Environment

The levels of Suspended Particulate Matter (SPM), comprising of gases such as sulphur dioxide and nitrogen dioxide, in the residential areas of Noida have shot up to 400 mg per cubic metre as against the permitted level of 200 mg per cubic metre.

The Residual Suspended Particulate Matter (RSPM) in the residential areas has shot up to 135 mg per cubic metre as against the normal level of 100 mg per cubic metre.

In the industrial areas, the RSPM levels have gone up by as much as 55 units to touch 555 mg per cubic metre.

"The air has got much filthier than it used to be till two years back. A major reason for this is that the number of vehicles has simply increased two-fold on the city's roads and the pollution enforcement has not become that effective," a senior official of Gautam Buddha Nagar Pollution Control Board (PCB) said.

The PCB recently issued notices to about 18 industrial units asking them to control their air discharge or face closure.

As per the latest data prepared by the PCB, the district has about 90 brick kilns running without compliance to pollution control norms, to which the department recently issued notices.

In Ghaziabad district, the SPM levels measured in industrial areas like Sahibabad and Meerut Road have been found to be as high as 580 mg per cubic metre, against the accepted levels of 500 units.

Under a new scheme, the department will send a friendly reminder just before the due date and a notice if you ignore it. Worse, enforcement officials may even land at your doorstep.

With its pilot project successful, the department is connecting all PUC centres across the city with a central server. Delhi transport commissioner R.K. Verma said all 534 centres in Delhi would be connected and the system would start functioning by January 2009.

Every time, a PUC check is done, the details will be stored in the central server with the help of special software developed by the Society of Indian Automobile Manufacturers.

"We connected 20 PUC centres with the help of this software under the pilot project, which started in September 2008. The pilot project proved successful and we will now connect all centres," Verma said.

According to transport of ficials, the system will be automatically updated every time a pollution check is done. In turn, the server will automatically generate the alert and warnings.

According to Society of Indian Automobile Manu facturers officials, only 30 per cent of vehicles regis tered in Delhi get their reg ular PUC check done. "The new system will help the transport department tighten its noose on people who avoid the mandatory check," director general Dilip Chenoy said.

"Last year, corporate houses distributed gifts worth Rs.20 billion, but this year the budget has come down by Rs.5 billion," said D.S. Rawat, secretary general of the Associated Chamber of Commerce and Industry of India (Assocham), an industry lobby.

"It is not only the small corporate houses that are cutting down their budgets for corporate gifting during Diwali. Even companies like Videocon Industries, JSW steel, Tata group and large automobile, retail and real estate companies are going slow this festive season," Rawat told IANS.

Concurred Phani N. Raj, managing director of corporate gifts and brand merchandising company eYantra Industries: "The gifting sentiments are bit low this year thanks to the slowdown and bad profit margins."

The company caters to the corporate gifting of around 1,000 corporates across the globe including giants such as Microsoft, Infosys, Wipro, Google, Satyam, Dr Reddy's and Aurobindo.

"Last year, we got expensive orders for electronic goods like iPods, digicams, camcorders, mobiles and portable DVD players. However, this season, we are getting orders for gift sets like pens, watches, valets, keychains, and perfumes.

"The major cost cutting has come from IT companies. Obviously, the impact of slowdown is reflected," Raj told IANS.

The only item that is doing brisk business is dry fruits. According to the Assocham report, dry fruits sales have gone up by nearly 40 percent in the past few days as these are considered handy and most acceptable commodities.

What is also significant this year is that most business houses are going for Chinese gift items because of their cost competitiveness and attractive packaging, Assocham's Rawat said.

"The sparkle is certainly missing this festive season as even big corporate houses are cutting back their expenses. This year, we have received almost 20 percent fewer orders than previous year," said Ravi Chopra, a salesperson at online florist and diversified gift seller Fern N Petals.

The Greater Noida Industrial Development Authority is quite serious about not just the maintenance of its existing greens but also towards increasing its green cover Even as it is handing over parks, green belts and rotaries to corporates for maintenance, it is also inviting people to come and adopt plants. Last year, the GNIDA planted 2.51akh trees while the figure this year has already crossed 1.5 lakh.

For a month now, it has been holding camps for free distribution of plants in urban residential sectors, villages as well as industrial and commercial areas. And about 1,800 saplings have been given away in this manner. Plants are also being placed at each community cen- tre so that people get encouraged to plant these. "Our aim is that each person takes the responsibility of at least five plants," says A. M. Singh, Horticulture Manager, GNIDA. Besides, the authority maintains a 7.5-acre nursery where saplings are maintained and new varieties produced. At present annuals are being prepared here. In all there are over one-lakh saplings of over 50 species in this nursery, which act as a precursor to the entire green land in the city There is a huge stock of ornamental and permanent trees which are given free of cost to anyone wanting them, unlike in other cities where saplings are sold.

And no tree is planted without testing the soil of the area.

"Soil testing gives us the exact information about the kind of tree that will be able to survive in a particular area.

In fact, we have already mapped the entire this city so far as soil testing is concerned," he adds.

Another aspect that is taken care of is the kind of manure that is put in the soil. "We are very particular about this aspect. We mainly use cow dung manure since vermin-compost is not very effective," he says.

"In new sectors, like Sectors 36 and 37, we are also taking care that the parks are of uniform size and shape, unlike earlier when no attention was paid to this aspect. Moreover, proper landscaping is done for each green area, be it park, green belt, rotary or central verge," says Singh.

Meanwhile, rising to the demands of the day, the Noida Authority has decided to train the officials of the Horticulture Department in the newer techniques of developing and maintaining parks and green belts. The officials of the Horticulture Department will be taken around parks of Delhi for this.

Financiers have started talking tough with Indian property firms in trying to salvage the money they had lent. `Sell-before-it's-too-late' is a point that some of the big lenders are driving home, while a few overseas funds which had committed equity investments in tranches have gone into arbitration to wriggle out of the promise.

Most builders were prompt with interest payments till September 30. But lenders now fear that many would default in the December quarter or maybe even earlier. A large builder has already failed to pay interest to a foreign fund, which had purchased the structured securities at the peak of the property boom.

Banks and institutions have lent over Rs 75,000 crore to Indian builders. This does not include around Rs 25,000 crore of bonds and debt papers which mutual funds had bought. While the total value of land and properties held as collateral is more than the outstanding loan, it's still cold comfort. If builders start defaulting in a big way, the lenders will be left holding huge tracts of land amid crashing property prices.

"In the past few weeks, we have had several meetings with builders... we are telling them to reprice the properties, but many are in denial mode. They still think that properties can be pushed at earlier rates," said a senior officer at a large lender.

Little security for hedge funds

The Noida Authority which has launched a campaign for "Green Noida" in intends to rope in the general public, NGOs and environment lovers to make Noida a lush green town.

The `Green Noida" campaign was formally launched in green belt of Sector-100 Noida by Lalit Srivastava, chairman of Noida and Greater Noida Development Authorities.

Srivastava said the main agenda was to make Noida full of greenery. Over 11 lakh samplings will be planted in green belt of various sectors as well as on roadsides and on the central verge. The saplings being planted would fruit trees, ornamental shrubs and flowering plants which will make Noida aesthetically beautiful and attractive.

Right from the malis (gardeners) to the director of the horticulture department, all will be responsible for the upkeep, watering, fertilising and tending the plants, said CEO Mohinder Singh. A weekly inspection will be carried out to monitor the health and growth of the plants, he added.

In Sector 100, the green belt will be extended over 8 to 10 acres of land where 5100 tree of bougainvillea and Jaman will be planted.

The Noida Authority has plans to improve the parks in various sectors and public gardens in the town where large lawns, shady trees will particularly be tended and groomed.

On the Chief Minister's instructions, who is keen to make Noida beautiful, over 11 lakh saplings will be planted in various Noida sectors by March 2009, CEO Mohinder Singh added.

First, they cut trees to establish human habitation. Then they plant trees to save the environment and to get fresh air.

The Noida Authority (NA) has turned environment-friendly and would try to undo what it has done by blindly cutting sectors in forests without any planning, thereby destroying green belts with impunity.

Nearly 20, 000 saplings have already been planted here

Nevertheless, what is important is that they have woken up from the slumber and are doing something for the future generations.

As a step in this direction, the NA is developing a neem forest to offer residents clean and fresh air. The forest in Sector 91 already has 20,000 saplings over an area of 50 acres.

Not only will this help clean the environment, it will also help residents breathe fresh air.

Work on this project started a year ago. To keep away stray animals like cows and dogs from spoiling the forest area, the area has been fenced with barbed wires.

"Neem is not just a medicinal plant but it also purifies the environment to a great extent," said NA Director (Horticulture), Om Vir Singh.

"Moreover, this area is highly populated and in the coming years the population would increase further since many more group housing societies and builders' apartments are coming up. The vehicular pollution will also increase in the coming years. Hence a neem forest has been thought of for this area," he said.

"Similarly, many medicinal trees have been planted in the Sector 126 forest area, spread over 22 acres.

The initiative has been launched in collaboration with the United Nations Millennium Campaign (UNMC).

Over 10 crore trees will be planted all over the world under the initiative.

Over 10,000 will be planted in Delhi and the National Capital Region (NCR) to help reduce global warming and protect the environment.

The drive started late last month.

Saplings have already been planted in many parts of Delhi and the NCR. The target will be completed by October 16, 2008.

In east Delhi,AOL volunteers are working in full swing to plant as many trees as possible.

"We are requesting citizens, NGOs and RWAs to contribute towards this initiative. Saplings are being planted not just in barren land but in housing societies, schools, colleges, green belts, roadsides and other common places too," says Deepak Joshi, coordinator of the IP Extension area.In Noida, AOL volunteers are making people aware of the mission in order to motivate them. Different residents welfare associations (RWAs) in the city have extended full support to the programme.

On Monday the Centre for , Science and Environment (CSE) and the National Knowledge Commission launched indiaenvironmentportal.org.in, a website that, for the first time, puts the entire environmental database of India--virtually every conceivable document, statistics, reports concerned with the "green health" of India.

"We have developed this so that it facilitates transactions of ideas and actions on environment. We will try to start the service in regional languages as well for maximum reach because an informed society is better equipped for environmental activism," said Pitroda at the launch.

The CSE is in talks with the Central Pollution Control Board to make the board's information available on the site, said CSE's Sunita Narain.

The site has 300, 000 articles on environmental issues from CSE's research team.

"Noida's electricity demand is growing by the day and five years from now, the demand will further rise as the population will grow multifold. It is therefore necessary that people start using CFLs instead of incandescent bulbs and tubelights," a senior district administration official said.

The Delhi and Haryana governments have also decided to promote the use of CFLs in the two states and restrict the use of bulbs in household and commercial spaces, as advised by the Bureau of Energy Efficiency (BEE).

The allottee of even a 120 sq m plot must plant a tree after construction of the house to get a completion certificate. Heavy fines would be imposed if an allottee fails to get the completion certificate within the stipulated time and the allotment could be cancelled if he fails to receive the certificate even after expiry of the construction period. "We will give the certificate only when we are assured that the sapling has thrived and cannot be uprooted," said GNIDA chief executive officer (CEO) Lalit Srivastava.

The officers of Uttar Pradesh, though infamous for negotiating with rules on some consideration, have enforced this rule in letter and spirit. "If they cut the tree to raise any construction, our enforcement department demolishes the unauthorised construction and notices are slapped to plant a new sapling," said SSA Rizwi, general manager (planning) of GNIDA. Normally, the rule for every scheme (except Delta, P3 and Sector 37) is that the allottee would obtain the completion certificate within five years from the date of allotment. After five years, the allottee can avail a three-year extension for construction with '4 per cent time extension charge' of the property for the first year, 6 per cent for the second year and 8 per cent for the third year.

The 10-teraflop supercomputer being built by the National Aerospace Laboratories (NAL) will be 10 times more powerful than the USbuilt Cray supercomputer in use at the National Centre for Medium Range Weather Forecasting (NCMRWF), based in the Delhi suburb of Noida.

A teraflop machine does one trillion calculations per second.

The machine is expected to be ready by 2009. "It is more versatile, (will provide) better accuracy and modelling (of weather data)," said A.R.

Upadhya, director of NAL.

A scientist at the NCMRWF , who did not want to be named, said a country as large as India that experiences complex weather patterns because of monsoon vagaries needs more powerful machines and also trained personnel to use the machines.

"For (building) new models, you need people who understand them (supercomputers)," he said.

The new supercomputer, which is to be linked with the proposed integrated Indian weather forecasting system, could help in both long-range forecasts and short-range predictions of extreme weather events such as the early monsoon being witnessed in parts of India.

The country is also launching new remote-sensing satellites such as Megha Tropiques and Oceansat to understand cloud patterns around the tropics, crucial to provide accurate weather forecasts.

There are five parks on the Yamuna front opposite Sectors 14A, 15A and 16A – Mansarovar, Nandan Kanan, Children’s Park, Smriti Van and Nava Graha.

To protest the construction, the residents have formed themselves into a group called ‘Yamuna Parks Users Association’ and have decided to file a PIL.

According to the residents, they had approached the Noida Authority but did not get any relief. Therefore, they have decided to seek legal action.

President of the Association Kanan. V. Jaswal said, “We want to draw the attention of the authority towards the damage done to the green belt in the five parks.”

Jaiswal said that these parks, which run one after the other up to 3 kms along the Yamuna are the lungs of this part of Noida and adjoining areas of East Delhi.

According to Jaiswal, the wall will have two disadvantages. First, it will block the view of the green belt from outside. Secondly, in case of any untoward incident like chain snatching, theft or harassment it will almost be impossible to seek help.

“Long stretches of the boundary wall with an iron fence have been demolished. They are being replaced by huge concrete and stone wall. Eight-feet-wide and seven-feet-deep ditches were dug for building the boundary wall, destroying trees and bouganvillaea bushes,” said Jaiswal. “The joggers track has also been damaged,’’ he added.

However, the CEO of the Noida Authority Mohinder Singh has said that the construction was for the betterment of the parks. He added that trees and shrubs would be replanted.

Streetlights are usually the first casualty of a power outage leading to total darkness on the streets.

But, according to Noida Authority officials, soon all streetlights in the city will be  ready to light the way.

Explaining the decision to change to solar power, a Noida Authority officer said, “The solar system functions all the time supplementing utility power during normal times and providing stored up power during outages. It will certainly help in lighting up our streets and avenues 24 hours a week, once all the lights are in place.”

According to the sources, Noida city consumes 540 megawatts of power daily of which maximum load is from the big industries located in the city. The solar system takes about 48 hours to fully charge itself. Once done, the lights powered by solar energy will remain lit for five days.

Moreover, the solar systems will also be equipped with an emergency connection which will get triggered on and get connected to the city power supply apparatus  in case the system trips or develops a sang.

With power playing truant frequently, the solar power will not only help in dealing with the outages but also cut energy costs with low on maintenance bills besides addressing the problem of overloading, the official said.

In the first phase of the project, the solar system will be put into place in sectors which record high consumption of power.

The system will also be incorporated in sectors housing BPOs and call centres. The next phase of the venture will see the rest of the city being lit by the solar energy.

The State of Environment in Indian Cities survey attempts to assess what average Indians living in big cities think about India's environment, and to gauge their levels of awareness, attitudes, perception and concerns. The findings are based on interviews among 1,732 respondents spread across 36 locations in six cities--Mumbai, Chennai, Delhi, Calcutta, Bangalore and Hyderabad--chosen to adequately represent both genders, different age and income groups, and localities in each city.

Highlights

• 77% of urban Indians consider environmental pollution the most serious problem of urban life, second only to inflation 82%.

• Air pollution is considered the biggest problem 34% followed by lack of green cover 21%, water pollution 17%, noise pollution 14% and garbage disposal 11%.

• 77% want the government to tackle river pollution but there is widespread unawareness of what causes the problem. Only 5% of people are aware that household sewage flows into the river.

• While 94% of people favour a law banning the use of polythene bags, 17% still use them for shopping.

• 10% of people dispose of their garbage in the nearest ditch or on the road, only 13% regularly separate recyclable waste from garbage

• 86% favour a law banning use of diesel engines in private vehicles

• Among upper income groups, 30% had solar heaters, 42% had power-saving devices and 30% had set up means of rainwater harvesting. In contrast, only 11% of people in lower-income groups had solar heaters and 14% had power-saving devices or set up rainwater harvesting devices.

• Most people believe that pollution will increase over the next five years, with 77% believing that air pollution will increase, 71% that noise pollution will rise, and 55% that water pollution will increase.

The building, which was sold for around Rs 125 crore, used to house the Belgian consulate. "Sajjan Jindal has bought Morean House in his personal capacity It has nothing to do with group company JSW Steel," said the Jindal group spokesperson who refused to give out the details of the deal.

A month ago, real estate consultancy Knight Frank India struck deal for a 5,000 sq ft topend flat worth Rs 32 crore in a high rise at Altamount Road for a city resident. Three weeks ago, film star Vinod Khanna acquired a 2,500 sq ft flat in Malabar Hill through an auction by paying Rs 30 crore, a record price of Rs 1.20 lakh per sq ft. The buzz is that another large property in Alibaug, Mumbai's weekend getaway for business executives, is being sold for Rs 80 crore, according to real estate industry sources.

These are other examples of high-end realty deals despite the slowdown in the property market, which is witnessing a lull due to lack of demand.

"Last month, we have closed a deal in South Mumbai's Altamount Road for Rs 32 crore. We had expected a reduction in prices of high-value residential properties. This has not happened," said Pravan Vakil, Chairman, Knight Frank India. "Deals are still happening. We expect the volume to improve from Diwali, otherwise prices will crash."

Through the number of highend deals has come down from last year, cash-rich individuals and corporates are closing deals without waiting for a correction. However, the three months from June are crucial, say experts.

According to experts, this segment is buoyant as expatriate Indians in Europe and the US are now investing heavily in top-end property Flats going up for sale for Rs 40 crore are a normal phenomenon in Altamount Road, Carmichael Road, Malabar Hill and Napean Sea Road in Mumbai. Many rich individuals are now switching assets by selling their land in urban pockets and investing in high-end property in metros to avoid paying the capital gains tax. Similarly, individuals getting high bonus and people who used to park their surplus money in stocks are getting into top-end realty

From: Lalatendu Mishra june-17-08

``They say the boundary is for protection. Protection from whom,'' asks Kanan Jaswal, the president of Yamuna Parks Users' Association.

CLOCKWISE: Ongoing construction work has spoilt the serene surroundings of five Noida parks; trees and shrubs are being felled here to make way for the `great wall' ; and nails are lying dangerously along the jogger's track

The flurry of construction activity around Mansarovar Park, Nandan Kanan, Children's Park and Nava Griha Park opposite sectors 14-A, 15-A and 16-A meanwhile has spoilt the serene surroundings. And residents are furious at the indiscriminate felling of trees, shrubs and flowering bougainvillea to make way for the ``great wall''. To drive home the extent of damage, an enraged Jaswal points to the exposed roots of trees where digging is in progress and deadly iron nails that lie near the jogger's track

The existing boundary of the parks, built of stone mounted with green fencing, has been demolished and ditches as deep as 8X7 ft have been dug to lay the foundation of the indomitable boundary.

Trees retain water and pump moisture in atmosphere helping in building and attracting clouds. "It is a known phenomenon that areas with more trees have higher rainfall than arid zones," said G.B. Pant, former director of Indian In- stitute of Tropical Meteorology But there were other factors too. "Rains take place because of a complex procedure. Other con- ditions also play an important role."

The link is clear if you go through the weather data for the month of May and the increase in forest cover in Delhi. The forest cover increased from 88 sq km in 1999 to 283 sq km, about 19.09 per cent of Delhi's total area, in 2005. It increased to 300 sq km last year - and the city retained it so far this year.

Rainfall in May over the same period has also risen from 14.8 mm in 1999 to 104 mm in 2008. It fell in 2003 but there has been a steady rise since the past two years.

Greener and wetter Delhi has made the summer more bearable. The average temperature for May has steadily fallen - from 37.2 degree Celsius six years ago to 32.5 this year So, now you know what to do to make the summers even cooler for your kids.

Emissions from two-wheelers in the same period, in comparison, have gone up by 61%, the analysis said.

For the consumer, this might be a pointer to deteriorating fuel efficiency of new cars as well -- emissions of carbondioxide are closely linked to the fuel efficiency of vehicles.

The ARAI had clubbed data of vehicles of different periods that CSE accessed. The cars and two-wheelers had been classified into groups ranging from 1991-96, 1996-2000, post-2000 and post-2005.