There could be no better timing than World Water Day for the AMC, to link building plan approvals with getting Narmada water connection, to see that no more borewells are dug up. The civic body may have taken this decision because at a time when the whole world is worrying about depleting ground-water levels, builders and other agencies are busy digging borewells indiscriminately.

Way back in mid 1990s, AMC faced severe water crunch as it was solely dependent on the ever drying up Dharoi dam. It was much later that the city heaved a sigh of relief when Raska line was laid to bring water from Mahi canal head in Kheda district. This was followed by water procurement from Narmada canal just when Raska ceased to be a dependable source.

However, even Raska water was not supplied to areas outside AMC limits where construction of residential colonies was coming up rapidly. Builders merrily dug up borewells as they fell beyond AMC jurisdiction where certain restrictions were imposed on such digging. Even a White Paper was issued, but those were things of the past and now, there seems no restriction on such activity. Even AMC’s damage control effort is aimed more at safeguarding commercial viabilities than towards conservation, and reach the break-even point. “We will check water samples on the spot to tell people about the harmful effects on their health if they continued using borewell water having high TDS content,” says Municipal Commissioner I P Gautam. But whatever may be its motive, the move will ensure that use of ground-water was cut to minimum. Human Development Report of the UNDP for 2006 has suggested that 25 pc of city population uses 90 pc of total water supplied in city while major chunk of 75 pc has to do with just 10 pc of available water. On an average, the report says, per capita water supply in posh areas is 400 litres a day whereas it is just 20 to 100 litres in labour dominated areas. Again, due to supply network design difference, residents in newly-developed areas get 24-hr water supply while the old network provides for only two hour supply in old city limits.

CMD of White Waters T Chandran says at national level, only 65 pc of country’s population has access to quality drinking water while rest are not as lucky. He says world’s population is expected to increase from 6.5 bn at present to 9 bn by 2050 when 1.8 bn people will live in regions with absolute water scarcity and two-thirds of world’s population will live under condition of water stress. civic body may have taken this decision because at a time when whole world is worrying about depleting ground-water levels, builders and other agencies are busy digging borewells.

Courtesy : Expressindia.com

The unplanned constructions and lack of parking space on prime roads are likely to kill Vadodara's real charm. This is the opinion of experts from the Traffic Coordination Committee (TCC), jointly formed by the traffic police and Vadodara Municipal Corporation (VMC).

The committee has strongly objected to VMC's impromptu move to demolish over 140 shops and other structures on the Central Bus Station Road and start road construction work there without any proper planning. According to them, it was sheer foolishness on the part of the civic body to not have a concrete plan before demolition.

Recently, the committee made recommendations about the road from the airport to Old Padra Road, where several major malls are setting up shop. MSU archaeology department head Prof Uday Shelat, also a TCC member, said, "If authorities want a spacious road from the airport circle to the end of Old Padra Road, it should be declared a strict 'no-parking' zone." Another member, Ajit Gaekwad said, "Roads are meant for driving and not for parking or setting up stationary setups. Even if a vehicle is parked on a footpath or service road, it becomes an encroachment just like a stall or laari." He said the committee had suggested that the traffic department initiate necessary action in this regard

Commenting on the Station Road demolitions, Prof Shelat said, "The stretch between the Central Bus Depot and the railway station needed proper site measurement before the dividers were fixed. With dividers in place there is very less space for a bus to enter and exit the depot, which ultimately proves that the entire encroachment removal exercise was futile."

Gaekwad added that despite an equal margin of space being left on road for putting up dividers, traffic problems were bound to arise as all shops and utilities were located on the bus station side.

Experts feel that dividers need to be shifted towards the railway station wall to make more space for vehicles to move. Also, if VMC was planning to 'redo' the stretch at whose cost would it be done, Gaekwad questioned.

With many shopping malls and other constructions coming up on the road from the airport to the end of Old Padra Road, it is time that the authorities take action and not sit idle, said Prof Shelat. The road already has Vadodara Central at Rhino Circle, a sensitive traffic point. Bang opposite, another big retail store is coming up and further down, Seven Seas mall was under construction in Fatehgunj.

Police commissioner P C Thakur said, "We are examining all the suggestions and are going to implement them." He said a notification banning heavy vehicle on certain roads has already been put in place. VMC engineer V N Tailor said, "The road width is 22 meters and the dividers are exactly at 11 meters and is not possible to shift them on the entire stretch." However, he added that thay may consider the possibility of relocating a small portion at the entrance and exit of the bus station.

Courtesy : Expressindia.com

A new electronic system to clear consignments, Risk Management System (RMS), will be introduced at the Ahmedabad Customs house from Thursday. Chief commissioner of Customs for Gujarat zone, Ajit Kumar, said this here on Wednesday.

While addressing mediapersons during a curtain raiser on the occasion, Kumar said, “With the computer based scrutiny of documents, the present practice of routine assessment, concurrent audit and examination of all Bills of Entry (BoE) will be discontinued, thereby enabling the department to enhance level of facilitation and speed up the process of cargo clearance without compromising the interest of revenue.”

Additional director general, directorate of systems (customs and excise) B Bhattacharya, who gave a power point presentation on the RMS said, “The Ahmedabad commissionerate is the sixth such in the country to install an RMS system for clearance of consignments. With an automated customs clearance by RMS, the average clearance time, which is presently 46 hours, will be just two hours. In the initial stage, the system will be made operational for imports in groups 1 to 6.”

The objective of RMS is to strive for an optimum balance between facilitation and enforcement.

The RMS will reduce the burden of routine assessments, making the officer devote more time to transaction that requires closer scrutiny. Apart from reducing the dwelling time, the RMS will also reduce transaction cost for compliant importers and they will be able to obtain the accessed copies of their bills and challan within a short span of time.

Courtesy : Expressindia.com