Order of the High Court of Gujarat in the matter of Samsuddin Jainulabiddin Shaikh & Others Vs The State of Gujarat & Others dated 06/05/2025. A petition was filed by 58 people who are residing near Chandola lake, Ahmedabad. The petitioners have constructed hutments along the periphery of Chandola lake. …
• Free houses for displaced people at the rate of 125 sq metres in rural areas, and 63 sq metres in urban areas • A one-time grant of Rs 40,000 for constructing houses. A one-time grant for land development
prime minister Manmohan Singh approved a whopping Rs 174,000 crore for the Bharat Nirman scheme on May 16, 2005. The scheme, which will be operational from 2005 to 2009, acuses on improving physical infrastructure in rural areas. Its thrust areas are irrigation, roads, water supply, housing, electrification and telecom connectivity. …
china's stupendous success in exploiting bamboo for economic gains appears to have prompted India to follow suit. The heightened interest in this tallest member of the grass family is reflected in the latest Union budget. As per one of the proposals, a special project on bamboo applications
Houses and roads near a coal mine can collapse without warning. A landmark decision of the US district court in Columbia has therefore prohibited coal mining companies from collapsing the surface of land over their mines. The SC noted that underground mines can cause the land surface to sink which …
Two months after four people were killed in Dewas, Madhya Pradesh (MP), the state government seems to be finally owing up its responsibility. Albeit with a lot of pressure, compensations have been given and activists have been released from custody. However, it seems that the larger issues are still to …
the Union government is planning to introduce a legislation to ensure the safety of urban buildings and also issue licenses to builders, formulate building codes and undertake a micro seismic study in the country. The Union urban development minister, Jagmohan, announced this at a two-day seminar on habitat safety against …
"Uncleared debris is a grim reminder of the tragedy. It stops the mind from functioning, prevents action on part of the people. It is a hurdle to moving ahead.'
T he merit of kat-ki-kunni (timber-cornered building) of Himachal Pradesh can be traced back to 1905, if not earlier. A massive temblor levelled every village from Dharamsala to Kangra. Measuring 8.0 on the Richter scale, it lasted two minutes and was felt over 416,000 sq km. But, buildings with kat-ki-kunni …
At 2.53 am on October 25, 1991, a moderate earthquake measuring 6.6 on the Richter scale affected more than 425,000 people of about 2,100 villages in the districts of Uttarkashi, Tehri and Chamoli in what was then Uttar Pradesh and is now the hill state of Uttaranchal. Traditionally built timber …
at the sun sets on Tentuli, a village in Keonjhar district of Orissa, it is time to prepare for a long, sleepless night. As darkness descends, the male members of the village make sure that the children and women are tucked away in the safety of tree houses they have …
The wisdom of harvesting rainwater to meet growing demands and augment depleting water resources has perhaps at long last caught the attention of the Delhi government. In his address to the Delhi Assembly on the first day of the Budget session, Lieutenant-Governor Vijai Kapoor said the government was planning to …
In a serendipitous discovery, scientists at Lawrence Berkeley Laboratory and the University of California at Berkeley, USA, may have found an inexpensive material for making windows more energy efficient. While working on a way to boost the performance of a rechargeable battery, they put a transparent film of nickel hydroxide …
We present results of an empirical investigation and comparison of housing supply in three rapidly growing countries: Malaysia, Thailand, and Korea. These countries offer three contrasting examples of different approaches to development control. Korea has relatively strict control of housing supply. Thailand has little effective regulation of development. Malaysia offers …
It seemed too good to be true. A recent order of the Karnataka government allowed the 650 tribal families living in a part of the Rajiv Gandhi National Park to collect minor forest produce to build homes within the forest. The order also initiated the process of setting up public …
Greece will use satellites to tackle its illegal housing problem. Under the plan, satellites will scan the country's terrain weekly to take pictures of illegal dwellings. Officials propose to focus on forests and coastal areas, which are favoured by illegal builders. With more than 1 million illegal buildings already constructed, …
Vilasrao B Salunke, father of the pani panchayat concept in the drought-prone Marathwada region in Maharashtra, has evolved quake-resistant houses in areas affected by the September 30 earthquake. Salunke, convenor of the Pune-based Earthquake Disaster Management Group, advocates ferrocement technology to build new houses on existing foundations of the recently …
NATURAL disasters may be proposed by God, but they are disposed by man. Though it may not be possible to prevent such disasters, their devastation potential can be contained, depending on the state of human preparedness and economic conditions. The earthquake in Marathwada on September 30 has once again, so …
