To everybody’s relief in Gautam Budha Nagar, four air monitoring stations will be installed by Uttar Pradesh Pollution Control Board and the first one will be set up on Noida. In about next 15 days the system is expected to get installed in NCR. The other three will be set up in Greater Noida in the near future.

These air monitoring stations are following the guidelines of the Centre for their set up. The financial cost for these air monitoring stations will be equally divided by the state and the central agencies. The budget decided for installation for these stations is Rs.5 crores.

Centre and the state government, both have the responsibility to set up more air monitoring stations to keep check on the pollution levels and update about the same to the public.
The first air monitoring station of Noida is going to be set up in the Amity University, sector 126 by the UPPCB and the centre. This way the residents will be constantly updated about the pollution levels of the surroundings.

The two already existing air monitoring stations, situated in sectors 1 and sector 6, work on the manual system, therefore the residents remain unaware of the updates of pollution level. Also, they are able to cover only 30% of the area in Noida.

Although the quality of air in the NCR remains an issue to be constantly looked into, Noida still doesn’t have even a single automatic air monitoring machine installed by UPPCB. Since, every calculation is done manually, it takes up a lot of time to complete the report.

Located in sector 62, the system of air quality and weather forecasting and research (safar), obtains its funding from the centre. But the main drawback is that it provides data for only those sectors which are situated off the NH 24.

The level of pollution is always a matter of concern in the NCR because of its increasing levels but Greater Noida is still deprived of any kind air monitoring system, be it automatic or even manual. Due to this people do not get the information regarding the intensity of pollution and hence are not able to take precautions accordingly.

The automatic air monitoring system is designed to provide data on 12 parameters which are the cause of pollution such as NO2, CO2 etc.

The high level of pollution in Noida is caused by the various on-going construction projects, 7000 industrial units and six sewage treatment plants.

In order to ensure freedom to Sahara Chairman Subrata Roy, the Sahara Group is expected to sell off properties in several cities besides its stake in Greater Noida’s Formula One racing team. All these stakes are estimated at a value of Rs. 6000 crores. The amount collected on account of sale shall be then deposited to the court on account of penalty levied on Sahara Group due to illegal Scheme launched by it.

In 2014, Roy was arrested and sent to Jail as he was not able to pay a penalty of Rs 24,700 crores as levied by Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) on account of two illegal schemes launched by Sahara group and the same amount is required to be disbursed among its investors. The group has already disposed off its 16 properties across country and deposited Rs. 12000 crores with SEBI. The next hearing date is scheduled for April and the Group is expected to deposit another large tranche by then. Sahara Counsel, Kapil Sibal even offered to pay the balance of arrears within 22 months instead of 33 months which was soughed by the Group initially.

A bench comprising Justices A K Sikri, Dipak Misra and Ranjan Gogoi was reluctant in providing such a long duration in context to the repayment of arrears and probed Sibal that why the Group is seeking so much time to dispose-off properties. With the host of properties on list at various cities, the bench asked Sahara Group to raise another Rs. 1536 crore by selling off these properties. But the group expressed its inability to commit the specified amount on account of sale of these properties as the real estate segment is unstable post-demonetization.

After being in Jail for 2 years, Roy was released on parole last year to attend the funeral of his mother. Since then the court has put a pressure on the Roy that he shall sent back to jail if he will not pay off all its dues within a reasonable time.

Selling off a share in Formula 1 racing track in Greater Noida seems imperative for Subrata Roy.

As demonetization took place, real estate came into the loop when PM Narendra Modi had called upon note ban on November 8, 2017. In fact, it was one of the most affected sectors of the Indian economy which is still facing huge liquidity crunch. But, what is the best way to come out of this cash crisis? It is the Real Estate Investment Trusts (REITs) which can greatly help the real estate sector in coping up with the liquidity crunch.

REITs are like substitute elements for real estate investment which gives investors a chance to invest in realty sector. REITs basically manage assets which they have in their portfolio and work similarly in the way as stock markets. Here, the realty investors play the role of shareholders. In 2014, the government had dispatched the guidelines to execute and facilitate the launch of first REIT.

Working of REITs
REITs fundamental working principle is the raising of funds and investing them. They raise funds from the willing investors and invest this money in the different real estate properties. There are two ways to invest this money – directly or by a special purpose vehicle (SPV). If the investment is done through the SPV, it is supposed to hold not less than 50% in equity. And in the REITs assets, SPV should hold 80% equity. The minimum number of requirement of subscribers to form REITs is 200 (related parties excluded). Also, in the initial offer, the minimum public share should always be more than 25% of the total number of units of the REITs.

The Beneficiaries
Both kinds of investors- institutional and retail find REITs very alluring. Investors see REITs as a great way for constant flowing current income at the same time an option for long-term growth.
As per the experts, REITs have huge growth opportunities in India. Though it yields just mediocre returns but the fact that it is relatively safe makes it a sought-after option among investors. REITs are expected to attract a huge amount of retail investors who previously could not do so because of various reasons.

High level of involvement is predicted as the minimum amount of investment is just Rs. 2Lakhs.

REITs will be providing new ways to face the cash crunch prevailing in the real estate market. They will also provide guidance to adjust the leveraging of the companies. Ambitious investors who even only want to expand their investments in real estate will also find REITs interesting.

The reduction in income tax rate will give you a chance to save a part of your income and prepay a part of home loan. This pre-payment will reduce the interest cost and also the overall term of the loan.

As per the new decision of the Finance Minister in the budget, the income tax rate is reduced to 5% from 10% for the slab of 2.5 lakhs-5 lakhs. With this decision, now various professionals will be able to save their money on taxes. Also, as many people have been using the tax saving ways under Section 80C, they will be able to bring down their tax liability to zero. This will ultimately lead to dispose off their extra income.

According to the existing provisions, if an individual’s total income does not cross the limit of 5 lakh per annum, he or she will be provided with a rebate of Rs. 5000 for the income tax payable under section 87A. The amendment in the income tax rate has also proposed to reduce the amount of rebate to Rs.2500, from the existing Rs.5000. Further, only individuals who will have an income of Rs.3.50 lakhs per annum and not more will be able to avail this rebate.

These measures and changes will benefit those with an income of up to 3 lakhs per annum as they will bear no tax liability. Even people with an income between 3-3.50 lakhs per annum will only have to pay Rs. 2500 as their tax liability. Moreover, if individuals with an income of Rs. 4.50 lakhs per annum completely exhaust their exemption of Rs.1.50 lakhs under section 80C, their tax liability will be zero.

The other categories of taxpayers in the later slabs will also benefit from this measure as they will be able to save up to Rs. 12,500 per annum.

These savings can be used tactfully to either pay the EMIs of the loans for reduced burden with reduced income tax or can be used to pay a part of the principal amount of the loan to reduce the overall interest cost.

Nobody would have ever thought of paying for the waste, but now the south corporation has approved the proposal stating users to pay waste generation charges for producing Construction and Demolition waste. C&D Waste Management rules which came out in 2016 has been the basis for determining the charge.

Any user who generates more than 20 tonnes a day or 300 tonnes per month will be eligible to pay for the course and dumping of both types of waste – construction and demolition. Along with the charge, they will also have to pay for its gathering, depot and transportation. This is the same policy which had earlier implied by the north corporation by setting a waste plant of construction and demolition of waste in Burari.

The south corporation has decided that after setting up its own plant it will –
• Impose a processing fee of Rs. 205 per metric tonne when the allowance of the building plan is given.
• Impose a processing of Rs. 225 per metric tonne if the waste is lifted from a dumping ground. It will be increased after every two years.

The areas which come under the south corporation generate waste to an extent of about 500 metric tonnes every day.

Since there were no rules to be followed before this policy, the waste was dumped by people in open spaces which led to huge amounts of dust pollution. This policy will help in regulating and controlling the dust pollution caused by malba. The most productive outcome of this policy will be recycling of this waste which can be used for rural roads, paving blocks etc.

The south corporation is determined to put a check on illegal constructions also by asking its zonal offices to levy a fine on any such case witnessed. This fine is said to be 1.5 times more than the waste generation charges.