Opposing Union Urban Development Minister Kamal Nath’s push for a vertical growth in the city, Chief Minister Sheila Dikshit today said she won’t allow the construction of high-rise buildings as long as she is ‘alive’.

“I agree with you that eventually perhaps Delhi will need high-rise buildings. But it will not be allowed as long as I am alive,” she said at a function organised by Assocham.

Kerala Energy Conservation Building Code is expected to be notified within two months

Energy conservation is no more a choice but a must. Kerala Energy Conservation Building Code (ECBC) is expected to be notified within two months, and it will make compulsory for all new commercial buildings with a connected load of 100 kilowatt or more to incorporate energy conservation elements at the design stage.

Hyderabad: The Industries Department is working out the mandatory green code for all industries and factories in the state.

Hyderabad: Citizens acquiring a house or building one have to first construct a rain water harvesting (RWH) pit in their plots and then apply for permission to build one.

Mumbai: The state government might retain the special planning authority (SPA) status granted to Lavasa with some riders.

The BWSSB had warned that owners of properties which have borewells would face action, if the borewells were not registered by March 31. The Water Board had said defaulters would have to pay fine or even undergo prosecution. It was also planning squads to crack down on unregistered borewells.

But a BWSSB official has said that there are no specific rules to mitigate illegal borewells or penalise people who have not registered theirs. The fate of the borewell registration deadline may not be too different from that for installing rainwater harvesting (RWH) systems at homes.

More than 10 years after it was made mandatory, BMC has failed to ensure rainwater harvesting in most new buildings.

A study by Observer Research Foundation, a think tank on public policy, has revealed most new buildings do not have rainwater harvesting facilities.
It said even if half the developed area in the city was roofed for rainwater harvesting, about 590 million litres — almost a sixth of the 3,000 million litres BMC supplies — could be generated every day. The study, to be released by mayor Sunil Prabhu Saturday, also revealed the city wastes over 900 million litres daily, much more than the about 650 million litres supplied in Pune.