It
is no secret that not only the value of immovable properties have come down
considerably for the last several months, But
there are no buyers of properties even at the lowered figure. The number of
transactions in Sub-Registrars offices throughout the country can be said to be
almost negligible. This situation is likely to continue for few more months or
for one or two years and till the global economic situation stabilizes and the
employment opportunities improve.
Though
the market value of properties are down by 30 to 40 per cent and the property
developers are ready to sell their properties at the reduced prices, the State
Governments are still in no mood to reduce the guidelines value of properties
fixed by them when the property market was at boom and are turning a blind eye
to the ground realities with the result that the purchasers of immovable
properties have to pay stamp duty and registration charges at a higher value as
fixed under guidelines value than payable at the prevailing fair market value.
This attitude of the State Governments is highly deplorable and can be termed
as a crime on the society and the people.
At
least now when the market value of immovable properties have come down
considerably and the purchasing power of a large number of people is reduced
beyond imagination, while the banks have reduced their interest rates onhousing loans under instructions of Reserve Bank of India, it would nothing but
be fair and proper for the State Governments to initiate action without further
delay to reduce the guidelines value to fall in line with the market value of
properties.
In
Karnataka, the revised guidelines value of properties as per the revised rates
effective from 19.4.2007 is definitely on the higher side.
It
is not the prerogative of the Government to continue maintain the guidelines
value fixed by it when the property price were at their peak even when there is
slump in the real estate market. When the government swiftly acts to make
upward revision of guidelines value to get more revenue, in the same fashion
the government should swiftly act to reduce the guidelines value when the market
is on the downward trend.
The
significance of
SIP (Systematic
Investment Plan) in mutual funds can be properly comprehended at the time stock indices are going up and down often. SIP refers to investing money at spaced intervals in smaller quantities as against making a one-time lump sum investment
The desired end is to capitalize on the volatility of equity
markets by causing the average purchase cost to be lowered, Nobody
will argue about the usefulness of a SIP but there is also a darker
side to it Let us weigh the pros and
cons of it:
1 ) The most important benefit of a SIP is the chance
to reduce the average cost This can be done when equity markets go
through a stormy patch, As the investment amount of each installment is fixed
there is a gain for the investor who receives a higher
number of units. Here is an example:
Let us suppose that the monthly investment installment
is Rs. l, 000 and the net asset value (NAV) of the fund
is Rs.50. This will cause 20 units of the fund
to be credited to the investor. Next month if there is a volatile market the
fund's NAV will fall to RsAO. This
in turn will cause a lowering in the average purchase cost; and in this way the
investor will have 25 units credited to his account. What
this means is that a SIP can assist investors in benefiting from volatility in
equity markets.
2)A lack of discipline in investing invites trouble for us. Very
often when we keep money aside for the purpose of investment we end up using it
for other purposes. The investor is thus removed far from his goals, With
an SIP the investor continues to be invested in a disciplined way and remains
on course to accomplish his financial goals.
3)An excuse that is often heard for not investing is the lack of
money, By lowering the minimum investment amount Sip solves this problem.
4)For instance the minimum investment amount for a lump sum investment
in a diversified equity fund may be Rs.5,000, it
can be as low as Rs.500, for a SIP. This route of investment is more withinyour pocket
5)Very often investors try to time the market to get invested
when markets have bottomed out This task is not within the reach of most
investors, A SIP investment nullifies market tirmng. As it
is an ongoing investment investors can focus more on urgent matters,
1 )If equity markets rise
in a secular way a SIP could fail in lowering the average purchase cost. This
is possible in shorter periods of time. In
this case investing through a SIP could become more expensive than a lump sum
investment. The answer is to go for a SIP that runs through a suitable time
frame of perhaps 12-24 months,
2)A SIP becomes aimless if it
is not a part of an investment plan, It is
not an end in itself but only a means to an
end, It should be part of an investment plan with an aim.
3)Whatever the SIP may be a fund that is not well-managed will stay
that way. You have to choose a fund that is properly
managed which is right for the investor and then only should you invest in it
through a SIP
There are a number of plus points in the SIP method of investing
and there may be times when it may not come up to our expectations,
Investors should make investment decisions after getting to know all the facts
and conditions, large city like Bangalore with 8.00
million population and about 3.50
million vehicles requires multi-model transport to provide better mass transportation
facilities for the convenience of the citizens.
Without such a system the traffic
congestion is critical and the city is facing serious vehicular pollution and
noise pollution, long hours of joumey, slow
vehicle speeds to reach the localities, too
many road accidents, serious
parking problems, and frustration for going through all these tortures every
day for travel to reach work places and other destinations for working and living.
This situation is due to non-introduction of a Rapid Transit System ( RTS ) when
the population reached 3.00 million. It is to be stated here that that metro rail was introduced in
Paris in the year 1900. We may observe inlarge cities of Europe that the traffic congestion and number ofpedestrians on roads are less due to the convenient metro systemconnecting localities and the city center.
Citizens
get into the metro stations which are available in most of
the localities within a distance of 1 km and get out from the metro stations
near the work places or other destinations. They
do not wait like the citizens of Bangalore for mass transportation.
In Paris the frequency of metro trains is only 2
minutes. There are metros in 105 cities of the
World already. In Bangalore metro is being introduced
110 years after
it was introduced in Paris. Another
unfortunate proposal under implementation
in the Bangalore metro is the standard gauge adopted instead
of the broad gauge to enable linking to the national net work of Railways
as suggested by the Railways.
In case ofstandard gauge coaches are to air lifted and placed on the rails instead of bringing
them by rail in the case of broad gauge metro. When
metro adopted broad gauge in Kolkata and Delhi, why Bangalore
adopted standard gauge requires to be explained. However, citizens in
Bangalore are suffering without a multi-model
transport system. Any number of widening of roads or
construction of flyovers or under passes will not improve the
situation which we have observed so far. By the
time two phases and extension of metro is completed, the population of the city will be 10 million
and the number of vehicles will be about 4.30 million
leading to critical traffic and transportation situation.
The Central Road Research Institute (CRRI), Delhi which
conducted Comprehensive Traffic and Transportation Surveys and
Studies of Bangalore reported that according to the western experience, if the population
of a city exceeds the limit of one million, the road
based bus service alone cannot cope up with
the increase in demand for travel. The
Institute recommended in the year 1964 introduction of Rapid Rail Transit
System in Bangalore.
They also recommended Ring
Railway in the City by connecting the link between Mysore
line, HAL siding, and Salem line on the southern side
where there is no railway line. Bangalore
had a population of 1.20
million population in the year 1961 according to the Census, 1961. In the year
1964, when CRR! recommended Rapid Rail Transit System, the population
was about 1.27 million. But no action was taken since then and the result is the present
bad traffic and transportation situation. At least now there is some effort
to improve the situation by considering proposals to introduce the Multi-modal
Transport System.
Multi-modal Transport System is suggested incorporating
the Metro Rail in two phases, and the extension recently approved by Government
as the main rapid transit system and monorail on either side of the metro
line routes as feeder service. BMTC bus transport will
act as feeder service to mono rail and metro
rail according to the existing road network in various parts of the
City. The metro and the monorails are extended up to the Peripheral Road on all sides
for proper connectivity. The exact alignment of the extensions suggested may be worked out by the consultants on
ground conditions and feasibility.
Metro Rail phase-I and phase II, and extension of Metro recently considered by
Government is incorporated. The metro line is extended upto the Peripheral Road in all the six directions namely;
East
|
: Towards White Field,
|
|
North
|
: Beyond Yelahanka,
|
|
North West
|
: Towards Tumkur Road,
|
|
South-West
|
: Towards Mysore Road,
|
|
South
|
: Towards Kanakapura Road,
|
and
|
South-East
|
: Towards Hosur Road.
|
B) Mono
Rail
Mono Rail is proposed on either side of Metro Rail as follows:
I) Along Bagalur Road in between East-West metro from White Field and North South metro towards Yelahanka.
2) (a) Between metro line towards Yelahanka and towards Tumkur Road.
(b) Along Nagashettihalli and Sanjaynagar Main Road from Peripheral Road to North-South metro, and Peripheral Road to East-West metro.
3) In between metro towards Tumkur Road and Mysore Road, Mono rail is proposed along Magadi Road.
4) In between metro towards Mysore Road and North -South metro towards Puttenahalli, mono rail is proposed along Kanakapura Road.
5) In between North-South metro towards Puttenahalli and metro towards Electronic City, mono rail is proposed along Bannerghatta Road.
6) In between metro towards Electronic City and metro rail towards White Field, mono rail is proposed along Varthur Road (Airport Road) , and along Sarjapur Road.
In addition to the mono
rail in between radial metro corridors, mono rail is also proposed along the Outer Ring Road ( ORR) to connect
the localities all round and to connect metro
corridors.
Bus transport is suggested to be feeder service and may be reorganized to connect only the stations along metro rail/mono rail . and will not operate on long distance routes.
The Traffic and Transit Management Centers (TTMC) by BMTC under
JNNURM proposed at Jayanagar, Vijayanagar, Banashankari, Koramangala, Shanthinagar, ITPL ( White Field ) , Kengeri , Bannerghatta, Yeshwanthpur, and Domlur, not yet taken up may be relocated
at the junction of Highways and Peripheral Road to enable traveling public arriving or leaving the City by
roads to avail the metro and mono rail systems.
This arrangement will reduce bus movements along heavy transportation corridors and help in reducing congestion.
It was reported a few days back in the news papers that the Rapid Rail Link to Airport is not considered by Government as it is very costly and that it creates lot of technical/practical difficulties
to take it along Sankey Road and Bellary Road with several under bridges and flyovers. The South -Western Railway has indicated the possibility of running coaches from Yeshwantpur to
Yelahanka on one route and Channasandra to Yelahanka on the other route. From Yelahanka the Bangarpet line which runs near the front boundary of the
Airport area is free with almost no traffic, and it is possible to run coaches without any problem. This is a very good proposal and may be introduced
quickly at a cheaper cost till metro is extended ultimately to the Airport.
It is suggested that the Railways may consider running coaches from the HAL
Airport along the existing HAL siding along the Channasandra route so that the eastern parts of
the City like;
Indiranagar, Koramangala, Hosur- Sarjapur
layout area,
etc are benefited by this convenient connectivity to Airport.
Coaches may be run on Whitefield and Salem railway line to enable the air passengers residing in areas such as Whitefield, Sarjapur road,
Electronic City etc., to reach the International airport. If the proposal to continue HAL Airport as a second
Airport for domestic flights is considered,
the connectivity to BIA along HAL siding will
enable linking BIA with the HAL domestic Airport.
When the multi-model transport system is introduced as a comprehensive proposal, and
the projects required are taken up simultaneously involving private sector, it is possible to provide relief to the citizens for convenient travel avoiding all the serious traffic and transportation problems as stated earlier in this Report. This will also prevent the trend for private vehicle ownership which is increasing at present at a rate of 14 % per year. Shall we hope that the Multi-model system proposal receives consideration of the Government on priority to avoid very costly projects like Rapid Rail Link and the delayed Metro which
is progressing very slow and not giving early relief to the commuters of Bangalore?
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