The Mumbai Metropolitan Region Development Authority (MMRDA) said that the Rs 140 crore Panvel flyover will be ready by the first week of June this year.
The 2.4km long and 17m wide flyover would have two lanes each for up and down traffic. It will begin at Ashoka Lawn and end 300 m before the G ...
The Mumbai Metropolitan Region Development Authority (MMRDA) said that the Rs 140 crore Panvel flyover will be ready by the first week of June this year.
The 2.4km long and 17m wide flyover would have two lanes each for up and down traffic. It will begin at Ashoka Lawn and end 300 m before the Gandhi Hospital junction. The flyover will ease travel to Pune by the National Highway 4, which passes through Panvel.
Besides, the flyover will help reduce pollution due to severe traffic congestion, said Dilip Kawathkar, Joint Project Director of the Authority.
First politics, then IPL and now interior designing domain, Bollywood seems to be ruling roost almost everywhere. Popular Bollywood celebs’ wives like Gauri Khan, Twinkle Khanna, Zarine Khan along with many more have become preferred choices as interior decorators. Surprisingly: these ladies don ...
First politics, then IPL and now interior designing domain, Bollywood seems to be ruling roost almost everywhere. Popular Bollywood celebs’ wives like Gauri Khan, Twinkle Khanna, Zarine Khan along with many more have become preferred choices as interior decorators. Surprisingly: these ladies don’t possess any formal training in interior designing or architectural design, yet they are opined as new age trendy designers. In addition to this, complete exclusion of interior designing as a profession from the tax payers’ list has put the entire creative industry in a dilemma. So, through this article, we try to understand the scope of the profession and the importance of formal education to be successful in the same. Let’s take a look.
The leading Fashion Designer Sabyasachi Mukherjee has tied up with Samira Habitats – a real estate firm to design the interiors of 200 homes. The project would be located close to a beach and would cost around Rs 200 crore. Many of us would argue what a fashion designer would know about interior designing. However, designer Ayaz Basrai of The Busride Design Studio feels that everyone is a designer. According to him, the most critical aspect of any form of designing is how one separates meaningful from the meaningless, something that’s apparent on first impression. The famed designer also adds that no color is better or worse than another, and no material is inherently good or bad. “Anyone with a good aesthetic sense is an artist/ designer in himself,” he says.
Though formal education – understanding about basic architecture design, design process & problem solving skill does assure greater knowledge, it necessarily doesn’t guarantee success in the profession. As Ayaz adds that formal education shows a level of invested commitment but in the end it is your artistic work that eventually speaks for itself. For Instance, famous Japanese architect and ‘The Pritzker Architecture Prize’ winner Tadao Ando is not formally trained. Despite this, one can’t miss his thought-provoking work.
Moreover, thriving in the industry is not easy. There is a lot of creative talent that keeps challenging the old norms and bringing out newer concepts. Same goes for wives of Bollywood’s A-listers. These ladies may not be formally trained. But it is their creativity or good networking skills that have helped them carve a niche for themselves and that too out of their husbands’ shadow.
“The above situation, where anyone is becoming an interior designer is doing a lot of harm to the existing set of designers. It is also bringing down the credibility of the creative fraternity,” voices Ms Suranjita Gupta, a designer and proprietor of Kolkata–based Architectural firm CreativeConcern. She observes that tenders for interior design floated by the Govt. are handed over to architects/ architectural firms. She expresses gloominess over the fact that Govt. doesn’t understand the difference between interior designers and architects. In fact, for one of Govt.’s interior design projects that she was working on, the designer was even asked to show her Council of Architecture (COA) registration number.
In fact, the situation is worse in India as there is no regulatory body to decide who can practice the profession of interior designing. Unlike in west – US or UK, there are laws to establish minimum standards of competency of any individual. It is these standards that allow a person to practice or engage in interior design within permits of jurisdiction. These laws also serve to limit, who can practice the creative work as an interior designer. Needless to say but it is these stringent regulations that give a lot of credibility and respect to interior designers.
All of us must have seen children stacking colorful blocks together and making a house out of the same. But, this childhood activity is now coming to reality, thanks to the growing advancements in the housing construction sector. The new process is called Prefab Technology, where various components ...
All of us must have seen children stacking colorful blocks together and making a house out of the same. But, this childhood activity is now coming to reality, thanks to the growing advancements in the housing construction sector. The new process is called Prefab Technology, where various components of a house are manufactured in a factory and then assembled together to give the shape of a house.
These houses involve usage of materials like steel frames for structures, wood panels, cement, gypsum along with factory made doors, windows and ventilators. With this mode of construction, houses can be built quickly and at a comparatively lower price as compared to traditional housing structures. Higher efficiency and reduction in the overall expenses of the labour also pulls down the cost of the house, even though the cost of prefab material is 15-20% higher than the traditional ones. The advanced process also reduces the need of subsidiary activities like electric wiring, plastering & plumbing as they are incorporated during the casting stage only. The best part is these houses are earthquake proof and termite resistant as well.
In fact, these prefab houses show better performance as they undergo strict checking mechanism to ensure the product comes out to be completely defect-proof. Also, usage of prefab material makes the house structure more customisable as new blocks could easily be added or removed depending on customers’ needs. Being lighter than brick and mortar structures, the transportation cost of prefab arrangement is also quite low, which further brings down the cost of the house. These types of houses can also be customised to specific needs like fire/ water/ sound proofing. For instance many sound or recording studios in the country employ prefab materials for ensure complete silence while recording the artists’ voice. Meanwhile, the usage of prefab materials is not new in commercial space in India. Many offices have been employing these materials to create cabins, flooring options and other divisions.
Talking about India, the industry is still in a very nascent stage and has an estimated size of Rs 2000 crore. Experts feel that the industry is bound to grow 10 times if a fraction of upcoming investment in real estate and infrastructure is diverted to the growth of prefab technology. The potential sectors are roads, bridges, railways, ports, warehouses, storage spaces and commercial complexes.
Currently, there are companies like Sintex that are providing prefabricated classrooms to government-funded education scheme – "Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan" wherein there’s a shortage of six lakh classrooms. The company has already received approval from 16 state governments, owing to its large scale geographically diversified manufacturing facilities, leading to lower costs. More so, theses structures can also be used for mass housing in disaster situations, for defense personnel in difficult terrains and mass housing of labor force and slum dwellers by companies.
Another impressive project is jointly collaborated by Karnataka State Police Housing Corporation Ltd (KSPHC) in association with Pearls MiiHome, Australia to construct two pilot flats for traffic police constables. Prefabricated expanded polystyrene panels (EPS) were used in the construction of these houses, which were inaugurated by Home Minister R Ashoka in CAR south Adugodi police quarters. The flat comprising of a kitchen, two bedrooms, a toilet, bathroom and hall would cost around Rs 1500 per sq ft. In fact, the price is expected to come down to Rs 1000 per sq ft as and when the manufacturing begins in India. Interestingly, Pranab Mohanty, Joint Commissioner of Crime, was so impressed with the model flats that he expressed his desire to stay in such a flat. During inauguration, the Home Minister further said that he plans to construct more such 40,000 houses within a span of next of 5 years for constables as they have no houses to live.
Similar positive news was given by Tata Group that now intends to launch a house for Rs 32,000 next year. The prefabricated house would be launched in the form of a kit(roofs, doors, windows etc), which would have to be erected or assembled. The house comprising a basic model of 20 sq ft would cost around Rs 32, 000 (500 euros). While the upgraded model under the Indira Awas Yojana Model would be priced around 700 euros. If the project succeeds, it would be the best solution to the housing problem grappling the rural sector in India.
The construction site of the Greenfield international stadium at Kariavattom, Kerala has been declared as a special zone on Tuesday.
KB Ganesh Kumar, Sports Minister has requested to keep the construction site away from all the hurdles associated with loading and unloading processes. "As the spo ...
The construction site of the Greenfield international stadium at Kariavattom, Kerala has been declared as a special zone on Tuesday.
KB Ganesh Kumar, Sports Minister has requested to keep the construction site away from all the hurdles associated with loading and unloading processes. "As the sports minister requested, I declare the proposed stadium site as a special zone and the matter will be put before the Cabinet tomorrow itself as the timely completion of stadium is important," Oommen Chandy, Chief Minister, said.
The Rs 161 crore stadium is being implemented as a joint initiative of the National Games secretariat and Kerala University through Kariavattom SportsFacilities Limited. The 50,000 capacity stadium will host the opening and closing ceremonies of the 35th National Games.
Designed to the specifications of both the ICC and FIFA, the stadium is a unique public private partnership initiative that aims to bring the world of international sports to the state. The stadium incorporates a range of environmentally friendly initiatives, including extensive use of solar panels, rainwater conservation and a unique construction style which blends with the landscape.
The most unexpected, the Coal Ministry is now supporting power developers' by calling for a review of the new fuel supply agreement (FSA) of Coal India Ltd (CIL). Power developers termed the new FSA as having too many escape clauses for CIL and loaded against the developers.
A meeting is expecte ...
The most unexpected, the Coal Ministry is now supporting power developers' by calling for a review of the new fuel supply agreement (FSA) of Coal India Ltd (CIL). Power developers termed the new FSA as having too many escape clauses for CIL and loaded against the developers.
A meeting is expected to be held between the buyers and the seller on 10 May 10. According to Ashok Khurana, Director-General, Association of Power Producers, the review clause gives the sole discretion to Coal India to terminate the agreement unilaterally, creating uncertainty regarding the tenure of the FSA. “It is an easy way for Coal India to escape almost scot-free by not supplying its committed quantities,” power producers say. Earlier, the quantum of penalty was 10%, now it is 0.01%.
In the new FSA ,the clause dealing with force majeure trivialises the entire agreement by including frivolous reasons such as ‘shortage/cut in power supply', ‘non supply/delayed supply of equipments or spares' etc, Khurana said.
Though some of the developers have inked the agreements because of fuel supply constraints, the general consensus is that Coal India is making use of its monopolistic situation, those from the industry said.
Until early this week, 10 FSAs were signed and of these, four each were signed with Rajasthan Rajya Vidyut Utpadan Nigam Ltd and Bajaj Hindustan Ltd and two with Lanco Anpara Power Ltd.
There are around 50 power companies and FSAs would be signed with 38 of them. This is because, fuel supply pacts can be signed only with producers who have signed power purchase agreements with distribution utilities,” said a Coal India official.
The Tamil Nadu government introduced a new Bill, Tamil Nadu Infrastructure Development Act, 2012 to create an Infrastructure Development Board, in order to expedite infrastructure projects in the state. The Board would be headed by the chief minister and will be the nodal agency to coordinate Govern ...
The Tamil Nadu government introduced a new Bill, Tamil Nadu Infrastructure Development Act, 2012 to create an Infrastructure Development Board, in order to expedite infrastructure projects in the state. The Board would be headed by the chief minister and will be the nodal agency to coordinate Government efforts in developing infrastructure sector.
The Bill covers large infrastructure projects involving investments of more than Rs 500 crore. The proposed Act also provides for the setting up of a Tamil Nadu Infrastructure Development Fund.
The objective of the proposed law is to create an institutional framework to speed up infrastructure development, encourage private sector
participation and to identify projects on a priority basis. It addresses the various aspects of implementing infrastructure projects including funding, design, construction, maintenance and operation of infrastructure projects, either through public sector or public-private partnerships.
The Board will include the Finance Minister, as the Vice Chairperson; Chief Secretary, who will be the Member Secretary; and the secretaries of a range of Government departments including finance, public works, industries, municipal administration, rural development, housing and urban development, law, revenue, and environment and forests. Besides, it will also include a chief executive officer of the rank of finance secretary.
Keolis SA, a subsidiary of SNCF, France's state-owned railway company has been selected as Operations and Maintenance contractor for the Hyderabad Metro Rail, being developed by infrastructure major L&T.
According to the press release of L&T, Keolis will also be involved in testing, commissioni ...
Keolis SA, a subsidiary of SNCF, France's state-owned railway company has been selected as Operations and Maintenance contractor for the Hyderabad Metro Rail, being developed by infrastructure major L&T.
According to the press release of L&T, Keolis will also be involved in testing, commissioning and trial runs of the metro rail. "L&T Metro Rail (Hyderabad) Limited has decided to involve Keolis SA during the formative stage of the project, in order to take the advantage of their expertise in Metro Rail Operations & Maintenance. Their involvement will give them sufficient time to review the detailed design, to recruit and train the manpower," the release said.
The first phase of Metro is expected to become operational in 2016.
Pradeep Vaidya, an industry veteran and director of Promtech, one of the most renowned manufacturing and marketing of Anti-Corrosion products for ferrous and non-ferrous metals, metal protection products and metal finishing products companies in India, engages in a free flowing conversation with our ...
Pradeep Vaidya, an industry veteran and director of Promtech, one of the most renowned manufacturing and marketing of Anti-Corrosion products for ferrous and non-ferrous metals, metal protection products and metal finishing products companies in India, engages in a free flowing conversation with our correspondent Sumantra Das about the industry and company’s achievements.
Tell us in brief about Promtech and the construction chemicals business.
Promtech Chemicals Pvt Ltd was started by three experienced technocrats at the Pune MIDC in 1995. Promtech and Pradeep Metallurgical Products Pvt Ltd belong to Pradeep Group which offers a range of high performance Aaerosol Maintenance Products having excellent quality, Extremely useful for power generation and transmission plants, switchboards, electrical & electronics Industry, automobile, automobile pressed components manufacturing, heavy-engineering, heavy chemicals, pharmaceutical, petro-chemical, off-shore construction, shipping & oil drilling, steel mills rolling mills, metal processing, cement, paper & pulp plants, material handling and general engineering fabrication industry. As for painting and finishing product requirements, the products and processes used by the Indian industry, were of a very primitive nature and used much simpler and conventional dispensing technology.
What are your offerings for the buildings and infrastructure segments?
Promtech offers a full range of anti corrosion coating, paints, specialty lubricants for high and low temperature applications, Products like NDT and NPI used for improving weld quality checks, very premium quality cold galvanizing zinc rich paints, recommended for highest corrosion resistance for all infra structure projects, power plants and equipments, road building projects, heavy steel fabrications, construction projects using steel and galvanized steel, and zinc coatings for rebars used in building construction industries, to increase the life of the building framework structure. Promtech has out-beaten several European and foreign companies with highest quality standards, excellent after-sales technical support, off the shelf supplies to any corner of India and most importantly a very reasonable pricing structure. Promtech is rapidly increasing the distribution network thro agents in all major industrial cities in the country.
You offer an array of products for several industries. Which sector has tremendous potential for your business and why?
Promtech brand aerosols have captured a huge industrial market-share in the shortest period of time. Today, Promtech has nearly 1200 plus buyers from all industrial sectors. the major user sector has been steel fabrication, ss chemical plants and machinery manufacturers, hot-dip galvanizers and users of hot dip Gi steel for fabrication, infra structure projects, malls, canopy, peb, power plants sub-station construction, ship building, off-shore construction, cable trays, gratings, w channels, transmission tower industries, HVAC and PTD industries, bridge and ship buildings, scaffolding, tubes and pipes, infra projects structures and so on.
Promtech manufactures nearly 45 different types of aerosol products useful for a wide spectrum of metal using industries. Hence market potential for Promtech products is huge and it is almost existent every-where. Promtech has in its range at least one product to offer to any kind of industry, as the important theme of the product selection is based on anti-corrosion and aesthetics. we offer pure acrylic based, instant air drying aerosol paints sprays in all popular industrial shades and all shades for powder coating and painting, cold galvanizing paint sprays for the galvanizing industry, lubricants, corrosion preventives, special protective coatings, rust loosners, non destructive testing applications in inspection of weld joints in all engineering fabrications, complete car care range etc. today Promtech is the market leader in aerosol finishing products. We offer the largest range of such anti-corrosion and finishing sprays to the Indian industry. Promtech now undertakes private label marketing scheme, which enables individuals and industrial customers to establish their own marketing brand product without having any manufacturing base or facility.
What are the recent advance technologies in the construction chemicals? How is India embracing the new technology?
Construction chemical industry is the most promising business proposition today. As everyone is aware, the Government’s spending and commitments to this sector have been huge and it is going to be an on-going process for the next 20 – 30 years. This will give rise to a lot of scope in every industrial manufacturing sector like construction of roads, ports, airports, bridges, malls, new rail stations, power projects, land and property developments, engineering construction industry, and almost all such sectors which form a basic need towards completion of all such projects.
Hence, the requirements of every raw material, every finished products and equipment are going to be on the rise in future. Industries offering premium products and services will find themselves pretty busy during all this period. Moreover as all these projects will have consultants and collaborators from advanced countries, the roll of prime and superior quality in deciding the products and services selection is going to be vital. The quality and technology input requirements are going to be too demanding.
The sustenance of quality, timely supplies are going be very important to stay in the race. This will have overall improved the quality consciousness as well as personalized services in the Indian suppliers. Hence the future for all those industries having a foresight and those willing to adapt modern technology will have great days ahead.
What do you foresee the government intention to spend $1 trillion on infrastructure during the 12th five year plan? What opportunities are expected for your business?
Promtech is growing continuously for the past 6-7 years, in terms of product lines, in terms of number of buyers served and in terms of increase in sales volume to the existing buyers. The future growth prospects are very promising. To augment to this scenario, Promtech plans to induct new entrants into business, increase the scope of existing industries in similar trading / agency business and free lance sale personnel, executives / professionals on VRS into their fold.
Promtech wants to increase multifold their current agency network in all industrial cities, offer technical knowhow for manufacturing on very soft terms, so that this opportunity can be grabbed by very young graduates/ entrepreneurs who want to make a big career in industrial supply markets. As we have product technologies which are not only very simple processes of manufacturing, but involve minimum and negligible initial investments in money, machinery, power and working space. These products can be taken up for forming a tiny home industry, which will eventually grow into a full scale ssi unit. Promtech will provide with manufacturing process know-how for a small consultancy fees, and in some cases, we will also provide with vital raw materials in batch-size proportions. Such a transfer of technical know-how, will very substantially reduce finished goods transportation to distant locations, save on freight and transit damages, and will offer quick and off the shelf supplies to industries away from our manufacturing locations.
What are the core strengths of your company?
The directors of Promtech collected a sizable data on manufacturing and marketing of such advanced products in India. Having been well connected with the surface coating industry and with several years of work experience, it was not very difficult to identify the industrial market needs. Promtech developed aerosol paints and industrial maintenance aerosol products of an outstanding range which confirm to most Indian and international standards. Promtech brand aerosols have captured a huge industrial market share in the shortest period. the promoters and directors of Promtech, after having been selected by the Netherlands government sponsored expo 77 program, one amongst the eight Indian companies, have undergone substantial technical and commercial training, at the CBI headquarters in Rotterdam, Amsterdam, Nuremberg and other centers in Europe.
The directors of Promtech during their visits and seminar participations in Europe, America and the other advanced countries discovered that aerosol products has been the modern tool used by thepowder coating, liquid painting and metal finishing industries. These finishing processes had huge industrial applications in almost every engineering; electronics and sheet metal fabrication industry. Very few Indian companies have been using these types of modern practices, as all the aerosol finishing products were being imported into India, from western countries, and were being marketed atexorbitant costs to the Indian industry
Tell us something about your manufacturing facility and production lines?
Promtech has two manufacturing plants located in MIDC Pune. These plants are in the engineering and automobile hub on India, like Pune. Locating a buyer therefore has become very simple. Promtech is promoting the sales of their products through their websites on the internet and thro the b2b portals. Promtech has a very strong presence on the net, and have devised a simple and effective strategy of use of internet marketing as a major tool for selling their products all over India and in the neighboring countries.
Promtech approaches all the potential customers with complete product information, technical and commercial details in the single email communication. This saves quite a lot of time in shuttling of emails, asking information in piece mill. This also increases transparency in exchange of technical information between the buyer and the seller. Promtech has good amount of exports to direct buyers from Dubai, Kuwait, UAE countries, Sri-Lanka, Singapore and Malaysia.
Please tell us about your expansion plans over next two-three years?
The order book at Promtech is luckily always full. In-fact there will be a need for a multifold increase in the production capacity within the next few months. Promtech is therefore very selective in choosing products to be undertaken for development and only such products which have excellence in quality, high industrial demand and user friendly products are taken for development and sales promotion.
The growing real estate sector is a major contributor to the country’s GDP as it helps create many jobs across various verticals. Reports suggest that the Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) investment in the sector is expected to increase to US$ 25 billion in the next 10 years from the existing US$ 1 ...
The growing real estate sector is a major contributor to the country’s GDP as it helps create many jobs across various verticals. Reports suggest that the Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) investment in the sector is expected to increase to US$ 25 billion in the next 10 years from the existing US$ 10 billion.
In this regard, a regulatory mechanism is quite important for the sector with an aim to bring in more transparency and efficiency in the current unorganized real estate sector.
“Real Estate sector needs a regulator which will work as a catalyst for the sector. The regulator will be responsible in forming policies which will benefit not only consumers but also each and every segments of real estate sector,” Paras Gundecha, President, Maharashtra Chamber of Housing Industry(MCHI) said.
Industry insiders feel that now the sector must get its due ‘industry status’ as growth in this sector would directly impact the subsidiary industries like cement and steel as well.
Developers see this new regulation as a competitive move but feel that forming a separate body on the lines of Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) would be of great help.
“We will welcome regulator who can regulate the entire process .Currently, the entire approval or permission process in the sector segregated in different departments which takes lots of time to get which is not very good sign for our industry,” said Dharmesh Jain, Chairman & Managing Director Nirmal Lifestyle.
Further, most of the property transactions that happen in the country are based on certain perceptions and misconceptions, not necessarily on sound business principles. All this leads to greater customer discontent. Not just this, customer assistance procedure is also very slow. All this just creates more problems for both buyers and developers. Also, as the buyers are also not sure of the timely delivery of the house, they don’t risk taking loans from the banks.
Another issue is that many buyers are not even sure of the specifications promised by the developers. The situation worsens, when the house is not ready on time and eventually the customer ends up suffering. This only creates more chaos as usually the customer isn’t aware of the right redressal procedure. Even if some are, they avoid the court routes owing to its tedious and time consuming nature. Thus, this regulatory machinery will help a lot as it places consumers’ interest at its core.
The best part of having a regulatory body is that developer builders will have to register themselves before launching housing projects, stick to the approved plans and refund money to the buyers if there is a flaw in the promised terms. Additionally, they can’t advertise, invite bookings, or receive advances/ deposits from customers without registering their projects with the regulator.
Real estate regulator is the need of the hour. If we have to develop country and provide housing to our increasing population then every state should have real estate regulator.
A good thought, says P Natarajan a resident and aspirant from Chennai. “This (regulator) must not only cover the property developers and builders ...but should also include the Real Estate Agents and the Financing Institutions. We don’t want to see Fly by night Agents operating from Pan shops. Agents must be certified. In short the regulator must cover the complete life-cycle of property management,” he added.
The Real Estate Regulatory Authority Act (RERA Bill) has been gathering dust for about five years now, the time that the first draft was circulated for public view. The broader objective of the Bill is to establish a sense of responsibility among the developers towards the consumers. The proposal that has been prepared also mandates the regulatory body to keep an eye on land sharks and fly-by-night operators, all aimed to protect the interest of the consumer. The draft also recommends that builders must set up an escrow account for depositing 70% of the funds received from the customers. This is to ensure that the funds are used for a specific project and are not diverted anywhere else without the know-how of the customer. It also mentions that promoters must stick to the approved plans and project specifications. Along with this, the draft also says that customers must be aware of the site design plus structural design to ensure complete transparency in the process. All this assures a win-win situation for the buyers, who will not be left at the mercy of greedy developers.
However, the happy part of the bill, aimed to eliminate discrepancies in the real estate sector, has already been cleared by the Group of Ministers headed by Finance Minister and the Union Cabinet. The only hitch: industrial lobbies, which have also swung into action to oppose the implementation of the bill.
In a major setback to Jaypee Associate Limited, the Himachal high Court has directed the company to demolish its thermal power plant in Bagheri village in district Solan and imposed Rs 100 crore damages for violating the law and making false pleas before the authorities and court, reports Hindustam ...
In a major setback to Jaypee Associate Limited, the Himachal high Court has directed the company to demolish its thermal power plant in Bagheri village in district Solan and imposed Rs 100 crore damages for violating the law and making false pleas before the authorities and court, reports Hindustam Times.
A division bench comprising justices Deepak Gupta and Sanjay Karol observed that the entire foundation of the environmental clearance obtained by Jaypee Associates was based on falsehood as the company lied about the cost of the cement plant.
The court said that the company managed to get permission without Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) clearance and even after it was brought to the notice of the company that EIA clearance was required, it continued to build the thermal plant.
When company submitted a new proposal for grant of environmental clearance, it successfully managed to fool the Himachal government, Pollution Control Board, the MoEF and the EAC into believing that the plant being set up by it was a standalone grinding unit not requiring environmental clearance. This statement was also totally false.
Writing for the bench, Justice Deepak Gupta observed that the company had the audacity and temerity to again give totally false information with regard to the cases and tried to give an impression that the company was not aware about these cases at that time.
The court added that the manner in which the company obtained possession of the property as well as managed to get the government to allot land from the common pool clearly indicates that it was successfully managing to exert its influence to get highly illegal decision taken in its favour.
The HC added that the company had wrongly projected the project cost of the cement plant at less than Rs 100 crore to circumvent the EIA notification of 1994. Not only this, in the second integrated draft EIA report, it was wrongly projected that what was being set up was a standalone grinding unit.
The court added that the company behaved as if it was above law and set up the plant in total violation of the EIA notification of 2006 which had come into force at the time when consent to establish this plant was given.
It was set up without any valid approval and construction was carried out even after the consent to establish was withdrawn. In fact the HP Pollution Control Board was negligent in not withdrawing the consent to establish the thermal plant much earlier.
"…normally, the only course open to the court would have been to revoke the environmental clearances and direct that the cement plants and thermal plants be dismantled," the court observed.
The court said it imposed damages of Rs 100 crore upon the company, which may be paid in four equal installments, the first to be paid by August 31, 2012; second by March 31, 2013, third by March 31, 2014 and the last installment by March 31, 2015.
"We may make it clear that the damages shall be used only for improving the ecology and environment of the area," the court added.
Besides, Himachal high court constituted a special investigation team to investigate the role of government officials in the grant of permission to Jaypee Associates for the construction of thermal power plant and cement plant.
The HC has observed in the 94-page judgment that the company was guilty of making false statements for obtaining environmental clearances for all its Projects and it successfully misled and hoodwinked the state government, HP State Pollution Control Board, Ministry of Environment and Forest, Environment Appraisal Committee and all other authorities. These authorities and officials who were manning these authorities were supposed to act like watchdogs to fiercely protect public interest. They unfortunately behaved like meek lambs being led for slaughter.
"We constitute a special investigating team (SIT) who shall investigate the matter and identify the public servants who connived with and helped Jaypee Associates and also those who were negligent in the discharge of their duties," the division bench comprising justice Deepak Gupta and justice Sanjay Karol observed.
The court added that the SIT may recommend initiation of criminal action/disciplinary proceedings against erring public servants/officials keeping in view the facts of each case.
The SIT shall also investigate whether any officials/public servants have directly or indirectly received undue benefits from JAL or any of its associate companies, whether in the form of grant of business outlets, reemployment etc.
The Mumbai Metropolitan Region Development Authority (MMRDA) said that the Rs 140 crore Panvel flyover will be ready by the first week of June this year.
The 2.4km long and 17m wide flyover would have two lanes each for up and down traffic. It will begin at Ashoka Lawn and end 300 m before the G ... 
First politics, then IPL and now interior designing domain, Bollywood seems to be ruling roost almost everywhere. Popular Bollywood celebs’ wives like Gauri Khan, Twinkle Khanna, Zarine Khan along with many more have become preferred choices as interior decorators. Surprisingly: these ladies don ... 
All of us must have seen children stacking colorful blocks together and making a house out of the same. But, this childhood activity is now coming to reality, thanks to the growing advancements in the housing construction sector. The new process is called Prefab Technology, where various components ... 
The construction site of the Greenfield international stadium at Kariavattom, Kerala has been declared as a special zone on Tuesday.
KB Ganesh Kumar, Sports Minister has requested to keep the construction site away from all the hurdles associated with loading and unloading processes. "As the spo ... 
The most unexpected, the Coal Ministry is now supporting power developers' by calling for a review of the new fuel supply agreement (FSA) of Coal India Ltd (CIL). Power developers termed the new FSA as having too many escape clauses for CIL and loaded against the developers.
A meeting is expecte ... 
The Tamil Nadu government introduced a new Bill, Tamil Nadu Infrastructure Development Act, 2012 to create an Infrastructure Development Board, in order to expedite infrastructure projects in the state. The Board would be headed by the chief minister and will be the nodal agency to coordinate Govern ... 
Keolis SA, a subsidiary of SNCF, France's state-owned railway company has been selected as Operations and Maintenance contractor for the Hyderabad Metro Rail, being developed by infrastructure major L&T.
According to the press release of L&T, Keolis will also be involved in testing, commissioni ... 
Pradeep Vaidya, an industry veteran and director of Promtech, one of the most renowned manufacturing and marketing of Anti-Corrosion products for ferrous and non-ferrous metals, metal protection products and metal finishing products companies in India, engages in a free flowing conversation with our ... 
The growing real estate sector is a major contributor to the country’s GDP as it helps create many jobs across various verticals. Reports suggest that the Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) investment in the sector is expected to increase to US$ 25 billion in the next 10 years from the existing US$ 1 ... 
In a major setback to Jaypee Associate Limited, the Himachal high Court has directed the company to demolish its thermal power plant in Bagheri village in district Solan and imposed Rs 100 crore damages for violating the law and making false pleas before the authorities and court, reports Hindustam ... 
The National Design Awards were conceived by the Smithsonianas Cooper-Hewitt, National Design Museum
The Technical University of Graz, Faculty of Architecture and IE School of Architecture & Design, Ma ...
The most drastic impact of this on the environment is the increased amount of post-consumption waste ...
Together, these illuminate the complex, ongoing interaction in Scolarias work between architecture a ...
Rogers Marvel Architects & Peter Walker and Partners will redesign Constitution Gardens east of the ...
