New Delhi: The focus of energy efficiency has usually been large buildings, whether residential or commercial.

Over 4,000 suggestions from people uploaded on the web, says Urban Development Minister

Green buildings in the Capital will be allowed to increase their floor area ratio (FAR) as an incentive by the Urban Development Ministry. This is one of the proposals among 23 specific amendments to the Master Plan-2021 for Delhi that have been made by the Union Urban Development Ministry and which will now be finalised for issuing public notice.

New Delhi In a major reprieve for developers in Maharashtra, a division bench of the Supreme Court passed an interim order on Tuesday allowing them to pay value added tax (VAT) till October 31, adding the amount would be refunded if the developers win the case.

The Supreme Court passed the interim order while hearing a special leave petition filed by the Maharashtra Chamber of Housing Industry and Confederation of Real Estate Developers' Associations of India (MCHI-Credai) and Credai-Pune against the levying of 5% VAT by the Maharashtra sales tax department.

DIMAPUR: Y Patton, Nagaland Parliamentary Secretary for Geology & Mining, I&FC and Border Affairs, has warned that immediate eviction drives should be carried out against individuals and government employees encroaching upon government land.

This parliamentary secretary’s caution comes in the wake of reported random encroachment of land and buildings belonging to the State Irrigation and Flood Control (I&FC) Department in Dimapur.

New Delhi The Delhi government is drafting a new legislation that will provide a one-time amnesty to several illegal constructions, currently exempt from demolition on a temporary basis.

The Union government had cleared a special legislation in 2006, offering amnesty to thousands of illegal constructions that were in line to be sealed or razed. The Delhi Laws (Special Provisions) Act was passed by Parliament on May 19, 2006, and has been extended several times since — with the latest extension valid till December 31, 2014.

Petition challenges converting new secretariat complex in Chennai into a hospital

The National Green Tribunal here on Tuesday admitted a petition by advocate R. Veeramani, challenging the environmental clearance given by the State Level Environmental Impact Assessment Authority (SEIAA) to convert the new Legislative Assembly cum Secretariat complex in Chennai into a hospital. A Bench of Justice M. Chockalingam, Judicial Member, and R. Nagendran, Expert Member, after hearing senior counsel P. Wilson for the petitioner and Additional Advocate General Guru Krishna Kumar for the State, issued notice to the Tamil Nadu Government and posted the matter for further hearing on September 27.

Finding it difficult to cope with demands of vertical growth of the city, the Delhi Jal Board has decided not to give water connections to each dwelling unit in a multi-storeyed apartment block.

The controversial Adarsh housing society building did not have a Coastal Regulation Zone (CRZ) clearance from either the state or central government, a former environment ministry official told the

The Delhi Jal Board wants consumers to adapt to “community sharing of resources”, and for that it has proposed that all upcoming multi-storey buildings in the city should have a single bulk water connection and the residents should learn how to divide water among themselves.

The DJB has recently written to the municipal bodies to alter the building bye-laws and introduce the provision that all high rises will have just one bulk connection instead of multiple connections. The rationale for doing so is this-- if there is single underground reservoir for a multi-storey and a single over head tank, only one booster pump will be required to lift water, thereby saving energy and also limiting the consumption of water.

Reiterating its stand on the Adarsh housing society, a former Union Ministry of Environment and Forest (MoEF) official told a judicial panel here on Monday that the building has to be demolished as it does not have environmental clearance.

Former MoEF director Bharat Bhushan told a two-member inquiry commission set up by the state government to probe into the scam, that the Adarsh building stands in the Coastal Regulation Zone (CRZ) and hence environmental clearance is mandatory.