Dhaka Wasa is considering a plan to recharge the underground aquifers with rain water in eight areas across the capital this year to top up the rapidly depleting groundwater table.

As the city's water table is falling by 2.5 to 3.5 metres per year due to excessive extraction of groundwater by deep tube wells, the government agency is also mulling over making water recharging facilities mandatory in the proposed national building code, said Wasa sources.

MUMBAI: In his budget speech two months ago, the then municipal commissioner Subodh Kumar laid the grounds for additional water supply in the city. The completion of the Middle Vaitarna dam has spelled good news, with the BMC's hydraulic department preparing a circular to increase per capita water supply to new buildings from 45 litre per capita per day (lpcd) to 135 lpcd. The circular is likely to be released early next week and roughly 2,000 new constructions will benefit from it.

KOLKATA, 16 MAY: The future of Indian cities ~ and Kolkata ~ lies in urban densification in the form of high-rise buildings and “virtual land”, said Mr Debashish Sen, principal secretary of West Bengal Housing Infrastructure Development Corporation (HIDCO) today. “Let the developers come,” said Mr Sen in a reference to Harvard economist Edward Glaeser's book Triumph of the City, in which Glaeser outlines some of the environmental benefits of concentrated urban populations.

With a view to address the issue of unsafe buildings, the Delhi Development Authority on Tuesday decided to set up a separate unit to work out systems for retrofitting or rebuilding buildings considered vulnerable during earthquakes. At the Authority meeting held on Tuesday, Delhi Lt Governor and DDA chairman Tejendra Khanna suggested that the DDA, in public interest and due to Delhi being in seismic zone, should address the issues of unsafe buildings. “After deliberations, it was decided that a separate unit should be created within the DDA, for the purpose.

Two major residential projects being planned under the slum rehabilitation scheme, with a combined value of over Rs330crore, were recently granted clearance by the State Expert Appraisal Committee (SEAC) on environment. Located in the western suburbs, both projects have been cleared with several conditions attached. The costlier of the two, Goregaon-based Trimurti SRA Co-Op Housing Society Limited, estimated at Rs200crore, has been directed to restrict the height of the building to 45 metres, along with the provision of a setback of six metres without a wall to ensure enough road space.

The Town and Country Planning Department, Haryana, has clarified that the land acquired by it is not transferred to builders or developers for development of colonies. Instead, it is always retained by the Haryana Urban Development Authority (HUDA) and utilised for the public purpose defined in the notification after development, stated TC Gupta, Special Secretary, Town and Country Planning Department.

New Delhi: A new multi-level automated parking lot might reduce parking woes in Connaught Place considerably. It will have a parking space for 2,000-2,500 vehicles and will come up at Baba Kharak Singh (BKS) Marg. It will be right under Coffee Home, facing NDMC’s soon-to-be started multi-level parking, which will have a capacity of 1,804.