Power bill goes up third time in a year

TIMES NEWS NETWORK 

Kolkata:For the third time in 12 months, households in the city will feel the pinch of a power tariff hike. Brace for a 20% rise in electricity bill as the unit cost that was at Rs 5.09 last December has shot up by Re 1 with hikes in March, May and now December. Since the hike is effective from April 2012, consumers will feel the burden of arrears, too. 
    

But power consumers in Salt Lake and the rest of the state won’t feel the bite of a 22% hike, thanks to a queer equation in which arrears and variable costs have been absorbed in the increase. 
    

Chief minister Mamata Banerjee is averse to any kind of tariff hike that burdens the common man. So, although West Bengal State Electricity Development Corporation Ltd (WBSEDCL) raised the unit rate from Rs 4.96 to Rs 6.07 (with effect from May 2012), there will be minimal change in the actual bill. 
    

No such luck for Kolkatans. The State Electricity Regulatory Commission (SERC) on Monday allowed CESC an average tariff revision of 1%, taking the per-unit cost from Rs 6.03 to Rs 6.09. The hike has not spared ‘lifeline consumers’ (the base slab), who use less than 25 units amonth. They will have to pay 2 paisa per unit more (Rs 3.20 to Rs 3.22). In the other slabs, the hike will be from 2 to 4 paisa per unit. But with the revision effective from April 2012, arrears of eight months will be collected in eight instalments. That means bills from December to July will go up by 2% on average. No change in state power utility’s dues 
    

The tariff revision will increase CESC’s revenue from Rs 5,500 crore to Rs 5,555 crore, said an official. 
    

In the rest of Bengal, the basic tariff went up by Rs 1.11 as SERC allowed the utility to convert the variable charges and arrears that it has been collecting since May 2011 into actual tariff cost. Only the monthly variable cost adjustment that had not been done for eight months (April 2011 to November 2011) will be added to the bill along with the eight months this year (April to November). Since the payment has to be made in 48 installments, consumers are unlikely to feel the pinch, say WBSEDCL officials. 
    

Price of electricity consumed in domestic households had shot up from Rs 4.96 to Rs 5.38 in December 2011. In February, it was further hiked to Rs 5.76 and then to Rs 6.07 in May 2012. “Since the overall bill value does not go up, our revenue will remain Rs 10,000 crore and there will be no change in dues that stand at Rs 21,000 crore,” a WBSEDCL official said.

Blue-and-white makeover for Salt Lake soon

TIMES NEWS NETWORK 

Kolkata: After Trinamool Congress came to power in May last year, the Kolkata Municipal Corporation (KMC) had untaken a project to paint the city in chief minister Mamata Banerjee’s favourite colors — blue and white. And now, Bidhannagar Municipality is catching up with the city civic body by givingSalt Lake a new blue-andwhite look. 
    To begin with, the municipality has started painting its 
five-storey building. According to officials, next in line are the traffic islands, pavements and the dividers. A fresh coat of paint is a part of the township’s beautification plans, a civic official said. 
    “Not only the municipality building, the walls of the traffic islands and road sides will also be painted in blue and white in several parts of the township, along with the trident street lighting,” he said. A portion of the walls surrounding Central Park has also been painted in blue and white. Officials in Bidhannagar Municipality feelSalt Lake has abundant greenery and the new colours will give the township a catchy look. 
    Recently, the civic authorities handed over the maintenance work for the township’s traffic islands to advertising agencies that use them commercially. According to sources, billboards that have been put up inside the traffic islands will be removed soon and the urban development department will renovate these islands before painting them. 
    At present, the civic body maintains over 50 big and small parks in Salt Lake. However, the department is working on a holistic plan to engage private players to beautify parks, waterbodies, ponds, median dividers and pavements not only inSalt Lake but in other areas like Rajarhat New Town, Sector V and Kalyani as well. Selected companies will be entrusted with maintaining the areas they beautify, a senior official said. 
    “We welcome this initiative of painting the township in blue and white. However, we feel strongly that equal attention should be given on repairing some of the roads that are in very poor shape. With smooth roads, the beautification programme could have received a holistic look,” said Bidhannagar welfare association secretary K S Sadhu.

The new-look Bidhannagar Municipality building

Govt mulls legal stamp on Salt Lake plot sale

Suman Chakraborti TNN 

Sale of leasehold residential property in Salt Lake is going to be legalized soon. 

    The Mamata Banerjee government plans to allow transfer of lease in the township for a fee. Most of the land in Salt Lake belongs to the urban development department and the government will fix the fee. 

    The state Cabinet meeting is likely to discuss the proposal on Tuesday. Salt Lake residents had been waiting for this for a long time. 

    If things go according to plan, plot-holders in Salt Lake can legally monetize their property by paying the government stamp duty, registration fees or some other levy. 

    “Leasehold land won’t turn into freehold land. We are mulling allowing transfer of lease but only with the permission of the government,” urban development minister Firhad Hakim said. 

    The government will continue to enjoy ownership rights and also earn revenue that it had missed out on earlier when property changed hands in Salt Lake under cover. 

    The Bidhannagar Municipality could never stop the under hand deals unless the original lessee walked up to register a formal complaint. 

    The proposal was doing the rounds since the days of the Left Front government but was allowed only for commercial properties. A case is pending in the court over the change of a commercial property into a residential highrise in HB block.Govt to fix lease fee per cottah 

    Once the proposal to legalise the sale of residential plots in Salt Lake gets through in the state Cabinet on Tuesday, the government will evaluate the plots in the township and fix a price for the transfer of lease per cottah. 

    Illegal sale of plots in Salt Lake caught the notice of the Mamata Banerjee government soon after the Trinamool Congress came to power in May, 2011. The government has been trying to find a way out since then. 

    Plots in Salt Lake were leased for a 999-year tenure in the 1970s to enable middleclass people to settle in the township on the condition that the leaseholders cannot transfer their plots. 

    According to the present rules, residential plots cannot be sold or transferred as the plot holders are actually lease holders and not owners. But later, some genuine problems cropped up. 

    The family increased at least by two-fold within a span of 50 years and the lessee could not do justice to all his/her children, because leasehold property can’t be partitioned and distributed among the heirs. 

    This prompted some to sell out the property illegally for a huge amount of money. According to estimates, out of the 12,000 plots in the township, almost 35% of the plots have been transferred or sold illegally. Plots measuring a cottah, which were originally leased out for about Rs 5,000, have been sold illegally for lakhs, say sources. Many such transfers are in the process with the help of touts and many houses have been illegally sold more than once.

Save-wetland plan ready, finally

Save-wetland plan ready, finally
Local Experts & Residents Miffed At Not Being Consulted For Govt’s Grand Wetland Project
Suman Chakraborti | TNN

Kolkata: Seven years after declaring the East Kolkata Wetlands a Ramsar site, the state has finally come up with an action plan to protect it.
To ensure effective management, the plan proposes dividing the 12,500-hectare wetland area into four sections — substantial waterbodies, agricultural land, productive farming plots and rural settlements. “Detailed plans for each part have been chalked out and sent to the Centre. We had also sought an initial fund of Rs 3 crore, of which Rs 60 lakh has been sanctioned,” said East Kolkata Wetland Management Authority (EKWMA) chief technical officer Nitai Kundu.
To conserve only the waterbodies — that spread over 5,852.14 hectares — the authorities have decided that no conversion of wetlands, waterbodies and bheries or fish farms will be allowed. “This is ecologically the most important area of the Ramsar site. A sizeable local population depends on the sewage-fed pisciculture that is extensively done here. The waterbodies are also known to act as a carbon sink and the area a natural habitat of several aquatic flora and fauna species,” Kundu pointed out.
However, it may consider some activities to manage land parcels adjacent to these waterbodies, like desiltation programme, environment monitoring of sewage and conservation of bio-diversity as well as promotion of eco-tourism through setting up of zoological and botanical gardens, nature heritage parks, bird sanctuaries and animal rescue centres.
For managing agricultural areas spread over 4,718.56 hectares, the authorities will permit development of eco-tourism projects, like medicinal gardens, horticulture, floriculture and similar activities. It also suggests setting up of research and environmentrelated educational institutions.
The management plan also mentions measures for productive farming area spread over 602.78 hectares. This section is one of biggest challenges that EKWMA faces. It was way back in 1860 that KMC acquired this area for disposal of solid waste. Known as Dhapa now, nearly 150 tonnes of vegetables are produced daily in this zone.
Noting that the solid waste dump has reached its saturation, the management plan has suggested development of community-based facilities, including waste recycling and solid waste management programmes. The management plan has called for proper demarcation and effective control of the garbage dump to prevent leaching from contaminating groundwater. Pollution arising out of the site is to be monitored. No spatial expansion of existing habitation shall be allowed.
A part of the urban settlements of Bidhannagar Municipality and nearly 40 rural ones — spread over 1,326.52 hectares — are located in the East Kolkata Wetlands. Conversion of the existing habitation to more eco-friendly forms will be allowed. “In added areas, the environment department will examine proposals, but no waterbody will be allowed to be converted. For development proposals, prior permission of the environment department or its delegated authorities like EKWMA will be required,” Kundu said.
The EKWMA official said three projects — desilting of canals, planting of trees and desilting of ponds will be taken up soon. “We will start work to desilt 100 km of canal from January. Another 100 km stretch will be desilted under KEIP project for which the Asian Development Bank has approved Rs 32 crore,” Kundu said.
Simultaneously, an afforestation programme will be kicked off to plant 20,000 trees over three years. “We have planted 5,000 trees like teak and mahogany. We plan to plant coconut trees along the bheris,” Kundu said.
Significantly, the blueprint has neither been discussed with locals, nor experts from the region consulted. The EKWMA official argues the proposal is based on the report of Wetlands International, a consultancy firm based in the Netherlands that has considerable expertise on wetlands. But scientists here, who have worked in the wetlands for years, are livid that the government did not even consider them worthy of consultation. “Why is the wetland not in the public domain? And why have local stakeholders not been consulted?” questioned former ASI director AK Ghosh.
Environment biologist and toxicology expert Pulak Lahiri, who has worked extensively in the region, felt interaction with local residents would have helped in adding valuable inputs. “There are a lot of suggestions that only local experts can offer because they know the conditions,” he said.
That the plan is ready is itself an achievement given the constraints under which the Institute of Wetland Management & Ecological Design functions. Housed in only two flats in Salt Lake, there is neither adequate space nor infrastructure to manage something as vital as the East Kolkata Wetlands from this cubbyhole.