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Vibhor Mohan, TNN | Feb 1, 2012,CHANDIGARH: Commuters in the city will now have to get used to dedicated-lane driving as UT administration gets set to introduce Bus Rapid Transit System (BRTS) in the city for better traffic management.
To begin with, the stretch behind the Secretariat in Sector 9 has been identified for a dedicated lane for emergency and heavy vehicles.
UT chief engineer S K Jaitley said a joint cell of the engineering department and traffic police has been constituted to implement BRTS and it was decided to choose this road as a test case. "To work out the intricate details of the project, it is being planned to rope in Punjab Engineering College (PEC) or an IIT," he said.
The BRTS will be spread over 190.5 km with a total of 11 corridors. The bus service will also ferry passengers to the nearest metro station.
After dedicated traffic lanes, the next step would be rationalization of local bus system and its augmentation. Steps for better traffic management and special facilities for pedestrians within entire network, especially in high-congestion areas by building pedestrian subways, footpaths and road furniture along the roads where necessary will also be taken.
After alighting at the nearest metro station, a passenger will have the option of travelling to his house in an AC mini bus. To achieve this, the fleet of AC buses has to be increased substantially.
The consultancy arm of Indian Railways, RITES, has prepared the comprehensive mobility plan, has assessed the long term requirements of public transport in the region including the movement of traffic on roads, bus service, population growth and density of areas.
As part of the metro project, a total of 11 corridors for BRTS will be made operational. An integrated ticketing system has been proposed so that passengers are able to switch modes of transport.
Source:TOI

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Akash Ghai
Tribune News Service
Chandigarh, February 2
The Chandigarh Housing Board (CHB) has set aside Rs 354 crore as its annual budget for the next fiscal, with which it envisages to kick off new projects, mainly the general housing scheme at Sectors 53, 54, 55 and 26, Maloya and Dhanas.
The figure is significantly less than the estimated budget of this financial year, which touched the figure of Rs 452 crore after revision in yesterday’s board meeting of the CHB.
The actual budget for 2011-12 was Rs 365 crore, but it was increased by about Rs 77 crore in the CHB board meeting yesterday.
Giving the reasons, MM Sabharwal, secretary of the CHB, said delay in certain projects had led the board to revise the estimated budget of this financial year from Rs 375 crore to Rs 452 crore.
He added that the forthcoming estimated budget was not an inflated one, but very close to factual in real terms.
“We are going to start the groundwork on our pending projects like the UT employees housing scheme and another housing scheme at Sector 51,” Sabharwal said.
“Some other new projects are under consideration. I can say our estimated budget for the next fiscal is completely performance-based and close to factual terms,” he added.
For the next fiscal, the board had foreseen expenditure of Rs 465 crore as it had proposed to construct around 4,500 units of various categories at Sectors 53, 54 and 55, 1964 flats at Maloya, 1400 flats at Dhanas and 940 EWS flats at Sector 26.
Apart from those, the construction of flats under ongoing projects, including slum rehabilitation, UT employees housing scheme and housing scheme for EWS, was also in the pipeline.

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Acme Builders has announced a new luxury multi-storey and multi-tower residential project at Sector 91 in Mohali. Harsh Kohli, promoter and director, has said they are constructing 250 fully ai- conditioned apartments, overlooking the proposed golf course and lake, on 6.5 acres, with a price of Rs 4,500 per square foot.
Source:The Tribune

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Tribune News Service

A JCB machine digs a trench to prevent direct access to the Chandigarh-Ambala highway on Thursday. A Tribune photograph

Zirakpur, February 2
The National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) today closed 14 illegal entries to the national highway after digging trenches.
Giving information, GMR official Vaibhav Sharma stated that the team had conducted a drive to prevent direct access to the national highway between Zirakpur and Ambala by private establishments. He said the direct access to Empire Fasteners, Global Business Park, Maya Garden, Motiaz Royal City, M/s Ram Nath Dharam Kanda, Jashan Dhaba, Venus Remedies Ltd and seven unidentified establishments were closed. He said these approaches were not only posing danger to the highway traffic. He claimed that nobody had taken permission from the NHAI authority for direct access. The GMR official said during the drive few property owners objected to the drive being carried out. He said to gain access to the highway, the property owners should approach the NHAI authority after fulfilling the terms and conditions. The official said that in case attempts were made up to fill up the trenches, a formal complaint against them would be lodged with the police. Last year, NHAI along with the local administration had closed around 30 illegal entries to the national highway.

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Geetanjali Gayatri
Tribune News Service
Chandigarh, February 6
Completely at sea about the number of industrial units in Haryana, the Industries Department, it seems, has finally woken up to the need for a “headcount” of the existing units for taking “informed decisions” when it comes to framing policies for industry.
After the last official survey of small-scale industry in 1996 pegged their number at 1.37 lakh and the “amateurish” re-surveys “brought it down” to 69,000 only to “raise” it again to 80,000, the Industries Department has finally decided it wants to know the exact number existing on ground.
After much deliberation, the department has roped in a third party, Mot MacDonald, to carry out the exercise. According to an agreement signed last week, the agency will complete the survey in six to nine months and submit a report.
Haryana Industries Minister Randeep Singh Surjewala said the department had initially decided to carry out its own survey and even designed its own performa. “The importance of numbers cannot be overlooked especially in a vibrant state like ours where investment is continuously flowing in. While the numbers are not only essential to enable hand-holdling for industry which may require government help, knowing the ground reality is crucial for framing policies for that extra fillip which will hasten inclusive growth. Since a formal survey is being undertaken after many years, we opted for a professional agency to carry it out for us,” Surjewala said.
Financial Commissioner and Principal Secretary, Industries, Yudhvir Singh Malik added that the agency had been asked to complete the survey of industry existing as on December 31 in the first leg and submit a quick report by July.
“We have asked them to take into account all kinds of micro, small, medium and large enterprises. We have prepared a performa of data we will require though the agency can tinker with it. In fact, while this will help us know about the units in the planned industrial estates, it will also provide an insight into the units existing outside these estates which, I personally think, are a substantial number,” he stated.
Though the department hopes to end up with an exhaustive database about industry in Haryana along with the GIS mapping of industrial units, there could be some reluctance on the part of industry to give out the complete statistics especially when it comes to labour employment, contractual staff and the like. On the other hand, the information provided by the units could help various other departments, including power, to know the capacity of the units while preparing projections.
The last survey was conducted in 1996 and the number of 1.37 lakh units was based on the registrations of SSI recorded by the department. However, a re-survey of industry was ordered and this number came down to 69,000 eventually, on grounds that the other units had either closed down or were no longer in existence. The department also felt that the present figure of 80,000 industrial units was not reflective of the new industry that had come up over the last few years, especially since the Congress government took over in 2005.

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PTI | Feb 09,2012
Chandigarh, Feb 9 (PTI) Metro rail project at a cost of Rs 8,338 crore will be initiated soon in Chandigarh, Joint General Manager, Delhi Metro Rail Corporation, R C Sharma today said. Sharma said the total length of the metro rail project here would be 37.69 km. "In this regard, different activities such as topographic survey, geotechnical investigation, traffic forecast, planning of horizontal and vertical alignment has been done and social impact assessment will start soon," he said while making a presentation on Chandigarh Metro Project here. He said 12 underground and 18 elevated stations will be constructed.
Source:
Rs 8,388 cr metro rail project for Chandigarh, IBN Live News

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Friday, February 10, 2012
Source: Punjab Newsline Network
By Avinash Chopra
CHANDIGARH: The Municipal Corporation, Chandigarh is planning to impose house tax in the city. It has also sought sanction from the administration on the proposal of imposing house tax and plans to revise commercial property tax in the house meeting of February 16.

A memorandum of understanding was signed in year 2006 amongst Municipal Corporation, UT administration and Jawaharlal Nehru National Urban Renewal Mission (JNNRUM) according to which the authorities were suppose to hike the water tariffs and a minimum house tax was to be collected for the ongoing development projects.

The MC is planning to impose the house tax and generate more revenues for their departments rather than depending upon the grants sanctioned by the administration.

The commercial property tax levied in the year 2004 which was due for revision in the year 2007 has not been revised by the authorities till date. The authorities are planning to increase the commercial tax to generate revenue for the various departments of Chandigarh administration. As per the sources, the house tax levied by the authorities may amount to 1% of the value of the house.

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Rickyy

Mohali, March 11
With the model code of conduct ending on Friday, the Greater Mohali Area Development Authority (GMADA) is gearing itself to start development of City Centre, Sector 62, here. A proposal to construct roads, earmarked in the master plan of the Central Business District (CBD) of the City Centre, had been shelved during the model code of conduct. “Now, we will get the agenda on road development approved by the board of members of GMADA”, said a senior official in GMADA.
The City Centre has been planned on the lines of Central Piazza in Sector 17 Chandigarh. Though the foundation stone of the concept plan of the City Centre had been laid by Sukhr Singh Badal in 2009, GMADA has not been able to sell large sites in the City Centre.
Beginning with the Leisure Valley-cum-city park, work is in advanced stage to construct a boundary wall around the park and erect two gates. The engineering department has been given Rs 2 crore to lay a jogging track and a cycle track around the existing track. To create more space within the park, the existing section of the N choe was being realigned so that more space could be used to plant more trees and provide facilities like benches, swings and other public amenities.
Two new parkings, one towards the Phase 9 side and another towards the YPS School side, had been planned. The park which forms part of the City Centre is being designed keeping in mind the concept plan given by Jurong for the area.
Adjoining the City Park, an amusement park is also on the cards. The process to allot the work of a five-star hotel-cum-convention centre project to a selected company is in final stages.
The work on some of the internal roads is being taken up so that development could be visible to the investors who were keen on investing in the Central Business District (CBS) which forms a part of the City Centre and is spread on 200 acres. The development of the City Centre has got further thrust with the GMADA and the SGPC-controlled management of the Amb Sahib Gurdwara mutually agreeing to realign the boundary wall of the religious place.
Concept plan
At the City Centre, a new concept of ‘ work-shop-play-live’ in the commercial business district (CBD) would be introduced. Planned on the concept of free-flowing design, the design of the business district is a shift from the concept of ‘work-n-shop’ seen in Chandigarh’s commercial centres of Sectors 17 and 34. To ensure that the business district reflects vibrancy, the authority has allowed mega malls, hotels, commercial area, mix-land use activity, including residential quarters up to the height of 65 metres (213 feet). The Central business centres, Sector 62, and another proposed City Centre in Sector 88 would come up alongside the main road, which will ultimately serve as a vital road link for the region.

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Work under way in Mohali. A file photo Mohali, March 11
Despite the electorate in the Mohali Assembly segment voting the Congress MLA to power, the fate of undergoing development works in Mohali will not be affected, if the buzz in the official circle is to be believed.
A number of works, including Rs 12 crore project of widening the 3.5km long sections of the arterial-road passing through Phases IV, V, III-B1, III-B2 and VII of Mohali, widening of Balongi-Kumbra road, widening of the road from PTL Chowk to the upcoming bus stand are at different stages of development.
Work on the district administrative complex is also under way in Sector 76. The development of the multi-storeyed inter-state bus terminus (ISBT) is also under way in Sector 57 here. Sources in SAD said the party candidate, Balwant Singh Ramoowalia, who lost to the Congress candidate, would be given reins of Mohali. “Being a seasoned politician, Ramoowalia, would be allowed to groom the Assembly segment and the pace of development works would remain undeterred,” said a senior leader. Not only the ongoing projects, the pending projects conceived by the Akali leadership for Mohali would also be taken up. In apprehension of the status report on the development works often sought by Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal, officials in GMADA have already started doing their paper work and brushing up their facts on the development works.