A burst in rainwater pipe yet again confirms the fears of Mahagunpuram residents

The fears of Mahagunpuram residents, a premium residential society on NH 24, were not unfounded — the pipes carrying rainwater again reported a burst today. Like Sunday, this time too, the pipes couldn’t sustain the pressure of heavy rainfall that had the city in its grip early morning.

Last Sunday, the management and the builder had somehow brought the situation under control, and had assured the residents of no future repeats. ghaziabad news

But merely four days after the Sunday fiasco, heavy rains put paid to their claims.

A resident, Amit Chauhan, complained, “The measures taken were just temporary, and the real cause of the problem has been overlooked. Low-grade materials used by the builder in plumbing work is causing this constant seepage into the basement walls. And it could, over the years, trigger a big disaster. ”

Another resident, Joy, added, “The builder and the management were warned four months ago that such a scenario could emerge, but they only provided a temporary solution. The builder has repaired only the ruptured points. The main issue remains —seepage in the basement. I have been following the issue for the last four months.”

Water leakage has been a problem in this society and most flats that received possession last year are facing the brunt, conceded Chauhan.

There are 11 towers in the society. Four of them — Narmada, Gayatri, Kaveri and Godavari —were handed over to the residents last year.

Sheetal Tyagi, executive member Mahagunpuram AOA, explained, “Rainwater harvesting pit are filled to the brim, and this is putting excessive pressure on the pipes, causing the leaks in the event of heavy rainfall.”

Vice-President of Mahagun, Sachin Garg, tried to undermine the importance of the incident and said most societies today faced a similar situation. He also said a team is already working on the issue and things will be resolved shortly.

However, on the larger issue of seepage, he denied the claims of the residents and said seepage was happening only for a couple of flats — and could not be generalised for the entire society.

Vasundhara: Road caves in near Vartaklok Society after heavy rains

Heavy rain threw life completely out of gear on Thursday in Delhi-NCR region.  In Ghaziabad, a huge part of a road near Vartalok Society in Vasundhara caved in. It left a gaping hole affecting the commuters in the area.

Ghaziabad News

The administration asked residents of around 50 flats in nearby towers to move to safer places. There are around 324 flats in the society.

NDRF team reached the society to rescue the residents. Nagar Nigam officials have carried out required works in the drainage.

The hole on the road was filled immediately and the water was pumped out.

DM has made a committee under the supervision of ADM Finance to assess the situation.

More details are awaited on this. 

MCG mandates planting of trees in front of homes

To increase green cover, the MCG yesterday mandated the plantation of a tree in front of each house in the city. The proposal, modelled on the on a Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike (BBMP) scheme, has been sent to Haryana’s Urban Local Bodies (ULB) department for final approval.

The number of saplings or trees provided to people to plant as part of the drive will depend on the size of their plots. Gurgaon News

One tree will be planted in a plot measuring under 200 sq m. People with plots measuring 200-500 sq m will have to plant two trees. Those with 500-750 sq m plots will have to plant three. An additional tree will have to be planted with an increase of four metres in width.

MCG commissioner Yashpal Yadav said the civic body would provide the saplings, but owners would be responsible for nurturing them. Once the ULB department approves the plan, a clause on tree plantation would be added to the terms for sanctioning building plans.

Nurseries of MCG in Civil Lines, Kherki Daula, and other locations will stock tree saplings for the drive.

The BBMP launched a Green App for residents to order saplings from the civic body free of cost in May 2017. A year later, BBMP officials said over 300,000 saplings had been planted in Bengaluru.

MCG officials said discussions to launch a similar app would be initiated once ULB approves the proposal.

But environmentalists are not very sure of success. They feel MCG officials should focus on clearing out encroachments on green belts rather than focus on new initiatives. 

Residents unhappy with GNIDA’s response to demand of structure audit

The residents of high rises in Noida Extension are not satisfied with the response of Greater Noida Authority over the request for structure audit of their buildings. The residents got very anxious after the collapse of two 6 storeyed building in Shahberi area of Greater Noida and demanded structure audit of their buildings.

Noida News

The residents also sent an e-mail to Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister, Yogi Adityanath, in which they demanded structure audit of their societies.

Vikas Kumar, a resident of Panchsheel Green in Noida Extension, told City Spidey that he made his complaint about the structure audit to the district magistrate.

The DM had forwarded that complaint to Greater Noida Authority. The Authority replied that the NOC was given on the basis of the report prepared by the IIT Roorkee in 2010. “Now, the scenario has changed after the Shahberi incident, so we want a fresh report on the towers,” he added.

PHOTO KATHA: Commuters under great risk as roads, footpaths cave in at Dwarka

Due to heavy rains in the area, roads and footpaths are caving in at many places making the lives of commuters very difficult in Dwarka.  Dwarka News

At many places, the footpaths over the main drains along the master plan roads are caving in suddenly. These drains are full of water having a depth of more than eight feet.

As a result, people are very sceptical to use the footpaths these days.

The callous approach of the Delhi Development Authority (DDA) can be confirmed while visiting the places where roads and footpaths have caved in.

The pedestrians are under great risks at the footpaths as all of these places are very deep.

These spots have become very dangerous as most of them are at the level of roads. With that, there is a very high chance of vehicles and people falling into these spots.  

A big portion having a depth of about 10 feet can be seen in front of Sri Agrasen Apartments in Sector-7 which has been completely barricaded by the police.

But, people said that until they are repaired there would always be a risk.

A deep hole can be spotted at the middle of the road in front of Dwarka Court. The spot has not been barricaded and people have put a branch of a tree to help commuters in locating it.

Noida: Supertech residents complain about steep hike in power backup charge

The residents of Supertech’s high rises on Wednesday complained that the builder has increased the power backup charge by Rs 6 plus GST. Residents said that the builder’s arbitrary increase in charge is totally unjustified.

The residents of the Supertech Capetown in Sector-74 and Supertech Eco Village in Noida Extension said that the builder issued a notice on July 22 on the notice board of towers mentioning an increase in DG consumption charges to Rs 23 plus GST per unit. 

Noida News

The new charge will be applicable by the end of this month. Now, residents are demanding the rollback of the new charge from the builder. Earlier, the builder used to charge Rs 17 per unit.

“Any decision which would affect the residents financially can only be implemented after proper discussions with residents. But, unfortunately, by pasting this notice, the developer had taken a step which is totally unfair,” residents said.

Sameer Bhardwaj, a resident of Supertech Eco Village, told City Spidey that the builder promised at the time of booking that power backup will be fuelled by CNG which is eco-friendly and cheaper as compared to the diesel generator.

“We would have been paying around Rs 10 per unit if power backup was fuelled by CNG. But, the builder has not made any arrangement for this as of now,” Bhardwaj added.

Till date, the builder has not fulfilled his promise. Despite mentioning it in the brochure, the builder has not installed even a single CNG operated generator. As a result, the residents are forced to pay increased charge with diesel generators.

The residents also raised the issue to the Greater Noida Authority. The Authority assured the residents that they will be doing something on it.

Bhardwaj also said that the backup charge at other nearby societies is not more than Rs 15 per unit. He questioned why only Supertech increases the backup charge.

“There is some problem with the meters as well. Sometimes, meter erroneously shows consumption of around 70 units despite consumption of only 20 units in a day. This is also unjustified,” he added.

Bhupendra Routela, a resident of Supertech Capetown, said that it is not fair to increase the backup charge. “The increase in backup charge is not consistent with the increment of diesel prices. The rates of diesel increase by 1 paisa or 10 paise but the backup charge has been increased by Rs 6,” he added.

The residents of high rises also said that they are waiting for the notification for the single point connection from the NPCL and PVVNL which was announced by Yogi government. They wanted the single point connection so that the builders are not in a position to harass the residents.

When City Spidey contacted Dinesh Walia, facility head in Eco Village, he did not respond to the calls. Other Supertech officials were also not available for the comment.

After police intervention, DPS Indirapuram finally allows 6 kids into classes

After the Delhi Public School (DPS) Indirapuram continued to restrict six students from attending classes over the fee dispute, the parents called the police on Wednesday morning. The students were again denied entry into classes and made to wait in the reception area.

It was only after the arrival of Police and their intervention, the school agreed to allow them into the classes.
Indirapuram News
In the last one week, the school has restricted these students from attending classes. The students were regularly taken to the library, reception and different parts of the school during the school hours.

Samar Bahadur Singh, the in-charge of Neeti Khand police chowki, Indirapuram, criticised the school administration for their discrimination towards these students. “Such actions are against the law and it also affects the kids psychologically,” Singh said.

Singh also warned the administration not to repeat the act else the proper action will be taken. School administration then assured that it will not bar students from attending the class. But, when agitated parents and the police demanded the assurance in writing, the administration did not oblige.

The school said that they are following the law. They defended their actions by alleging that the parents are having ill-intent. The head of administration, Vikas Sharma, said that the parents are just doing drama to avoid paying the fees.

Sharma alleged parents for not paying the complete fees of academic session 2017-18. However, parents claimed that they only annual fees were not paid by them.

When the parents present there contradicted with his statement and started producing fee receipts, Sharma changed his stance and said that only a part of the fees was paid. When asked what part of the total fees wasn’t paid, he admitted that the unpaid part of fees was the annual charges.

The parents had offered the school to take the fees like they were earlier charging till the time the clarity comes on the conflicting points of the ordinance. The action which school has been adamantly taking since last one week is a violation of an Act and two government orders. One being the DM’s order and other was Basic Shiksha Adhikari’s order.

The parents produced Ritu Maheshwari, DM Ghaziabad’s order addressed to all school where it was clearly mentioned that till the time the clarity comes from the administration over the fee calculation, the schools will neither charge raised fees nor they would expel, demote or restrict the students from attending the classes.

Right to Education Act 2009 states that the children can’t be held back and expelled on the grounds of the fee dispute.

While speaking to City Spidey, Rajesh Shrivas, BSA, said that during his visit to the school last Saturday, the school conceded that the students will be allowed to attend classes.

On being asked why RTE Act and DM’s order are not being implemented in the school, he shifted the responsibility to District Inspector of Schools (DIOS) stating that the matters related to fees are dealt by him. “BSA only deal subjects related to admissions,” he said.

When asked whether he could intervene in the matter of rustication, he said that he cannot as the matter is regarding the fee dispute. However, in Uttar Pradesh, the BSA is appointed as a nodal officer to take care of the issues of students up to class 8th.

On the other hand, the DIOS, Pankaj Pandey, said that the power to examine whether the charged fees are in accordance to the ordinance is only with the Divisional Fee Regulatory Committee (DFRC). He said that other officials can only coordinate.

He also said that both parents and schools should reach out to DFRC rather than requesting other bodies. “They are not approaching the right forum,” he said.

He alleged BSA for not taking interest in the matter. “The problem is that the BSA is not taking interest in this issue. If we (DIOS and BSA) put combined effort, the matter will be resolved timely,” DIOS said.

When the skies opened up

Delhi-NCR received heavy rains on today morning, bringing respite from the humidity. But, with little preparedness for water  logging, traffic quickly went out of control.

Dengue menace looms large in Dwarka; inspections on the anvil

With the onset of rains, dengue fears are back in the city — and they are not unfounded. South Delhi Municipal Corporation (SDMC) officials found dengue larvae in societies such as Nuovo Apartments in Sector 10, DDA Apartments Sector 11 Pocket 3 and Mini Market of Sector 10. They fall under the jurisdiction of Ward 38S (Dwarka B). Dwarka News

The checks were carried out after secretary of Nuovo Apartments, SL Malhotra, shared the following message on the WhatsApp group of Dwarka B Ward: “The mosquito menace is increasing in Dwarka day by day, as two cases of dengue have been reported in our society. There is dire need to prevent the spread of this disease to the adjoining areas, so that more people may not become [its] prey. It may be requested that fogging may be done in the society premises immediately.”

Thereafter, Malaria Inspector for the area, Rohtas Singh, rushed to the society for inspection. He shared on the same group: “I have checked Nuovo Apartments personally and found four-five places with mosquitoes breeding inside the premises.” He also shared photographs of the inspection.

He also inspected Mini Market and the societies in Sector 11. In Sector 11 Pocket 3, five of 45 houses had dengue larvae breeding.

After coming to know of the findings, Leader of the House, Kamaljeet Sehrawat, asked concerned officials to make spread awareness and take immediate measures both inside and outside societies.

In response, Rohtas floated a message to RWAs and residents to immediately clear out all stagnant water from society premises.

He shared his concerns with City Spidey. “This is the ideal time for breeding, and after hatching the eggs on stagnant water surface, it will take about a week for the larva to grow into an adult mosquito. So, the situation could turn tough if people don’t take precautions now.”

Dwarka: SDMC organises workshop on effective ways of waste management

A waste management workshop was organised by South Delhi Municipal Corporation (SDMC) at Ram Krishna Cooperative Group Housing Society in Sector-23 on Wednesday. About 50 people from the society attended the workshop. Dwarka News

SDMC’s sanitation staffs, Kuldeep Yadav, Rajendra Singh and Vijay Kumar made people aware about segregation of the waste at source and also explained the ways to manage it further.

President of the society, K Darbari said to City Spidey, “We will be doing segregation of waste soon. We are going to provide blue and green dustbins so that people could keep dry and wet waste separately at their houses.”

According to the management of the society, big dustbins will be kept on the ground floor where the collected garbage from all the ten floors of the building will be dumped.

Vice president of the society, RK Munshi, said that the society will be promoting the solid waste management and play a role in keeping the area clean and green.

The treasurer of the society played a significant role in organising the programme. The programme was organised to promote cleanliness in the society.

The Jaguars are watching... beware!

In an effort to bring down the crime rates, Dwarka residents are actively aiding the recently introduced “Jaguar Patrolling” initiative. Jaguar patrolling was introduced to curb incidents of petty thefts and chain snatching. Under it, a bike-borne team of police personnel do rounds of pre-defined, crime-prone routes.

Dwarka News

To add teeth to this fledgling initiative, Police Mitras (community volunteers nominated by Delhi Police), RWA members and residents are helping the Jaguar team to conduct patrols of sensitive spots. The intent is to bring down acts of open drinking in public parks and to curb criminal activities in vacant plots after sundown. And residents are playing a crucial role in identifying these locations.      

In fact, to encourage more participation, residents are sharing pictures of spot raids.

RWA president of Rainbow Apartments in Sector 12, Dharambir Shokeen, said, “RWAs are now integral part for such patrolling — this community participation has increased the reach of the police.”

Indu Garg, a Police Mitra, and a resident of Sector 22, has been actively involved in the process. She and her friends keep an eye on the parks and lanes of the locality.

She shares her experience with City Spidey: “During evenings, I coordinate with the beat officials of my Police Mitra team, and together we visit parks and lonely stretches. Earlier, we used to do it with one or two beat officers, but now the Jaguar team has also joined us. I can say this with a good amount of certainty that anti-social activities in our area have seen a steep decline.”

Jaguar teams usually blow whistles during their rounds to create a sense of panic, and when miscreants try to make a hasty escape they are caught by the Police Mitra team.

Now, Station House Officers (SHOs) have also joined the beat officers during rounds.

Gzb, GreNo, Noida residents demand visitors’ parking on society premises

The residents of high-rise societies of Ghaziabad, Noida and Greater Noida are demanding visitors’ parking on society premises. Residents want Noida and Greater Noida Authority to amend the building bylaws of 2010, so that 10 percent of the total parking is reserved for guests. Ghaziabad News

Amit Gupta, a resident of Prateek Wisteria in Sector 77, said, “In March this year, Noida Authority invited suggestions from residents to initiate changes in building bylaws to streamline parking issues in the city. According to the proposal, the authority wants to make it mandatory for all individual residential plot owners to have stilt parking to accommodate guest vehicles. In addition, the group housing developer will have to provide one parking space for every 50 sq m, as compared to the current norm of one parking space for every 80 sq m of space bought by residents.

Suppose, a builder buys a plot from Noida Authority that totals 2 lakh sq m. According to existing building bylaws norms, one parking space is to be allotted for every 80 sq m of space, thus for an area of 2 lakh sq m, there will be 2,500 parking slots (total area divided by 80 sq m). However, if the norms are revised, and a parking is allotted for every 50 sq m of space bought, the number of plots jumps to 4,000.

From the total parking available, residents want 10 per cent of the total parking to be reserved for visitors.

Alok Kumar, President of Federation of Ghaziabad AOAs, told City Spidey that it is important to reserve some parking for the guests, as Ghaziabad DM has already issued an order that no parking would be allowed outside the society. “So, some arrangement should be made by the builder and AOA of the society for the guest parking. We will soon be talking about the issue with concerned authorities in Ghaziabad,” Kumar confirmed.

Surprisingly, according to Manish Kumar, a resident of Noida Extension, building bylaws of Kanpur and Lucknow have this 10 percent reservation for visitors’ parking.

Often guests are forced to park on the slots meant for others, leading to unnecessary fights, lamented Preet Bharghav, a resident of Gaur City in Noida Extension.

To this, a resident of Sector 137 added, “Since guest vehicles are not allowed inside, they have to park near the markets. Several residents have lodged complaints with the police regarding theft of valuables from their cars.”

FedAOA demands office of Deputy Registrar in Ghaziabad or GB Nagar

The Federation of Apartment Owner Association (FedAOA) has demanded the district administration to establish the office of Deputy Registrar in the district of Ghaziabad or Gautam Budh Nagar. The federation gave two reasons to validate their demand.

Ghaziabad News

They said that the present office is located too far and they find it difficult to have proper coordination.

Currently, the issues related to registration, election and auditing of societies in Ghaziabad and Noida are addressed at the Office of Deputy Registrar Firms Societies and Chits which is situated in Meerut.

FedAOA President Alok Kumar said, “It took me one and a half year of time and around 60 visits to the Deputy Registrar’s office to get a single registration for the federation.”

He further said that the present process is very “exhausting.” He said that people have to visit twice even to get a true copy. “First you have to submit the charges for the copy, and, then, next day or a day later, you will receive the copy,” said Kumar.

The other reason which federation cited was the lack of coordination between the development authorities and the Office of Deputy Registrar.

“There are various issues pertaining to development where the consent of competent development authorities is needed. But, due to the lack of coordination, our files and requests keep moving between authorities and Deputy Registrar’s office,” alleged Kumar.

Kumar said that there will be better coordination between them if the Deputy Registrar’s office is set up in the same city where the development authority is situated.

In this regard, the federation had written a letter to Ritu Maheshwari, DM Ghaziabad. The request was further forwarded to State’s Chief Secretary (Finance).

Kumar stressed on the fact that the maximum number of group housing is developing in Gautam Buddh Nagar and Ghaziabad. It’s about time that government should set up the authority demanded by us in the public interest of people.

Rajiva Singh, a member of Noida Federation of Apartment Owners Association (NOFAA), agreed with FedAOA. He blamed the authorities for not having proper coordination. “Even for a single signature, we have to visit Meerut multiple times,” Singh said.

Singh said that NOFAA had also requested the authorities to establish the office of Deputy Registrar at Gautam Budh Nagar but their appeal was not forwarded to the higher authorities.

He also said that that currently, 200 AOAs are registered in Gautam Budh Nagar which is expected to increase to around 1,000 within 5 years. “The setting up of Deputy Registrar’s office would come as a great relief for upcoming AOAs in Gautam Budh Nagar and Ghaziabad,” Singh said.

Earlier, the Ghaziabad Development Authority (GDA) had written to the Principal Secretary (Finance) of the Uttar Pradesh government demanding a local registrar office for Ghaziabad and Gautam Budh Nagar.