Chennai: Tamil Nadu government is unlikely to carryout the annual upward revision of guideline values (government-assigned values at which properties are registered) this year. As several anomalies had cropped up in the revision exercise carried out in April 2012,the state-level valuation committee headed by inspector-general registration has decided to defer the upward revision by a year,highly-placed sources said. The debt-ridden state government had earned substantial revenue through the guideline value revision last year.In the run up to the revision in March 2012,sub-registrar offices witnessed large-scale property transactions and the department mobilized Rs 500 crore registration revenue in just four days. In Chennai,objections were raised over the guideline values fixed on some streets in Alwarpet,Raja Annamalai Puram,Jawaharlal Nehru Salai and Boat Club,where people felt the registration department had fixed abnormally high rates.Large-scale corrections were sought in Chennais suburbs and many parts of Coimbatore like Race Course Road and Trichy Road.The revenue,however,saw a substantial increase in the current financial year.This fiscal,till December end,the revenue from land registration stood at Rs 5,282 crore.It was only Rs 4,744 crore between April and December 2011. As per law,the state-level committee has to revise the value every year in October,but this year we are not doing it, said a senior government official. The panel has so far done downward revision of guideline values for 89 survey numbers.Throughout the state,several thousand petitions seeking downward revision of values are still pending.The deputy registrars have been told to look into complaints and the district level committees headed by district collectors have to send the recommendations to the state-level committee.The work has to be completed by January end, the official said. The existing values,builders say,is already on a par with market rates in some areas and higher in some others.There are enough levies and taxes that make housing unaffordable to the common man.Any further increase in levies will compound the problem, said N Nandakumar,former secretary,Confederation of Real Estate Developers Association of India (Tamil Nadu ).CREDAI has represented the government to consult its office bearers while revising guideline values in future. julie.mariappan@timesgroup.com
LESSER CONGESTION,CHEAPER REAL ESTATE PRICES HAVE PUSHED EDUPRENEURS TO SUBURBS
Ekatha Ann John | TNN
When Irudaya Gandhis husband left for Dubai last year,she had two options continue to live with her children in Royapettah or move closer to her parents in Chitalapakkam.For the 37-year-old,the choice was obvious and she moved. Three years ago,the choice may not have been so easy because I have the childrens education to think about.As there are many schools in the suburbs and I decided to move, said Gandhi,whose children study at N S N Matriculation Higher Secondary School. Five to seven years ago,it was not uncommon to find families moving out of the suburbs in search of good schools in the city.Over the last couple of years,with the development in the suburbs,urban experts have been noticing a trend of reverse migration where families are moving back to the suburbs. While education is among the driving forces for this trend of reverse migration,there are other factors such as congestion in the city,pollution and skyrocketing real estate prices that are driving people to the suburbs, said Raj Cherubal,founder of Chennai City Connect,an NGO. The lack of space has pushed people wishing to start schools outside the city limits.To start a new school within the city is close to impossible.The management has to deal with outdated and unnecessary regulations regarding the size of the buildings and space,among others.The process is relatively hasslefree in the suburbs, he said. Many schools have mushroomed in the southern suburbs such as Chromepet,Chitalapakkam,East Tambaram,Palavanthangal and Madipakkam.When we set up our school in Nanganallur,there were hardly any educational institutions here.Within a decade,at least 10 recognised schools have come up, said K Vasudevan,principal of Prince Matriculation Higher Secondary School,which has more than 2,700 students. Today,only a few banks are headquartered on Anna Salai.A large number of companies and factories are in Sriperambudur or on OMR,unlike some 15 years ago.Residential clusters have started coming up here.With different types of schools coming up,people have no reason not to set up base here, said P Vishnucharan,correspondent of Shree Niketan Group of Schools in Tiruvallur. Despite steep increase in real estate prices,new projects find takers.The prices are as high as 3,500 per sqft,but it is lesser than that city, says Prakash Challa,national vicepresident of real estate body CREDAI.
TRENDSETTERS
Shrinking space and soaring real estate prices has pushed edupreneurs to start schools outside city limits Availability of vast open spaces conducive to learning,cheap labour and real estate prices give these schools an upper hand Setting up of SEZs and better connectivity have encouraged many parents to set up base in suburbs People migrating to Chennai from small towns find it cheaper to set up home in the suburbs Schools invite parents to fill in when there are vacancies of teachers or when existing teachers go on sabbaticals,like maternity leave
EDUCATION MATTERS: Families are moving to calmer suburbs with new schools cropping up
Kendrapada/Bhubaneswar: The state government resumed land acquisition for the proposed Posco steel plant in Jagatsinghpur district on Sunday after a gap of around one-and-a-half years amid stiff resistance from anti-project activists.At least a dozen people were injured as protesters clashed with police in Gobindapur village under Dhinkia gram panchayat. Sources said government officials with the help of armed police swooped on Gobindapur,the main bastion of the anti-land acquisition movement,around 4am.When security forces started their march from Baliththa and entered Gobindapur,a human wall created by anti-land acquisition villagers,including women and children,tried to prevent them.The resistance,however,diminished as police progressed,said sources.As the officials started dismantling the betel vines,the villagers again mounted a stiff resistance and the police lathicharged them. Government sources,however,said the villagers largely-cooperated in the land acquisition process and that the resistance was mild.The betel vine owners cooperated with us and we gave them cheques on the spot.There was not much resistance, said district collector SK Mallick.The government distributed compensation of Rs 32 lakh to the affected villagers.The district administration claimed to have managed to dismantle 25 betel vines in the village with the help of armed police.Posco Pratirodh Sangram Samiti (PPSS) condemned the government action.We will give a fitting reply, said PPSS general secretary Abhaya Sahoo.
Activists at a protest against Posco in Bhubaneswar on Sunday