The Delhi government's Health department is out shopping for basic and advanced life support ambulances after the partnership with Fortis hospitals fell through recently.

According to sources, the government will now have to source ambulances from "elsewhere" to meet the Commonwealth Games deadline.

The government had partnered with Fortis group of hospitals to roll out 150 fully equipped ambulances ahead of the Games the first batch was to be delivered in January.

The public-private partnership, however, fell through after Delhi Health minister Kiran Walia inspected the fleet that was ready to be delivered. "I rode on an ambulance and found it inferior to the standards being expected," Walia said. "We are now in negotiation with some companies who will be able to provide ambulances in time for the Games."

The public-private partnership (PPP) was worth Rs 35 crore and Fortis was to run ambulances as part of the state's Central Accident Tribunal Services (CATS).

While the state government is already exploring options, Fortis maintains that the problem can be settled amicably. "We have complied with all specifications mentioned in the government's bid. We are in touch with the Health department and think the matter can be solved amicably," Fortis hospitals spokesperson Sudarshan Majumdar said.

Source: The Indian Express By Vidya Krishnan Needed: more ambulances before Games

Fed up of being the fall guys every time there is a mishap due to unauthorized construction or waterlogging because of choked drains, MCD engineers have said they are ``overburdened'' and cannot maintain standards at all times.

The engineers want MCD to hire more staff so they can focus on quality control and not get entangled in nontechnical work like carrying out property surveys and cleaning drains.

Claiming the civic body should hire almost 50% more field staff junior engineers the engineers plan to go on a one-day strike on February 9 to draw attention to their `plight'. They say that the strike can be extended if MCD does not meet their demand of hiring more staff. This can affect work at the Commonwealth Games sites, besides daily maintenance work carried out in the city by MCD.

The engineers say MCD is supposed to hire according to CPWD norms. Even though the norms specify the civic body should have 8,000 engineers, sanctioned posts are only 1,374. The number of engineers currently employed by MCD is just 1,101. Crucially, the situation is particularly bad at the level of junior engineers where for the last 10 years the sanctioned posts have remained at 834.

Source: Times Of India Staff crunch, so no quality: MCD engineers

GROSS VIOLATION: SC has fixed a cap of 55,000 autos but many UP autos sneak in to cash in on high demand

An auto in Dwarka was caught plying with a fake Delhi number painted on it, even as the auto had been registered in Uttar Pradesh on a different number. A criminal case of forgery has been registered, Another 50 autos which were impounded have seen no claimants so far, as there seemingly is some illegality in their paper work. The cops are probing each case now.

In over 1,100 cases, auto drivers were caught without the mandatory PSV badge and driving license

The special drive initiated by Delhi Traffic Police in the last week, in which a whopping 10,000 autos have been prosecuted for a range of violations in just five days, has exposed the Capital's worst kept secret -- that a majority of the autos are plying illegally. The core of the issue is the 55,000 cap on the total number of permits for autos. In the absence of any other equally effective mode of public transport, the gap between demand and supply is huge. And this has become the major cause of the present auto menace.

A large number of Threewheeled Scooter Rickshaws (TSRs) caught by the cops for offences like overcharging, refusal and other road violations were without valid permits, driving licenses and PSV badges from the State transport department. In one of the cases, auto driver Rakesh Verma was caught driving an auto with a UP registration number (UP 14Y 9513) which had a fake Delhi number painted on it. ``Verma said that he wanted to operate the auto in Delhi, as it is more lucrative. So to avoid detection, he painted a fake number on it. A case under sections 417, 468, 471 and 482 of Indian Penal Code (IPC) has been registered in the matter with the Dwarka police station and is under investigation,'' said Satyendra Garg, Joint Commissioner of Police (traffic).

Source: Times Of India Traffic cops put brakes on DELHI AUTO-CRACY

Airport developer Delhi International Airport Limited (DIAL), meanwhile, alongside construction work at the upcoming Terminal 3 that is slated to be ready by April, is constructing a separate tunnel to ensure `contamination-free' transfer of already checked-in baggage to the respective aircraft. DIAL 's Chief Executive Officer for airport development, I P Rao, told Newsline: "We are putting in place a baggage reconciliation system to ensure foolproof security of the baggage, which would arrive at the airport in a separate compartment with sealed containers."

To discuss issues relating to the direct check-in of the baggage at the Metro stations itself, a multi stake holder meeting was held earlier last week between the BCAS, DIAL, the Central Industrial Security Force (CISF), the Delhi Metro Rail Corporation (DMRC), Reliance Infrastructure and the leading airlines operating at the Delhi airport.

According to the plan, the New Delhi and Shivaji Stadium Metro stations on the Airport-Express Metro Link will have direct baggage check-in facilities for passengers slated to take flights from the Delhi airport.

The plan, BCAS officials have said, will affect standard safety procedures followed across airports in the country. While the Delhi Metro is responsible for only the civil work on the high-speed Metro link connecting the city with the international airport, Reliance Infrastructure is handling other infrastructure related issues.

Source: The Indian Express By Geeta Gupta Security concerns voiced over direct baggage check-in at Metro stations

Locations which show affordability and future capital appreciation potential are preferred. According to a Jones Lang LaSalle Meghraj (JLLM) survey, the most viable cities in terms of residential investment potential currently are Gurgaon and Noida in Delhi NCR, Mumbai, Pune, Chennai and Hyderabad.

Abhishek Kiran Gupta, head-research, JLLM, says tier I cities are currently the most preferred residential investment options. "These have a multitude of diversified market drivers and huge latent demand due to inward migration and higher spending power. The preferences range from affordable options within closest proximity to traditional workplace hubs to rationally priced luxury housing at status address locations."

Besides the tier I cities, there are also some other cities that are gaining ground for investment purposes. Cities such as Bhubaneswar, Patna, Gwalior, Pune, Rudrapur and Nagpur are some examples. "These cities have several attractive features such as being IT, BPO, academic, pharmaceutical or financial and commercial hubs. Hence, a lot of people are migrating to these cities thereby adding to the demand for real estate," feels Rajeev Rai, VP (corporate), Assotech. The developer has residential housing projects in Delhi NCR.

Source: Economic Times Tier I Cities Most Preferred Residential Investment Options

Meanwhile, large parts of Noida continued to face communication breakdown. The only shining light 18 Idea towers have been desealed.

According to sources in Greater Noida authority, 150 towers in the rural Noida area have also come under the scanner. "Two leading cellular operators have taken the requisite steps to `legalize' their towers. But others are yet to approach us,'' said an officer.

Meanwhile, the survey for identifying illegal towers in Ghaziabad has already thrown up some startling facts. "A leading public school located in Vijay Nagar in Ghaziabad has let operators install four towers on top of the school. This has been going on for the past two years. We have already issued showcause notices to the violators. We will take legal action after getting their response,'' said a senior police officer.

In the capital, northeast Delhi saw some heated action over the weekend with notices being issued to cellular operators for 200 illegal towers in Shahdara North and Shahdara South zones. Delhi has over 2,500 cellular towers of which 1600 applications are still pending with the corporation. Another 900 are estimated to be illegal.

Source: Times Of India By Dwaipayan Ghosh & Ruhi Bhasin Notices to cell cos over 200 'illegal' towers in Shahdara

For the last three months, not a single patient from below poverty line (BPL) has been treated at the Rockland Hospital.

When the special committee appointed by the High Court visited the hospital last month, only one out of the 11 beds available for BPL patients was occupied in the Pushpawati Singhania Hospital.

Noting that there is a `calculated, systematic nexus among government and private hospitals to successfully frustrate the court and cheat poor patients', the committee has recommended penalising medical superintendents of government hospitals if they do not refer patients to private centres.

In Delhi, 40 private hospitals allotted cheap or free land by government agencies are required to set aside a tenth of their beds for the poor even if they had not given any such commitment at the time of allotment. The High Court committee has come to the conclusion that over 90 per cent of these free beds remain unoccupied.

"Close to 1,000 beds in private hospitals are supposed to be used to unburden government hospitals and provide quality care to underprivileged patients," said Ashok Agarwal, a lawyer associated with Social Jurist, an NGO. "It is bizarre that some hospitals have not treated a BPL patient for as long as three months. Part of the blame is with the government, which does not pressure the private hospitals.
We're going to ask for a highlevel inquiry in this matter."

Source: The Indian Express By Vidya Krishnan  Private hospitals dodge `poor' clause, doors still shut to underprivileged

Two plots of this scheme are in sector 107 while five others are located in sector 78, Noida.

According to Yash Pal Singh Tyagi, incharge of the scheme, the reserve price of the plots has been fixed at Rs 20,400 per sq meter.

The respective area of the plot number GH 01 is eighty three thousand nine hundred per sq. mt, while plot number GH 02 comprises one lakh sq mt. Plot numbers GH 03 and GH 04 have an area of 56,600 sq mt and 61,430 sq mt respectively. Plot No. GH 05 has an area of 71,725 sq mt in Noida's sector 78.

There are two plots in sector 107, GH 01 and GH 02 with area sizes of 2,24,500 and 72,325 sq mt respectively.

"For congested metro cities like Delhi, monorail can be the only solution as it can cover areas where buses and Metro trains cannot enter. If mono rails become a part of public transport in Delhi, people may opt for public transport instead of personal vehicles," he said.

"The monorail project is on Delhi government's agenda. In fact, its detailed report is also ready. But it is a costly affair and cannot be done along with the Commonwealth Games projects. So the project will be started in 2011," said Verma.

According to the transportation master plan prepared by the Delhi government, the city will get three monorail lines.

The lines will cover areas like the Walled City, Delhi University, Pul Bangash, Shakati Nagar, Anand Parbat, Ajmeri Gate, Delhi Gate, Red Fort, SPM, Daryaganj Kondli, Yamuna river crossing, Geeta Colony, Scope Tower, Vikas Marg, Patparganj, Kondli Road, Budh Vihar and Shakti Nagar. The networks will stretch over 41.5 kilometre.

Source: Tribune India By Syed Ali Ahmed Work on monorail to begin after Games

The policy is expected to get a proper shape after a committee headed by councillor Meera Agarwal, which is looking into ways to streamline the unregulated growth of cell towers in the city, submits its report to the MCD Standing Committee.

A senior MCD official said after the finalisation of the new norms, those operating illegal towers will be asked to apply for regularisation and may be given a time of 15 days to one month for doing the needful.

He said a meeting of senior officials of the civic agency will tomorrow discuss the issue threadbare to decide on the ways
to implement the new policy.

Officials said there are some 2,517 cellphone towers in the city set up without taking permission from the MCD.

However, what the real estate developers are hoping for is that the budget provide sufficient stimulus and sops to help the sector achieve the desired growth rate. Even consumers interested in buying property or investing in real estate expect the FM to spell out some consumer-centric policies.

For Vikas Vasal, executive director, KPMG, "The government is having a tough time managing its fiscal deficit. "To contain it the government has two options: increase revenue in terms of tax collection; and control/reduce its expenditure. Therefore, it is unlikely that the government will come out with any tax benefit for the realty sector per se."

Hopes, however, are high. Says Navin M Raheja, CMD, Raheja Developers Limited, "We expect that the deduction of interest on home loan, under Section 24 of the Income Tax Act should be revised from the existing limit of Rs 1.5 lakh to Rs 3 lakh."

Redefining real estate
The tag of "infrastructure" earlier used by the government and all financial institutions while considering real estate allowed for easy funding of townships and residential /commercial buildings.

Says Anil Sharma, CMD, Amrapali Group, "This (the infrastructure tag) seems to have got de-linked from real estate since the time land and property prices began to spiral.

Source: Hindustan Times By Syed Amir Ali Hashmi Budget ho!: As the Budget Day draws near both realty developer and consumer get set to review their must-have lists

A teaser rate is a low, initial home loan interest rate that generally continues for the first few years and then would go up over time. These schemes have a fixed rate, between 8-8.5 per cent, for the first 2-3 years of its tenure; they turn into market-linked floating rates soon after. I can see why RBI is concerned. There are three important levers in any real estate transaction: price, interest rates and changes in income. Most bull runs in real estate are based on all the three levers remaining low. In 2003, prices and interest rates together were extremely low and incomes were going up and one saw a bull run in real estate actually picking up in 2005 because of these factors. Today, prices are crazy , incomes are not going up, but interest rates are low. So, teaser home loan rates are enticing people to borrow, with the belief that incomes would go up in the next few years and so would prices.

Very few people have thought on:
• What would happen if the prices went down?

• What if interest rates went up at the same time but incomes did not go up substantially?

The answer to both the questions could mean that the bank can come back to a borrower and ask for more margin money. Take an example: You are enticed by a teaser loan rate and you buy a property worth Rs 1 crore by making a down payment of Rs 15 lakh (15 per cent). Let’s say the real estate market corrects by 40 per cent, which is completely possible. At this point, a bank can invoke the Depreciation of Security clause in a home loan agreement and get the person to pay an upfront amount. This is because the market value of the property is Rs 60 lakh now and the bank’s exposure should just be 85 per cent of Rs 60 lakh, or Rs 51 lakh. But, the bank has lent you Rs 85 lakh and so, you must now pay them Rs 85 lakh minus Rs 51 lakh immediately. If you do not pay, you become a defaulter, even though you are paying equated monthly installments (EMIs) on time. And, the entire loan becomes payable immediately.

The writer is director, My Financial Advisor

Source: Business-standard By AMAR PANDIT Beware Teaser Rates!

This is a part of the hawker policy that is being framed under the Masterplan 2021 for the Capital.

The decision was taken at a recent meeting of the Unified Traffic and Transport Infrastructure Planning and Engineering Centre (UTTIPEC) headed by Lieutenant-Governor Tejendra Khanna.

The policy is to be based on the guidelines prepared by the body in November to make walking in the city easier.

According to Khanna, EFN Rebeiro, a private consultant, has been hired to frame a hawker and vendor policy incorporating UTTIPEC guidelines for civic agencies.

"Under the Masterplan 2021, local area plans for 272 wards are yet to be drafted. The consultant has been asked to draft the plan keeping these guidelines in mind," Khanna said.

Source: The Indian Express To aid walkers, room for hawkers

Fed up of SMS ads offering the latest in real estate or promising to reduce power bills or the size of your waist? For now, you have no option but to keep hitting the delete button on your mobile phone.

A regulatory dichotomy involving the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (Trai) and the department of telecommunications (DoT) is letting illegal advertisers trespass into consumers' mobile phones at will.

Trai says the penalties for violating laws against illegal telemarketing are not stringent enough to keep advertisers at bay. While DoT says it is "looking into the matter" of reinforcing Trai's powers, operators claim Trai is not even using whatever regulatory clout it has to check telemarketeers.

The regulator's unsolicited commercial communication norm makes it mandatory for every telemarketeer to register with DoT and upload its database of mobile phone numbers on www.ndncregistry.gov.in. An unregistered telemarketeer caught advertising will have its connection cancelled.

Trai also set up a National Do Not Call Registry (NDNCR) in 2007, allowing mobile phone users to request that their numbers be made unavailable to telemarketeers.

deepti.b@livemint.com

Source: Live Mint By Deepti Bhaskaran and Ishita Russell Why you will have to live with SMS ads

Many investors believe that equities are fraught with risk while real estate is completely risk free.The reality is a little more nuanced

It was a Sunday morning. Madhav, 40, and his friend Somesh, 39, were having a discussion on investment options.

Somesh was of the view that real estate is the best form of investment. He stated that it gives the family a sense of security, a place to live in, and can also provide rental income. In addition, he argued, one can enjoy the use of the property while its price appreciates. He further said that an investment in real estate is totally safe since the price of real estate never drops. Madhav did not agree entirely and hence called me to join the discussion.

Not a 100 per cent safe investment

"I agree that real estate has some advantages. But it is not true that it is a totally safe investment option or that its price never drops," I said. Like other assets, I said, real estate too witnesses bull and bear cycles.

However, since the price of our apartment, unlike that of stocks, is not reported in the newspapers, we are unaware of the day-to-day price fluctuations. Due to this lack of information one lives under the illusion that the price of real estate is stable or has moved up.It is only when one actually tries to sell a property that one discovers its true value.

Points to remember

• It is not true that real estate is a completely safe option or that its price never drops
  
• Like other investment options, real estate also witnesses bull and bear phases
  
• Regulatory changes, among other factors, could cause a precipitous decline in the price of real estate
  
• Stocks are liquid, you can purchase them in small amounts, and the transaction costs are low due to absence of stamp duty
  
• With the introduction of index funds and exchange traded funds, investing in equities has become a no-brainer activity

* Unforeseen risks in realty

Source: The Indian Express INVESTMENT PLANNING - REAL ESTATE OR EQUITIES?