Important News for Hyderabadis

BPS defaulters face demolition squads

TNN, 31 January 2010, 01:31am IST

GHMC Building Penalisation Scheme

HYDERABAD: The GHMC has decided to demolish ‘illegal structures’ of those BPS applicants who have failed to pay the balance penal amount. So far,

nearly 50,000 notices have been served on the applicants demanding payment of the balance amount within a week or face demolition squads.

“Demolitions will begin from Monday. The orders have been given to all assistant city planners,” GHMC chief city planner G V Raghu told STOI.

When the Building Penalisation Scheme was announced in 2008, 2,03,896 applications were received in the Greater Hyderabad limits.

Most of the applicants paid a part of the penal amount at the time of submission of their applications. They were supposed to pay the balance amount at the time of clearance. But since GHMC started regularisation process in July 2009, only 85,949 applicants have made full payment and got their buildings regularised.

As many as 33,688 applications were rejected because the structures were found to have been built either on government land or lake beds or public parks, etc while 84,259 applicants have not come forward to pay the balance amount. The corporation had conducted melas in all circles in August and September 2009 to initiate on-the-spot regularisation proceedings. Yet, the applicants did not come forward to pay the balance amount. “Most of them have paid 10 to 20 per cent of the penal amount. Now, some applicants want to be allowed to pay the balance in instalments, which is not acceptable,” a city planner said.

The scheme has so far fetched about Rs 440 crore to the corporation and another Rs 120 crore is expected. At the GHMC general body meeting a week ago, commissioner Sameer Sharma said efforts were being made to collect the balance penal amount by April.


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Parents losing the battle?

Chitra Nair & Nikhila Henry, TNN, 31 January 2010, 01:28am IST


HYDERABAD: Are city parents fighting a losing battle against fee hikes in schools? It does seem to be the case with a school obtaining a stay order on the government order (GO) that restricted fee hikes in private schools. Now, parents are gearing up for the worst: higher fees in the next academic year.

Parent associations admit they are headed for a long drawn battle which started last year when one school after the other started hiking fees unreasonably. Widespread protests had led to the government issuing an order last August barring schools from increasing fee without the permission of the District Fee Regulatory Committee (DFRC). And just when parents thought that things would fall in place, two schools moved the court.

Earlier this week, a stay on the GO restricting fee hike was obtained by Niraj Public School which had approached the HC. The court has asked the secondary education department, DFRC and school managements to submit their views before the bench in a month’s time.

Legal experts note that the stay on the GO would make the recently commissioned DFRC defunct and parents fear that the school managements will charge exorbitant fees for the coming academic year, admissions for which have already started. Many schools had earlier announced a 20 to 25 per cent fee hike for the coming academic year, 2010-11.

According to parents who have been fighting it out with managements, the stay has come as a rude jolt. “Since the GO is now under interim suspension we might have to surpass many more hurdles. The schools which increased their fee may now penalise parents who have not paid up,” said a parent. Many schools, including Niraj Public School, had moved the court against parents who had not paid the fee.

Parents are even worried that the school managements will now take the stay order as a pretext for punishing students who are still to remit the increased fee. “Many managements prevented their students from writing internal exams just to settle scores with agitating parents. With the GO under suspension for now we are worried that schools might harass our children,” said a parent.

Even officials of district administration who had earlier sent notices to erring schools expressed their helplessness in helping the parents out. “The DFRC will not be able to take any action against schools as a stay order has been obtained on the GO,” said Navin Mittal, district collector. He, however, said that efforts are being made to file a counter within the time specified. The district administration had served notices to over 10 city schools for violating the GO. Meanwhile, legal experts said that the parents will also have to present their view before the court during the next hearing.

Nevertheless, some parents do not feel that they are fighting a losing battle. “In fact we are even prepared to take the fight to the Supreme Court, if need be, since the GO has been framed according to the SC guidelines,” said a parent.

Meanwhile, senior officials of secondary education department maintained that the GO is effective even now as the court order pertains to only those schools which had approached the bench.


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‘Stop showing violence, vulgarity on TV channels’


TNN, 30 January 2010, 01:23am IST


HYDERABAD: Justice T Goplalakrishna on Friday directed local television channels to stop telecasting programmes containing scenes of violence and vulgarity. The judge had earlier issued similar directions in a writ petition filed by Kameshwar Rao, a practising advocate who complained that such indiscreet telecast by channels had adverse effect on viewers.

The interim order which covered a vast variety of genres include visuals in crime teleseries and crime news in the name of Crime Watch, Neralu Ghorallu, etc; visuals of vulgarity and obscenity; visuals of dead bodies, violence against women and children; provocative or instigative speeches; visuals of persons destroying public and valuable property; visuals of innocent people committing or having committed suicide.

The interim order also included contents in scrolls apart from debates which are provocative and unwanted.


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Hope for city’s hassled pedestrians?


TNN, 30 January 2010, 01:14am IST


HYDERABAD: Pedestrians, who are finding it increasingly impossible to get a foothold on footpaths due to the innumerable encroachments on it, may soon find a clear path to tread. The GHMC will soon take up a special drive to clear encroachments on footpaths, including petty stalls put up by vendors or other obstructions like places of worship.

The drive to clear footpaths of encroachments will be taken up in three phases by categorising roads based on the area and pedestrian movement.

“Busy roads where the restoration of footpaths is necessary are being identified by the GHMC town planning, engineering, traffic and transport wings. This will also involve the traffic police. This exercise will be completed in two days,” GHMC commissioner Sameer Sharma told TOI. The GHMC staff have also been asked to prepare a report on the condition of footpaths on important roads.

Though vendors have eaten into footpath space at many places, there are other encroachments that trouble pedestrians. Electric poles, plants, transformers, bus stops and even public toilets have come up on footpaths, leaving no space for pedestrians to walk. As a result, people are forced to walk on the busy roads which is fraught with danger.

For instance, a bus stop constructed on the wide footpath near Hyderabad Public School (HPS) at Begumpet forces schoolchildren and others to walk on the busy road. Similarly, vehicles of shop owners and customers occupy footpaths at several commercial areas like Liberty, RP Road and MG Road.

At some of the busiest roads in the city, including Ameerpet, Erragadda, Abids and Koti, shopkeepers keep their goods on footpaths blocking pedestrian movement on pavements.

“The drive will be taken up on busy roads like Ameerpet, Greenlands, Secunderabad railway station, Imliban bus station, Abids, Nampally station, Raj Bhavan Road and MJ Market in the first phase. Other roads will be taken up in second and third phases,” GHMC additional commissioner (planning) K Dhananjaya Reddy said.

Officials said of about 6600 kms length of roads in GHMC limits, about 1,000 km length are major and busy roads. Though pavements are provided on these roads, they are of no use for pedestrians.


Courtesy: Times of India