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Editor’s Note

palash_royOn April 25, the neighbouring nation of Nepal was shaken with a devastating earthquake of 7.8-magnitude. And its tremors were felt not only in the bordering Indian states of West Bengal, Bihar and Uttar Pradesh, but also thousand kilometres away from the epicenter, in Delhi, and adjoining National Capital Territory (NCR). With huge loss of lives and property, the focus was again shifted to the safety of the structures we live in. In our cover story this month, we dig deep into the issue.

Ours was the first nation which promptly swung into action for the rescue operations in Nepal. A huge contingent of National Disaster Response Force (NDRF) reached Kathmandu within six hours of the tragedy. The work done by the NDRF team was widely appreciated.

We speak to the man leading this team – OP Singh, Director General, NDRF. In a free-wheeling chat with Realty & More, Singh shares his experience, details out measures which we ought to take, and spells out the preventive measures which the real estate and
construction sector needs to take. The senior IPS Rolding an MBA in disaster management stresses on the most important need of community-training to tackle disasters.

Realty behemoth DLF value-adds to the earthquake coverage by speaking on the measures it takes for the safety of inhabitants of its structures. Incidentally, as the issue was going to the press, another earthquake of 7.3-magnitude struck the kingdom nation again!
Moving on…since Modi Government came to power almost a year back, the single most talked about topic in the real state sector has been creation of 100 smart cities. On April 29, the Union Cabinet cleared a proposal to spend ~48,OOO crore over the next five years for the project. For this pet project of the Prime Minister, each selected city will get Rs 1 00 crore per year for next five years. And the cities would be selected through a ‘City Challenge Competetion’.

The much-contentious amendments to the Land Acquisition Act got a jolt just about a month before Narendra Modi is to complete his first year as the Prime Minister-at an Aam Admi Party (AAP) rally in New Delhi, a farmer from Rajasthan committed suicide. This further gave rise to anti-Bill voices. We put together various viewpoints on the issue.

On being asked by Realty & More, stalwarts of the real estate sector were forthcoming in expressing their views on Modi Government’s one year. Though they were unanimous in appreciating the Government, we did not find them too upbeat. Come summer, come power woes. This time it’s not only the old issue of frequent and prolonged power cuts – it’s also power tariffs in residential apartments in Noida which is causing a lot of perspiration. Residents allege profiteering by developers while being charged for power. On the controversial issue Realty & More speaks to Arvind Rajvedi, Superintending Engineer, Electricity
Urban Distribution Circle, Noida.

In our Developerspeak section this issue, three different developers speak out on three different issues including DLF strengthening the quake-related coverage by detailing how it is non-compromising when it comes to the safety issues of the residents of its projects.

Gaursons Director Manju Gaur reveals how green conscious it is, and how it adheres to all the norms, more so when it comes to environmental-related guidelines. Dhiraj Jain, Director of another NCR-based realty major Mahagun points out the growing demand of luxury housing and its answer to that. Moving onto our regular features – new residential launches in various cities, prevailing property rates in various localities of some of the key cities, the home loan rates of leading lenders, the news developments of the sector over the past one month and our Vastu column in which the expert details out this time tips for small sized enterprises. Lastly, your monthly horoscope!