Bank pays for blacklisting, threatening customer

C Unnikrishnan | TNN

Mumbai: The next time a bank offers a free credit card, think twice before saying yes. An advocate learnt this the hard way when a bank recently went to the extent of notifying his name as a defaulter with the Credit Information Bureau of (India) Limited (Cibil) even though it was not his fault.

The move meant that the advocate, K P Sreejith, would have found it impossible to avail a bank loan. However, refusing to take things lying down, Sreejith sued the bank, which was then directed by the consumer dispute redressal forum to pay up Rs 25,000 towards ‘mental agony and loss of reputation’ and another Rs 5,000 towards cost of litigation.

In August 2007, Barclay Bank approached Sreejith and offered a free life-time credit card considering his “good payment track record”.

Sreejith, who was initially reluctant, accepted the offer. On October 7, 2007, he made a purchase of Rs 918 through the card. A month later, the bank informed Sreejith over phone that he had not made the payment due on November 17.

Sreejith claimed that he had not received the statement but promptly paid the amount in accordance with the bank’s instructions. But soon he got the statement, in which where he was charged Rs 300 towards delayed payment. After Sreejith failed to get through to the bank over the phone, he sent an e-mail explaining the situation and requested them waive off the late fee.

The bank reverted saying the m at t e r had been forwarded to the department concerned. Even as the dispute was on, the late fee amount accumulated to Rs 2,000 and the bank allegedly sent recovery agents, who threatened Sreejith with dire consequences if the amount was not paid.

On January 4, 2008, the bank sent a letter to Sreejith asking him to pay Rs 734 and suspended his card. In February, the bank wrote saying the card would be permanently withdrawn and details would be forwarded to Cibil. On March 3, the bank carried out its threat after which Sreejith approached the consumer forum.

The bank denied issuing any threats and said levying late fee was proper. The bank also said that Cibil is not a defaulters’ list but only a data base of customers’ credit history.

The bank filed an affidavit saying the charges were reversed and there was no outstanding, which was intimated to Cibil.
The forum comprising president S P Mahajan and members Jyoti Iyer and S S Patil observed the bank had no regards for RBI directives as complaints to the customer services head was not attended to.

“The act of the bank in employing recovery agents is highly deplorable and it appears that the bank has no respect for the rule of the law.’’ the forum added.

Bangalore’s open drains

Another drain death and yet another drill of blame game

H S BALRAM

Why do our authorities run around in circles whenever they face an emergency?Why do they go on the defensive and engage in blame-game?

Why are they quick only in reeling out the reasons for a problem than finding a solution? Why do they fail to act upon umpteen promises made and decisions taken? Why do they refuse to learn from mistakes?

Take the killer drains of Bangalore. Four months ago, six-year-old Abhishek was washed away in an overflowing storm water drain. His body hasn’t been traced yet.

Four days ago a one-and-ahalf-year-old Vijay met the same fate. No trace of his body too. In both the cases, civic staff and fire force men went through a gruelling exercise of scouring the drains full of silt and filth. All in vain. The families of the victims are spending agonizing days.

The war of words that we witnessed after the Abhishek tragedy has surfaced again. Citizens blame the BBMP for not only leaving the drains open but also failing to desilt them. The BBMP in turn accuses the citizens of not taking care of their children during rains. It also charges them with throwing garbage into drains and choking them.

Then it turns to developers and accuses them of encroaching upon drains, narrowing them in the process and preventing free flow of rain water. While the blamegame is on, what does the government do? Just doles out compensation, makes some promises and retreats till another tragedy occurs.

Two senior ministers are in charge of Bangalore city. We have a minister for urban development. An adviser to the CM on urban planning. A proactive commissioner at the helm in BBMP.

A task force called ABide that works closely with the CM and makes recommendations. Many private companies are ever ready to chip in to resolve the city’s woes. RWAs are ready to help the civic staff rectify problems. Where then are the hitches?

Is the BBMP afraid of taking on the encroachers because of their political connections? If so, then the CM must step in, stand by the BBMP and give it a free hand to clear all encroachments at the earliest. The government cannot dilly-dally on this.

Is there difference of opinion on closure of drains? If yes, what are the arguments of those who oppose it? Can’t experts put their heads together and arrive at a consensus? The lives of citizens are at stake.

Sadly, we seem to wake up only when a tragedy occurs. We pledge religiously to work towards averting such tragedies. And then forget about it once the euphoria dies down. Only to wake up with a jolt when another tragedy strikes us. It’s time we stopped blaming one another and joined hands to make Bangalore a better place to live.
PARTING SHOT

Lesson for Late Latifs
Our netas have a lesson to learn from US consul general in Chennai, Andrew T Simkin. A couple of days ago he was in Bangalore to launch a ‘virtual consulate’. But he couldn’t reach the venue as he was caught in the city’s infamous traffic jam. As he was behind schedule, he called the venue and asked his staff to go ahead with the programme, so that ‘nobody should be kept waiting’. The programme began soon after with a consulate official launching the website. When can we see such professionalism in our netas?
balram.singh@timesgroup.com

IIT IIM : Professors aggrieved by HRD ministry actions

In a war of words the IIT / IIM professors are no match for Kapil Sibal who is a lawyer by profession, and also a politician.

He also has the wily bureaucracy behind him.

The aim of HRD ministry is ‘total control’. The dons cannot beat the bureaucracy.

Upset over pay, IIT profs to teach on empty stomach

Directors Label Protest An Ego Issue

TIMES NEWS NETWORK

New Delhi: The IIT faculty all over the country will teach but on an empty stomach on September 24 in protest against the pay revision announced by the HRD ministry on September 16. But their protest has not gone down well with the IIT directors who label it as an “ego issue”.

The matter seems to have hit a logjam. On September 25, a meeting between IIT faculty and directors has been called to sort out the issue. “The IIT faculty is raising ego-based issues not data-based issues. They want the moon,” one IIT director said. The All India IIT Faculty Federation (AIIITFF), however, says their protest is not about money.

“There is a big misconception about our protest,” one IIT-Bombay faculty member said. In fact, the teachers point out that the pay commission recommendations have gone beyond the mandate and “infringe on the autonomy” of IITs.

“We have a flexible cadre system that cannot accept regulations on the number of people hired at any level. Specifications such as 10% of the total faculty has to be hired at the level of ‘assistant professors on contract’, only 40% of professors with six years of experience at that level can advance to the next academic grade pay (AGP), etc. go against this spirit and cannot be accepted,” AIIITFF said in a statement.

“How is it about money?” one faculty member asked. But one IIT director said, “There is no way that autonomy of IITs can be affected by the government order. Every professor in IIT has enough independence.” It is also pointed out that the faculty bypassed the directors and directly approached HRD minister Kapil Sibal.

AIIITFF has also pointed out that there is an open selection policy for all advancements in career, wherein the candidates are judged on academic criteria like teaching effectiveness, sponsored/consultancy projects undertaken, masters and PhD thesis guidance, research publications and corporate responsibilities.

“Those who meet the criteria advance to the next level.” There is no space for defining in advance limits to how many people can be promoted, AIIITFF said.

IIM-A board to meet on Sept 25

Indian Institute of Management, Ahmedabad, board will meet on September 25 to take a decision on the implementation of a new government order on pay structure that has been opposed by the faculty members, sources said.

The IIM-A faculty council during its meeting held on Saturday had opposed the government order on pay revision and asked IIM-A director Samir Barua to delay its implementation by a month. PTI

GOA: Foreigners beware when buying property

Change In Laws, Builder Scams Threaten Investment Of Hundreds Of Foreigners In State

Nicola Smith

Hundreds of Britons may lose their holiday homes and life savings in Goa after falling foul of changes in local laws and scams by builders and lawyers. Some allege they are victims of racism and have been told to ‘‘go home’’.

Many invested tens of thousands of pounds a few years ago in legitimate transactions, only to be told the rules had changed and their properties may be confiscated. In one of the most common scenarios in Goa, British buyers were told by local lawyers and the Reserve Bank of India that they could legally own property if they set up an Indian company and made the transaction through it. By 2007, the rules on foreigners owning property through a business appeared to have changed, though only in Goa.

The region used to be part of the hippie trail, but has reinvented itself as a package-holiday centre. It attracts 1,00,000 British holidaymakers a year, 60% of its foreign tourist trade.

The new interpretation of the law by the Goan authorities has left hundreds, such as Su Peplow, 57, from Bedfordshire, without property deeds and facing large financial losses.

In 2005, Peplow, a quality director for a human tissue research association, decided to retire to Goa with her husband. They settled on a two-storey flat under construction in Cavelossim, a fishing village, and invested more than £20,000. The couple signed a contract for a
56-month lease with a right to buy. Like many others, they hired local lawyers to help them and were advised to set up a business to buy the flat.

Peplow’s husband died in 2006 and she decided to proceed with the purchase alone. She paid the builder for registration of the deeds, transfer of the utilities into her name, land tax and stamp duties. She also handed over £6,500 for furniture and renovation, and paid legal fees.

After she paid the final instalment to the builder, he reportedly said he could not transfer the deeds as he would be ‘‘breaking Goan laws’’. Her lawyer disappeared and she stands to lose her entire investment when the lease runs out.

Another Briton said despite a letter from RBI affirming that she had done everything legally, she was told by a local subregistrar that he ‘‘couldn’t register our property as I was white and a foreigner’’.

Vikram Varma, a local lawyer, said more than 1,000 people could have been caught out by changes in the laws and by builders’ scams. The British deputy high commissioner is being sent to Goa to hear people’s concerns.

The enforcement directorate and Goan government declined to comment.

The difficulties coincided with a popular movement opposing the purchase of large tracts of land by Indian and Russian developers as Goans fear losing their cultural identity.

SUNDAY TIMES, LONDON

Deaths of children in the cotton fields of Gujarat: GOVT APATHY

GOVT APATHY CONTINUES

5 more die in Bt cotton fields of Gujarat

Rao Jaswant Singh | TNN

Jaipur: Barely a week after TOI first reported the deaths of children in the Bt cotton fields of Gujarat (August 28), five more deaths have been reported from the area, taking the total number of those dead in just over a month to 10. A majority of the dead are children, including six girls.

All those who died had been trafficked from Udaipur-Dungarpur-Banswara region of Rajasthan. They were taken to work in the Bt cotton fields at Gujarat’s Banaskantha district, when the cross-pollination season began July-end.

Ironically, even after so many deaths, the district administration has failed to check the migration and initiate action against middlemen, who take children from Rajasthan to Gujarat.

Dakshin Rajasthan Majdoor Union, a social organisation working for migrant workers, has been spreading awareness and also helping the affected families in their fight for justice. Executive member of DRMU, Sudhir Katiyar, told TOI that the deceased workers included Bhuri Ben (14), Haju Ben (16), Madi Ben (16) and Ramesh (14) — all from Dungarpur district — and Basu Hakra Kharadi (13) of Udaipur, Rekha Adela (19) and Nathi Ben (40) of Udaipur, Raju Nemchand (21) of Banswara and an unidentified child worker.

Preliminary investigation by the NGO revealed that Basu Hakra died after congestion and respiratory problems, Rekha and Raju died under mysterious conditions while Nathi Ben died due to snake bite, but no postmortem was done in her case.

Katiyar said though police have registered a case, investigation is still on. ‘‘The cotton field owners are strong enough and police are hand in glove with them,’’ he alleged.In two days, seven Maha farmers kill self

TIMES NEWS NETWORK

Farmers’ deaths in Maharashtra: Government apathy

Nagpur: With less than 40 days left for Maharashtra assembly elections, the farmers’ suicide crisis is raising its ugly head once again. Seven farmers committed suicide in the last two days in various parts of Vidarbha region, taking the this year’s toll to 638, an NGO that tracks suicides claimed on Saturday.

Vidarbha is facing a severe drought. Yavatmal district, the epicentre of the farm suicide crisis, is worst-hit with a rainfall deficiency of about 40%. ‘‘The rains in last 10 days brought some hope as it ended a prolonged dry spell. But the damage has already been done.

The unprecedented shortfall in monsoon has led to a large-scale pest attack destroying standing crop of soyabean and cotton, the two main cash crops of the region,’’ said Vidarbha Janandolan Samiti president Kishore Tiwari.

‘‘The mealy bug has not spared the high-cost genetically modified Bt cotton seed in Vidarbha this year. More than 90% farmers took to Bt seeds believing the claims of it being safe from pest attacks. But despite farmers spraying pesticide almost on alternative days, the crop has been ruined,’’ Tiwari told TOI from Pandharkawda, a main cotton growing centre in Yavatmal.

Delhi Govt helpline fails to stem capital’s tree-felling spree

Govt helpline fails to stem capital’s tree-felling spree

TIMES NEWS NETWORK

New Delhi: The government may be trying to extend its green cover in the city but the existing greens seem to be in trouble. Residents claim that despite the setting up of a tree helpline, no action is generally taken on complaints made. At times, even the complaint number is not given.

Incidentally, the Delhi Tree Protection Act says that no trees can be cut or pruned without permission from the forest department of the Delhi government.

The idea behind tree helpline, which was set up by the Delhi government three years ago, was to involve citizens in protection of trees. However, residents claim that despite repeated complaints to the helpline to report ‘‘merciless’’ pruning of trees in the Rohini area, the forest department has not initiated any action.

Upset by the inaction of the department, Sanjiv Kumar, a resident of sector 9, Rohini, says he’s even shot off a letter to the environment secretary. ‘‘Over the past few weeks, trees in the Rohini area have been pruned and even cut without the requisite permission. Repeated complaints to the tree helpline have not rescued the trees from their fate,’’ says Kumar.

Kumar, in fact, says that ‘‘hacking’’ of trees indiscriminately has been happening for some time now, with no response from the forest department. ‘‘Not only written complaints but even pictures of the felled trees have been provided. But no action taken,’’ adds the resident. Residents in the area allege that the unconcern shown by the local authorities has resulted in several trees falling in the recent storms.

‘‘The roots are left exposed during all the road digging and other civic works that happen here. We’ve called the tree helpline to register complaints but nothing has been done about the trees. As a result, even as small storm makes these trees topple over,’’ added Parul Chhabbra, a resident. Adds Kumar, ‘‘We’ve obviously no complaints about pruning. But this is killing the greens, and the tree helpline should be more accessible to residents.’’

Government authorities claim that the helpline has been registering calls, with no complaints coming in about complaint number not being provided. However, they do admit that lack of adequate manpower means that not all calls are attended immediately.

‘‘Permission for pruning and cutting trees has to be taken from us. But it is not possible for us to attend to every complaint that we receive. We don’t even have the required manpower,’’ said a senior forest department official.
toireporter@timesgroup.com

To curb power theft : Ludhiana / Pune show the way

‘Transmission Losses’ (official  term for pilfering or bijali chori) are as high as 40 % in Delhi.

Politicians and dadas and industries drawing power illegally are against any action to reduce power theft.

Novel way to curb power theft

TIMES NEWS NETWORK

Pune: The Maharashtra State Electricity Distribution Company Ltd (MSEDCL) has adopted a novel plan to curb power thefts and reduce interruptions in supply to city’s major slum pockets and Pimpri-Chinchwad township.

The method was first tried by the Punjab power utility in Ludhiana and is called the ‘Ludhiana Pattern’. The pattern uses aerial bunch conductors and the electricity meters of consumers are installed atop a tall pole to make them inaccessible. Even the MSEDCL staffers have to use a ladder to take the metre readings.

Aerial bunch conductors have a plastic coating which does not allow the current to pass if a hook is attached to the conductor to steal power. To tap electricity from a normal open conductor all one has to do is put a hook attached to a wire on the conductor.

In Pune, the pattern has been replicated in the Annabhau Sathenagar slum in Sangvi, Pimpri division of MSEDCL. R A Mulani, executive engineer of Pimpri division, said that 114 consumers in the Annabhau Sathe slum were given electricity connections and their metres were put atop a seven-metre-high pole.

“The metres have been fixed in a big box to protect them from thieves and elements of nature,” Mulani said, adding that an aerial bunch conductor was fitted at the point of supply instead of the usual conductor.

Mulani said that another 103 slumdwellers from the same locality have applied for power connections and they too will be given connections using the same method. “It cost us Rs 10 lakh for implementing this system,” he said. Besides preventing power thefts the experiment has also reduced instances of power interruption resulting from sudden increase in load when power is tapped illegally.

The Ludhiana Pattern was also replicated at Janatavasahat slum near Parvati, where 120 consumers were given electricity connections. Fifteen metres each were fitted in eight boxes, which in turn were put up on seven-metre-tall poles at a cost of Rs 2.50 lakh. Consumers in Dandekar bridge slum, too, were given electricity connections using the same technique.

“Since the arrangement makes illegal tapping of power impossible, one does not see the usual mesh of cables on the pole which is a common site in a slum,” explained an official of the MSEDCL.

The officials added that the MSEDCL planned to implement the pattern in other slum pockets in Pune zone.
The project was implemented under the supervision of executive director Uttam Zalte, chief engineer S P Nagtilak and superintending engineer D R Padalkar.

Projects in Mumbai: Grand development plans or an exercise in futility?

Grand development plans or an exercise in futility?

In the last 20 yrs, barely 20% of proposals have seen the light of day

Clara Lewis | TNN

Mumbai:

A tottering infrastructure, disappearing open spaces, an unmanageable population. These are just some of the problems that plague the city; proof that the BMC’s current Development Plan (DP), which will expire in 2013, is a failure. It was nearly 20 years in the making, and towards the fag end of its life, only 20 per cent of the proposals have been implemented.

The first DP for Mumbai was prepared by the BMC in 1964, but was sanctioned in parts by the state government between 1965 and ’67. In 1977, the BMC undertook the task of revising the DP. Once again, the revised DP was sanctioned in parts from 1990 to 1994. Now, the civic administration is set to revise the city’s DP for 2014-2034.

ill date, the BMC has succeeded in acquiring barely 12 to 14 per cent of the total land required to implement the existing DP that is valid till 2013. But the question that citizens can’t help but ask is whether these blueprints for Mumbai is yet another exercise in futility.

Municipal commissioner Jairaj Phatak said the problem with the 20-year DP is that often the planning is divorced from finances. “While preparing the plan, we don’t really take into account the ability of the authority to implement the plan,” he said.
According to Phatak, 21 million sq m of land was to be acquired for various public amenities for the current DP. “So far, 18 million sq m remains to be acquired. The two million that has been acquired has been by way of Transfer of Development Rights (TDR). Only 1.21 million sq m has been acquired under the conventional Land Acquisition Act,” he said.

Ashish Shelar, BJP corporator and standing committee member said: “First, the BMC does not have the will to implement it. Second, there has always been interference from the urban development department, and several changes were made to the DP,” he said.

Urban planners and activists say the DP looks good only on paper. According to Neera Punj, convenor Citispace, a citizens group fighting to preserve the city’s open spaces, there is a disconnect between what is written in the DP and the ground reality. “One of the aims of the DP was to protect open spaces, but over the years these have been dwindling,” she said.

Aims Of A DP | Town planning is the main aim of a DP. Other goals include, but are not limited to:
Proposals for allocating the use of land for residential, industrial, commercial, agricultural and recreational purposes Designation of land for public purposes such as educational, medical and public health institutions Transport projects such as roads, highways, airports, etc Preservation and conservation of green and open spaces Proposals for flood control and curtailing river pollution
What Went Wrong With The Existing DP? | Work on the existing plan began in 1977 and was finally sanctioned in 1993. However, only 20% of the proposals were implemented

Of the 21 million sq metres to be acquired only three million has been acquired till date Another glitch in Mumbai’s DP, say urban planners, is that it is largely drafted by the BMC. In 2007, Madhav Chitale, who headed the panel that examined the reasons that led to the 26/7 deluge, told TOI that, “Town-planning as a scientific discipline is absent in the BMC.’’ He added that civic body needs to have an in-house set of trained town-planners who do not treat land as a commodity and whose plans for the city are not driven by property interests

Response To The DP For 2014-2034
The Expression of Interest is silent on the issue of local participation. Industrialist and civic activist Cyrus Guzder said the plan should be prepared at two levels. “At the official level, you have the strategists who set the vision for the city. At the polling booth level, local residents should plan how their area should be developed. The two should be integrated.’’ The idea of inviting Expression of Interest seeking conversion of salt plan lands into residential and commercial zones has been criticised by urban planners

Raj Thackeray: Ration Cards should not be proof for ID

‘Ration cards can’t be used as ID proof’

Somit Sen & Sanjeev Shivadekar | TNN

Mumbai: MNS chief Raj Thackeray has demanded that ration cards should not be allowed as an identity proof for assembly elections. He has decided to take up the issue with the chief election commissioner (CEC) in Delhi.

Thackeray submitted a memorandum in this connection to Maharashtra’s chief electoral officer Debashish Chakrabarty on Wednesday. He said the party will bring to the notice of the EC practice of using of bogus ration cards on voting day. He added that ration cards in Maharashtra did not have photographs of family members.

“In other states, the cards bear photographs. In our state, they do not have photographs and should not be allowed as proof of identity.”

He asked the EC to allow politicians to use government guest houses/bungalows during campaigns in villages and demanded a single window clearance for permissions to hold rallies, meetings and campaign trails.