THE TIMES OF , NEW 8 TIMES CITY TUESDAY, MARCH 15, 2016 Illegal temple up at Delhi gets US shows how railway stations March rain sanctuary quota in first Sharmila.Bhowmick guards and villagers over the @timesgroup.com latter’s forceful entry into the santuary a few days ago. can put realty growth on track 15 days : For decades, the Okhla “The only route to the cre- Bird Sanctuary has been in the matorium is through the sanc- TIMES NEWS NETWORK eye of a storm over the issue of tuary gate. Visitors buy tickets Hudson Yards Redevelopment In NY Ideal Model Of TOD, Say Experts preserving its buffer eco-sensi- to enter the sanctuary, but the New Delhi: In a change from tive zone. Now, the sanctity of locals have started demanding Risha.Chitlangia the past several months, Delhi the sanctuary is threatened free access to the crematorium, @timesgroup.com WHAT INDIA CAN Construction began in 2012; the project is finally experiencing a from within its limits. claiming it is ancient and was 50% expected to be completed by 2018 month in which rainfall in the Villagers living on the present much before the sanc- New Delhi: In giving its sta- LEARN FROM THE US area is open first fortnight has already fringes of the sanctuary have tuary was declared a restricted tion a makeover, the Indian spaces It will have five 50 to 90-storey commercial, crossed the normal for the en- forcibly constructed a shrine area,” IC Singh, range officer of Railways can learn a lot residential and mixed land use towers, a tire month. Hudson Yards redevelopment project | and established a big black Shi- Okhla Bird Sanctuary, said. from projects in developed mall and a public square Till 8.30pm on Monday, the va Lingam at the sanctuary’s “The villagers have been co- countries that make optimal Jointly planned, funded and constructed city had recorded 17.9mm ra- crematorium recently, and are ming to visit the temple at odd utilisation of real estate. by the City of New York and the The public square will be an in, 2mm more than the normal elevated park spread over an making frequent visits witho- hours. If we protest, they threa- This realisation was put to for March. Metropolitan Transportation Authority, area of 6.5 acres. It will come ut tickets on the pretext of per- ten us. We had informed cops, practice at the day-long The rain is due to two acti- it’s aimed at encouraging development up above the rail yard forming rituals. Forest guards but these peoplekeep coming is workshop on Monday orga- along the Hudson river in Manhattan, NY ve western disturbances told TOI on Monday their pro- big gangs and force us to open nised by the Indian Railway (WD), one of which continues tests have so far been futile as the gates. They have even be- Station Redevelopment Cor- TOTAL AREA | 28 acres; Effective An AC plant will be built to affect some parts of the the villagers, who usually turn aten up the gatekeepers. The poration (IRSDC) and World it’s being built over waste disposal between the train yard and the northwester plains. On Mon- up in big groups, tend to get Shiva Lingam has now become Resource Institute (WRI)-In- the rail yard using system park area to keep the roots of day morning, large parts of hostile. Officers said there had an excuse for them to enter the dia, where the Hudson Yards technically advanced the tree and plants healthy the city woke up to moderate been a scuffle between forest sanctuary,” said a forest guard. redevelopment project in network of steel beams, Smart soil | showers though Delhi official- New York was discussed. concrete and tunnels Specially-created ly recorded 0.3mm rain till The Hudson Yards pro- soil to provide Two platforms will be 8.30am and trace in the next 12 ject involves five 50-90 store- Anand Vihar and effective drainage and Limited hours. Ayanagar was the wet- Bijwasan in Delhi constructed to bridge over yed commercial-cum-resi- nutrient for the plants. The parking 30 active train tracks; to be test area with 13.3mm rain in dential towers, malls and Gandhi ONGOING soil depth of plants will be 18 spaces spread over an area of 10 acres 24 hours till 8.30am. large public squares on a 28- Nagar in PROJECTS inches and 4 feet for large trees The morning showers acre expanse. The entire Gujarat THE INDIAN SCENARIO | Indian Rainwater harvesting | Rainwater will resulted in a largely pleasant complex is being construc- Habibganj in MP Railway Station Redevelopment be collected in a 60,000-gallon tank; to day with both maximum ted over an operational rail Corporation (IRSDC) chalks out be reused for irrigating the parks and minimum temperatures yard. Urban development plans for the redevelopment of falling. experts cite this as an ex- stations in Delhi, Gujarat, Madhya “During the two days of ample that can be emulated Pradesh and Maharashtra the first WD, Delhi recorded by Indian railway networks. Takeaways from the NY project 6.2mm rain while during the One of the most impor- second WD, from March 12 to ➤ Use of green technology, ➤ Integrating the railway tant aspects of the New York 14, it got 11.7mm. Another WD stations with the city by project is its integration especially during construction, is expected to impact north- providing better transport with the rest of the city. “The to increase efficiency west India from March 17 to 18. connectivity rail yard was considered a ➤ Making residential There is possibility of light ra- ➤ big hole in the city. It was de- component a part of its station Bring down the parking spaces in or thunderstorm on March ad area. But this project will 18 with mist or haze in the redevelopment project ➤ Focus on public spaces bring vibrancy to the area, morning. The partly cloudy as we will have commercial sky will start clearing from and residential spaces he- March 20,” said a Met official. re,” said Charlotte Matt- possible to plan real estate sing on it in any of its add vibrancy to them.” developers to construct ade- The city experienced a hews, vice-president, Rela- development above the project. As most the projects Urban development ex- quate parking facilities. 96% deficit in rainfall betwe- ted Companies. tracks. IRSDC, which is in will be rented on lease for 45 perts said they would be Another change that en January and February, re- The integration with the advance stages of plan- years, ownership issues happy with as limited a pro- planners want is about open cording 1.3mm rain against a public spaces is an interes- ning its first few redevelop- will prevent housing from vision for car parking as pos- spaces. In India, they said, normal of 32.7mm. ting angle of the redevelop- ment projects in Bhopal and being considered. However, sible as in the Hudson Yard there is no clarity on the con- ment. “The iconic structu- Delhi, can implement a lot of urban planners pointed out project. “The whole purpose cept of public spaces. The res, which will be used for the things being done at the that Transit Oriented of TOD is defeated if we TOD policy stresses on 20% WEATHER commercial and residential Hudson Yard. “For instance, Development (TOD) without provide parking,” said of the total area being deve- Max 27.4°C / Min 17.1° C purpose, will become the the extensive use of green housing is a futile exercise. Matthews. “The project area loped as open spaces. But ur- Moonrise: Tuesday – 11:24 nerve centre of the city,” sa- technology,” pointed out Lo- “The redeveloped space will in New York is well-connec- ban planners say this per- am id SK Lohia, CEO, IRSDC. hia. “All the structures have be dead after 8 pm,” said ted with the rest of the city. centage needs to be increa- Moonset: Wednesday – This American project LEED (Leadership in Ener- Amit Bhatt, director Trans- There are excellent public sed. “Look at the Hudson 1:14 am Sunset: Tuesday - 6:30 pm can be the inspiration for the gy and Environmental De- port, EMBARQ India. transport facilities 5-10 mi- project, they have redevelo- Sunrise: Wednesday - 6:29 am Indian Railways, which too sign) ratings.” “Housing will not only pro- nutes’ walk away.” It is for ped 50% of the area into pub- Mainly clear sky, Maximum & min is planning to redevelop the While housing is a cruci- vide dedicated clientele to this that experts in India say lic space. We too have to pro- temperature on Tuesday will be around 29°C & 17°C . Max Humidity Monday was stations and the areas aro- al component in the Hudson the commercial complexes there is a need to amend vide people with active open 94%/ and min 52% und them. Experts say it is project, IRSDC is not focu- in the project, but also TOD policies, which force spaces,” said Bhatt. Poor infrastructure, unruly drivers trigger frequent jams [email protected]

New Delhi: The city has been coming to a ne- ar-standstill quite often due to the complete mismanagement of traffic. Signals stop func- tioning almost daily and there is limited pre- sence of traffic cops. This has been occurring even after Delhi Police commissioner Alok Kumar Verma ordering policemen to be vi- sible on the roads immediately after taking over. Traffic officials blame shortage of per- sonnel for this problem. Around 9.30am, a brick laden truck broke JUST ANOTHER JAM IN SOUTH DELHI: A truck down at the mouth of a U-turn on Ring Road broke down at Pamposh Enclave triggering a jam near Pamposh Enclave causing a crippling traffic jam on the carriageway heading to- What aggravates the problem is the Delhi wards the airport for nearly an hour. And this driver’s complete disregard for traffic rules. happened even though the truck took up only They cross dividers, drive on the wrong side part of a carriageway of the wide road. Only and squeeze in the slightest space available to two traffic policemen were tasked to control be the first to move ahead. Experts say that the movement of vehicles. this traffic obstruction sets off a chain reac- At least 15-20 such major vehicle break- tion leading to congestion. downs are reported daily on the city’s arterial Traffic jams are not a fallout of just major roads. Matters turn worse when the break- breakdowns – even small accidents or a care- down is coupled with the never-ending const- lessly parked car can throw the traffic out of ge- ruction work, faulty traffic signals and ram- ar.Moreover, there is no policy to deal with spon- pant violation of traffic norms by motorists. taneous protests that lead to massive snarls. Delhi businessman still waiting for Ggn flat booked in 2004 [email protected]

Gurgaon: In 2004, Delhi-based businessman Ramesh Uppal, now 71, booked a premium flat in Sector 53, one of Gurgaon’s poshest localities. Twelve years later, after ha- ving paid 95% of the price, Uppal is still waiting to be han- ded possession of his dream home. Uppal’s story exposes the dark side of the real estate bo- om in Gurgaon in the early 90s, when many people booked homes, only to have their dreams shattered by indefinite de- lay. Buyers now hope enactment of the Real Estate Act will provide them some protection from such practices. The flat Uppal had booked was in Parsvnath Exotica. The developer had promised possession by September 2008, with a six-month grace period, and claims he regu- larly made all the payments as required under the terms of agreement, completing 95% payment by 2008. Uppal can be found running from office to office, ur- ging authorities for help in getting his flat delivered. Fi- nally, he submitted a complaint with Gurgaon Redressal Authority. The Department of Town and Country Plan- ning (DTCP) has now issued a notice to the developer to hand over possession of the flat within 45 days, and also compensate Uppal for the delay. “As per the contract, the flats were supposed to be completed and handed over by September 2008, with a six- month grace period. But we have not got the possession till now,” said Uppal, adding that the tower is still incomp- lete and that the developer is unwilling to provide a con- crete timeline for completion of the project. Uppal is not alone. A DTCP official said there are 164 flats in blocks D-4, D-5 and D-6 of Parsvnath Exotica yet to be delivered. “We have given notice and asked the develo- per to meet the complainants at our office on Thursday to resolve the issue,” said planning officer Jaibir Sharma, adding that the compensation amount will be decided then. Sunit Sachar, vice-president of Parsvnath, admit- ted that progress on the project has been slow, adding four towers are in an advanced stage of completion, and that they hope to start giving possession soon.