shall have to clear all the dues against his booked flat. 

Khanna said that the committee has interacted with nearly 200 homebuyers of different housing projects during the last two days and gathered that most buyers desire possession at the earliest. Many of these buyers had booked flats in Amrapali, Jaypee and Unitech groups.

“The Amrapali Group was supposed to grant possession of 40, 000 flats to individuals buyers. Since this has not happened, the government is now mandating a time frame of two years. Within this period all the 40, 000 homebuyers should get their flats,” Khanna explained.

The minister further informed that developers of Jaypee have already agreed to start giving possession. The group has committed that every month from coming November; possession shall be given to around 600 buyers.

The story is a little different for Unitech. This group has proposed to surrender the plots allotted to them for developing projects across Noida and Greater Noida. They said that currently the legalities are being worked out and a decision shall be taken accordingly.

SDMC mayor pledges support for revival of water bodies

Mayor of South Delhi Municipal Corporation (SDMC), Kamaljeet Sehrawat, directed corporation officials to develop the water bodies of Sector 23, Pochanpur and Ambarhai.

Accompanied by several officials, she was visiting the water bodies of the area yesterday. She also pledged support to the DDA and other local resident bodies trying to revive the area’s local eco-system. Delhi Local News

Talking to City Spidey, Sehrawat said, "We want to restore the water bodies in the area. I have directed officials to increase planting initiatives — joining forces with the DDA and the local community.”

The revived water body in Sector 23 

She promised to visit the water bodies again sometime next week. Delhi News

Diwan Singh, a member of committee tasked with the revival of water bodies, and also a resident of Shaman Apartments in Sector 23, said, "Any initiative for revival and protection of water bodies is appreciated.  But all the efforts should be directed towards ‘natural’ revival. We are happy that the water body of Sector 23 has shown positive results, especially after the rains. It is full of water and has developed a stable catchment area. I congratulate all residents who worked hard for this.”