The Delhi Cabinet on Thursday approved the signing of a memorandum of understanding with the Indian National Trust for Art and Cultural Heritage (INTACH) for declaring Delhi a "World Heritage City'. It also cleared a proposal to grant huge concessions on purchase of battery-operated vehicles in the city.

A corridor from Peeli Kothi to Lothian Bridge to be built at a cost of Rs 75 crore Proposed in 2005 and shelved many times, the decongestion plan around Old Delhi Railway station may finally see the light of the day. Announced in the Budget 2007-08 as a part of the plan, a corridor on Shyama Prasad Mukherjee Marg from Peeli Kothi to Lothian Bridge is expected to come up by December 2009.

With an aim to fulfill the dreams of the urban poor in the state to have their own house in the city, the Haryana Housing Board Authorities will construct about 50,000 dwelling units in the next three years. This was declared by Chief Minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda today, who was in Sector 20, Panchkula, to lay the foundation stone of a group housing scheme, which will be constructed at a cost of Rs 67 crore. Hooda added that keeping in view the problem of the urban poor in the society, the Haryana Housing Board had reduced the prices of houses up to 15 to 20 per cent.

the majestic image you see on the right is going to fade away. The Crawford market in south Mumbai is going to be "redeveloped'. On March 10, amid strong protests from heritage activists, majority

Asom Government today told the State Assembly that the Guwahati Master Plan would be finalized within 45 days.

If all goes well, an ambitious proposal to increase Floor Space Index (FSI) within the 250-metre radius of the BRTS corridor to encourage development along the route, is being planned by the state urban development department. It is proposed that all developers along the 120.5 km of the corridor can get an extra FSI over the existing 1.8 FSI. This increases the FSI to 2.8. The proposal has been forwarded to the Central ministry of urban development for approval and is being simultaneously discussed in the state urban development department over its feasibility.

THE government may allow multilateral funding agencies such as World Bank and Asian Development Bank (ADB) to directly extend debt to urban local bodies (ULB). At present, the grants are routed through the central government, which passes it to the states. The move is expected to provide an alternative portfolio of fund-raising to ULBs marred by finance constraints. It will also fast-track the process of fund-raising for developmental activities. The urban development ministry is considering the proposal to allow the multilateral agencies extend financial support to ULBs.

The state of Bangalore's civic body, Bruhat Bangalore Mahanagara Palike (BBMP), provides an object lesson on how not to run a city when the country is going through an unprecedented wave of urbanisa