Delhi Capital

SARE Homes (South Asian Real Estate), has announced the launch of Green ParC-II, the fourth phase of its 65-acre integrated township called Crescent ParC in Sector 92, Gurgaon. After selling more than 3,500 apartments, “handing over first possession on time, and creating significant monetary appreciation for its customers, investors and other stakeholders.

“SARE Homes caters to the aspirations of the middle-income group by offering quality, community-housing at strategically identified locations across India. The company has invested in eight integrated projects in major cities like Gurgaon, Ghaziabad, Navi Mumbai, Chennai, Amritsar and Indore, which represent nearly 36.5 million sq ft of developable area. SARE is on a highgrowth mode and aims to double its area under development in the next three years,” said David Walker, executive director of SARE Homes.

He also said that “We are extremely enthused by the overwhelming response to our project in Gurgaon, and are very happy to launch the fourth phase, Green ParC-II. SARE Homes plans to invest Rs 2,000 crore in developing real estate projects over the next five years in India. The scale of our business will enable us to deliver best-in-class services to our customers and commit the resources to ensure on-time delivery of our projects. SARE Homes, promoted by the Duet Group, is a unique real estate investment and development company, as far as the project funding is concerned. We are funded internally by foreign direct investment; hence, our projects are assured of uninterrupted progress.”

The township is placed in a sategically convenient location on the Gurgaon growth corridor, on the arterial 60metre-wide road, just 40 minutes from the IGI Airport and in close proximity to the Dwarka and KMP Expressways, and the industrial hub of IMT, Manesar. It lies within the NCR, home to major multinational IT-ITeS, automobile and manufacturing companies.

Vikram O Datta, director (marketing and sales) of SARE Homes, said, “In Gurgaon, SARE has invested nearly Rs 200 crore, and has sold more than 1,600 apartments till date. Homebuyers, as well as investors in this region, are very savvy and we are confident they will respond positively to our latest offering.”

The township consist of different housing, lowrise, midrise and highrise group housing in Ground + 4, stilt + 7 and stilt + 19 formats. Green ParC-II consists of 3 and 4 bedroom apartments, ranging from 1,261-2,226 sq ft in stilt + 7 and stilt +19 towers. The towers have a unique design, with beautiful balconies allowing for maximum privacy.

Each apartments faces the lush 7-acre central greens, which has a jogging track, children’s play area, a cycling track, an open-air amphitheatre, a skating rink, putting greens, a feature forest, beautifully landscaped water bodies, and a 35,000 sq ft clubhouse, one of the largest in Gurgaon. This project has been designed by Rajiv Khanna & Associates, an architectural firm. The price of these apartments starts from Rs 55 lakh.

“While launching a project, we give importance to the lifestyle of our customers in that particular demography and their objective of maximizing the value for their investment. An exciting differentiating factor of Green ParC-II will be the sky deck, which is new in the Gurgaon market,” said Vineet Relia, the chief operating officer of SARE Homes

News Source : Times of India

With almost everything available online, a fair might sound less interesting. When it comes to book fair, not much people might be interested but the But the 20th edition of the World Book Fair inaugurated on Saturday has a different story to tell as thousands thronged the sprawling Pragati Maidan, the venue.

The fair has attracted some 1,300 exhibitors from 26 countries are participating in the nine-day-long festival. For this year, it will be more than just a book fair. the fair has much to do with Delhi, which turned 100 in December last year. A glimpse of 100 years of Delhi as the Capital of India has been displayed at a special pavilion in the fair.

The rich history of Delhi has been showcased in in pictures sourced from various libraries, including the British Library, by Roli Books, the organiser of the pavilion. The exhibits includes pictures of Lord King George V visiting Delhi for coronation in 1911, light locomotives that started here during the same period and the gates in the city are on display.

Pramod kapoor, publisher, Roli Books said, “Not everybody can afford expensive coffee-table books on the Capital. This pavilion gives Delhiites an opportunity to know the history of their city.“  The pavilion’s theme is based on two books published by Roli Books -`Red fort to Raisina Hills’ and `New Delhi: Making of a Capital’.

The fair will also include exhibits of more than 100 rare works, most of which have never been displayed in the country before. More than a dozen non-profit organisations, along with government-aided film organisations, universities and trade bodies, are supporting the event. Kapil Sibal, the Internet and technology, human resource and development minister will addressing the crowd said that “India is only country that publishes books in over 40 languages. Despite the growth of Internet and technology, books will not take a back seat, instead they compliment each other.”

According to officials, the Badli Mor Metro station which is proposed to be 4 km long from Jahangirpuri-Badli corridor will be one of the largest interchange Metro stations by 2021. Five years down the line, when phase 4 is scheduled to be completed, Badli Mor Metro station in northwest Delhi will cater to lakhs of commuters.

Earlier the station was proposed to be named Shalimar Place, is expected to register a ridership of about 7,000 commuters in 2016 -when Delhi Metro’s phase 3 stations will start operations. Anuj Dayal, spokesperson of Delhi Metro Rail Corporation (DMRC) said, Badli Mor Metro station will be the first ever station to be designed in such a way that the station structure will have provision for expansion in Phase 4 as well. The foundation of the station is being laid in such a way that it will be able to take the load of the two platforms, which will cater to Phase 3 and 4 lines.“

In the Phase 4, the station will facilitate interchange with the proposed Mukundpur-Janakpuri West section, which will then connect the currently operational Jahangirpuri-Gurgaon corridor with the proposed Mukundpur -Yamuna Vihar line and Janakpuri East-Botanical Garden corridor. Both these corridors are being constructed in Phase 3.

The first two floors , which will be lower than the road level will be used for property development as per the plan. The third floor (which will have a direct link with the road through a foot-over bridge) will be concourse and the platform will be above it. The Phase 4 platform will come up above the phase 3 platform. Tenders for this unique station structure have been floated and are in the evaluation process.

News Source : Hindustan Times

Great news for both shopkeepers as well as shoppers in Chandni Chowk as  the Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD) on Wednesday inaugurated a 1,020-car capacity underground multi-level parking lot making parking much hassle free for all. Mayor Rajni Abbi dedicated the parking located at Parade ground, Subhash Marg near Red Fort to the residents of the thickly populated walled city.

The construction for this multi level parking lot took two years to complete and cost around Rupees 52.83 crore. The parking is of multi-level and the three underground level is designed to fit more than 720 cars will the surface parking area will cater some 300 cars. Just within a few days, this facility will be open for the public to use.

An MCD official said that, “Two floors with a capacity of about 250 cars each will be thrown open first. There is still some pending work on the other two floors which will take some time to be operational.“  Speaking on the occasion, Abbi said that the parking will help in easing parking problems. She also said that, “The old city is famous among tourists who come to visit Jama Masjid and Red Fort. The area is also being used as a commercial hub which leads to the movement of large volume of vehicle. However, the scant space for parking was worrisome and therefore, the need arose to go for multi-level underground parking.“  Abbi pointed that around 1000 new vehicle are added on Delhi roads on a daily basis and the problem of parking is a major cause of concern in Delhi. The Mayor said that by March end, as many as five parking projects will be completed. According MCD officials, the parking has been designed for optimum space utilisation and has been made earthquake resistant.

News Source : Hindustan Times

The Municipal Corporation of Delhi’s (MCD) ambitious project to sanction building plans online, which was aimed to simplifying the lengthy procedure and checking corruption, has ended up creating a roadblock.  In January, the civic agency started sanctioning building plans online for fresh constructions in authorized colonies in all its 12 zones, and since then the number of plans sanctioned has dwindled. The agency approved just 36 building plans online in January as against about 150 sanctioned manually in December 2011.

At present, MCD is sanctioning only fresh building plans in approved colonies online, under the new procedure. For alterations and any additional constructions, plans have to be submitted manually. Both architects and MCD officials admit that this project has the potential of checking graft and ensuring structurally safer buildings in the city but the decision to suddenly stop accepting applications manually has not been received very well by the general public.

Neeraj Dhingra, an architect empanelled with MCD said that “They should have allowed both manual and online submission initially. People, architects and, most importantly, MCD officials at the zonal level need to get used to the system. It is a big project and technical errors are bound to creep in. They stopped the manual system without streamlining the new system. It is a very time consuming process.’’

The maximum number of applications related to building plans was received from areas like the Shahdara (South), West, South, Central and Rohini  and these zones are the worst hit areas. An average of 40-45 applications we received under the simplified procedure, no plans were sanctioned in the month of January in Shahdara.

One of the reason why general public is not happy with the new system is because there are only 403 architects registered with MCD for online submission and people are having a hard time getting their plans approved. MCD officials say that these architects have hiked their charges arbitrarily.

An MCD official said “Earlier, people could get the building plan made from any architect, but now they have to get it made from the empanelled ones. People are facing a lot of inconvenience.’’ Why are a majority of architects fighting shy of the system? It’s a mix of old habits dying hard, lack of familiarity with the new system and scepticism.

Many architects are also complaining that they are facing serious problems related to the serves, especially while uploading the plans in the website. Munish Pandit, who is empanelled with MCD said that “One has to load and check the plan several times before all the errors are removed. MCD should have a software to check the errors in real time. We can download the software. A lot of time is wasted in uploading the documents several times. Often their server doesn’t work and the applications crash midway.”

Y S Mann, director, press and information, MCD stated that “is Monday, the server was down for three-four hours. “We were carrying out checking of the server to rectify the errors.’’ Officials admit that architects are taking a lot of time in rectifying errors. In some cases, they have had to upload the plan at least 12-15 times. An MCD official with the building department also said that “The software for sanctioning building plan online doesn’t accept any deviation from the building bylaws and Master Plan of Delhi-2021. Even a 0.1% change in any parameter will generate an error.’’

Mann also said that “Not many people would have opted for online had we kept the manual submission open. We are training architects in uploading the plans and rectifying errors.’’ While the plan has to be applied for online, the civic agency demands a hard copy of all the documents, including the plan, to be submitted at the zonal offices. “We can’t sanction the plan until the architect or owner has submitted a hard copy of all the relevant documents in our office,’’ said an MCD official.

News Source : Times of India

The PHASE III  of Delhi Metro will cover 35km more in district; four interchange stations to come up. This expansion will benefit commuters from South Delhi which has the highest number of privately owned cars, is all set to benefit the most from the proposed Metro expansion project under phase III.

Delhi Metro at present covers around 34km in South Delhi, with the Phase 3 which is is scheduled to be completed by 2016, the DMRC plans to spread the network to 35km more in the district. The Delhi Metro serves to around two lakh commuters from south Delhi daily and wonce the phase is complete, it will serves around four lakh commuters daily.

Two main corridors of phase 3 -Yamuna Vihar-Mukundpur and Janakpuri west-Botanical Garden corridor -will pass through south Delhi, which covers 41 per cent of the total Capital area. The district has a population of 23 lakh. South Delhi, considered to be the most posh area, is one of the nine historical districts in the Capital. Localities such as Greater Kailash, CR Park, Alaknanda, Hauz Khas, Green Park, Defence Colony, New Friends Colony, Gulmohar Park, Gulmohar Enclave and Vasant Kunj are situated here.

Anuj Dayal, N spokesperson, DMRC said “In phase III, south Delhi residents are going to benefit immensely. With 26 new Metro stations, covering all strategic locations and four interchange of facilities, almost all parts of the  district will be connected by Metro.“ Dayal also added that There is no Metro interchange facility in the district. In phase 3 project, interchange stations have been planned at INA, Lajpatagar, Hauz Khas and Kalkaji Mandir, said DMRC officials.”Metro will link south Delhi to IGIA, Gurgaon, Faridabad and Noida. Besides, it will provide direct connectivity to post-residential areas, markets and educational institutes. ”

News Source : Hindustan Times

With over 20,000 commuters using the Chhattarpur Metro Station to access different parts of the City, Delhi Metro has decided to expand the existing parking area for Chhattarpur Metro Station and to make it among one of the biggest parking space for a metro station in Delhi.

Chhattarpur Metro Station existing parking area is around, 100-square metre and it is planning to expand around of 2,900 square metre space by the end of this month. According to the Metro Officials, this parking lot expansion will be the solution to relief commuters from parking hassles at the station.

The Chhattarpur Metro station is a hot spot for commuters traveling from Chhattarpur, Mehrauli village and Vasant Kunj area to different parts of the city, plus the station is also an important point for the large numbers of devotees who come to visit the Chhattarpur temple. At the moment, Chhattarpur station has a capacity to accommodate around 150 vehicles but with the new expansion the station will be able to accommodate more than 400 cars.

A spokesperson of Delhi Metro Rail Corporation (DMRC) said  “With the increase in parking space, Chhattarpur Metro station will become one among the major Metro parking lots in Delhi with 4,000 square metre parking space.“ The process of inviting tenders is on for increasing the parking space at Chhattarpur. The spokesperson also added that “By end of the month, the entire parking lot will be ready, which will be properly fenced, divided into lots with proper entry and exit facilities. There will be at least three entry and exit points in the newly developed parking area.“

The Delhi Metro has a total of 95 parking lots in Delhi and NCR at present, which together accommodate thousands of vehicles every day. Of them, line 1 (Dilshad Garden-Rithala) has 20 parking lots, line 2 has 20 lots, line 3/4 (Noida/Anand Vihar-Dwarka) has 36 parking lots, line 5 (Inderlok-Mundka) eight parking lots and line 6 (Central Secretariat-Badarpur) has 11 parking lots. By month end, the entire parking lot will be ready with proper fencing. It will be divided into lots with proper entry and exit facilities.

News Source : Hindustan Times

Commuting in Delhi has drastically changed over a period of 10 year when the mode of transportations was the DTC and blueline buses or depending on pricey autorickshaws. But 2002 saw a different mode of transportation, the Delhi Metro which completely changed the way of commuting in the nation Capital.

The 8.5-km-long line from Shahdara to Tis Hazari gave Delhiites a glimpse into the future. Today, Delhi Metro is spread across 190 km covering almost every corner of the city and this was built in two phases within nine years. The network has connected two major railway stations, the biggest bus terminal and three satellite towns. And it does not stop at that. By 2021, another 136km will be added and connectivity to satellite towns will go deeper and better.

Anuj Dayal, spokesperson, DMRC  said that “we have a vision of bringing the Metro within a 500m radius of every home in Delhi by 2021. The commuters should be able to walk down to the nearest Metro station like they do in Tokyo, London and Shanghai.“This was the dream of former DMRC MD E Sreedharan, which is now shared by every employee, says a Metro official.

The construction for three new lines which will be covering an area of 120 km has already begun in Phase 3, the DMRC has also proposed to build another 116 Km in the phase which they plan to complete by 2021.  With phase 3, Delhi Metro -currently the world’s 10th-largest network -would become the seventh-largest system. And if other Metros in world did not expand, Delhi Metro would be the second-largest -next only to Shanghai Metro -by 2021. Dayal said that “In Phase 3, we will connect domestic airport with the satellite towns, all four major universities in Delhi and NCR, bus terminals and almost all tourist spots,“

DMRC officials claim there are 1.5 lakh less vehicles on roads every day and the travel time from one point to another has been reduced to almost half. A recent study by the Central Road Research Institute shows the expansion has led to a saving of R5,000 crore in terms of fuel consumption, manhours and pollution. Apart from Metro’s expansion, the govt is working on other New Age transport systems such as monorail and pod taxis.

News Source : Hindustan Times

The longest Metro corridor for Delhi Metro will be built in phase 3 in Faridabad and it will be around 14 kilometers. The elevated Metro corridor till YMCA Chowk in Faridabad-the extension of line 6 Central Secretariat­Badarpur) -is going to be the longest expansion taken up in the NCR region so far by the Delhi Metro Rail Corporation (DMRC) and was cleared recently. This route which measure around 13.9 kilometre will put Faridabad ahead of Gurgaon, Noida and Ghaziabad. The total metro network in Noida is 7km, Gurgaon 7.5km and Ghaziabad 2.57km.

Anuj Dayal, DMRC spokesperson said that “The documents for memorandum of understanding with Haryana for Faridabad metro have been prepared and we are awaiting a date from the Haryana government for its signing. Earlier, the central group of ministers had cleared the proposed corridor. “ An official of the Haryana government also said that “This corridor, with nine stations, will be constructed on the lines of the Noida corridor. We will bear 80% of the cost, while the Delhi government will bear the remaining part.”

According to DMRC officials the work on this project will be completed by 2016 as the deadline for completion of other corridors under phase 3.  This will be a project of R.s. 533 crores and the Haryana government will soon start the process of acquiring land. DMRC has started the tender process for this corridor, so work can be immediately begun after land is acquired. Tenders for construction of eight elevated station buildings, including architectural finishing, water supply, sanitary installation and external development work, at Old Faridabad, Ajronda, Faridabad New Town and YMCA Chowk on BadarpurFaridabad corridor have been floated.

News Source : Hindustan Times

New Delhi Railway Station won’t be just a place where you would get a train to travel, it will also be a place where art lovers can browse through various art works. New Delhi Railway Station is all set to open its own Art Gallery where one can enjoy glimpse of the history of the Indian Railways through exciting exhibits.

The gallery will exhibit the rich heritage of the Indian Railways which will include exhibits on stations, steam engines, the scenic beauty of hill railways and the royal rail salons used by the English princess and Indian royalty. The railway art gallery is coming up at Platform number 1 of the railway station and entry will be free for authorised railway passengers.

A senior northern railways officer, who did not wish to be named said, “The art gallery will have photographs, painting and prints of Indian Railways. We are hoping to throw it open for our travellers by February 29. “

Many countries such as the UK already have such railway art gallery and with New Delhi Railways Station opening its own, the gallery will bring artists and photographers, who specialize in making rail painting and prints, would be brought under one roof.

A official also said that “The photographs, paintings and prints in the art gallery will be the depiction of the railway scene in all its facets both past and present. The railways for more than 150 years have been a favourite subject among the artists. The gallery will put rail art on the forefront. ” The Delhi division of the northern railways also plans to organise rail art competitions regularly at the rail art gallery. A officer stated that “We will invite professional artists, school and college children to participate in the competition. The staging of railway art exhibitions will also assist in the historical research necessary for various subjects related to Indian railways.”

News Source : Hindustan Times