Literally giving thumbs down to villages opposing mega housing projects, the government today declared that if a project has been given permission after clearing all technical approvals, the panchayat has no authority to revoke the licence and the government will stand by the project. Addressing a press conference, after the cabinet meeting, Chief Minister Digambar Kamat who was also accompanied by Panchayat Minister Babu Azgaonkar stated that if all rules have been followed and there have been no misrepresentations on the project there is no reason for revoking the licence.

The Indiramma housing sche-me, a prestigious one for the Chief Minister, Dr Y.S. Rajasekhar Reddy's government, is making tardy progress due to official apathy, corruption among lower-level staff and the insufficiency of sanctioned amount for each beneficiary due to the rising prices of raw materials.

In a breather for nearly five lakh families residing in over 100 acres of

The civic standing committee on Tuesday gave its nod to appoint the Science and Technology Park (STP), Pune as the nodal agency for the execution of eco-housing programme and also to allocate Rs 21.10 lakh for STP, as expenses of conducting workshops and publishing information brochures, among other things. Even though the Science and Technology Park had shown interest in being appointed as the consulting agency and had filed a proposal to this effect moths back, there was some apparent disagreement over fees to be paid to the nodal agency.

The Chief Minister, Dr Y.S. Rajasekhar Reddy, set the foundation stone for scattered houses scheme at the Praja Patham programme held during his visit to the district here on Wednesday. Addressing a huge gathering on the occasion, the Chief Minister said that the Congress government unlike the earlier TD government was committed for all-round development of the city.

The Union Ministry of Housing and Urban Poverty Alleviation has sanctioned Rs 42.6 crores to Mizoram for construction of houses for as many as 908 poor families living in urban area. The Ministry, under the IHSDP (Integrated Housing & Slum Development Programme), sanctioned Rs 8.27 crores for project I to construct 500 houses. It also sanctioned under the BSUP (Basic Services to the Urban Poor) Rs. 34.33 Crores for construction of 408 houses (project II), an official source said today.

Muniyamma, 30, and her family survived the tragic Boxing Day of 2004. But its aftermath has left her a widow and her four children fatherless. Her husband Pazhanivel, 38, immolated himself as the district administration tried to evict tsunami refugees from a temporary shelter in Kadambadi, near Nagapattinam.

Haryana Chief Minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda on Wednesday directed Housing Board officials to undertake construction of 50,000 dwelling units in the State within the next three years so that poor people living in urban areas could have their own house. Laying the foundation stone of a group housing scheme at Panchkula, he disclosed that the Haryana Housing Board had reduced the prices of houses up to 15 to 20 per cent for the poorer sections.

Once upon a time, houses made of wood inhabited real spaces and not the glossy confines of lifestyle magazines. The states of Kerala, Kashmir and Arunachal Pradesh, blessed with abundant timber, were particularly known for their refined architectural traditions in wood.

MCD Standing Committee Chairman Vijender Gupta and Leader of the House Subhash Arya held a meeting with MCD officials at Town Hall on Sunday and decided that as soon as the civic body got a certified