Friday, June 28, 2013

How to submit BBMP property tax online?

Last date to avail 5% discount on property tax for year 2013-14 is June 30th. You can follow below steps to deposit Bruhat Bangalore Mahanagara Palike (BBMP) property tax online.  

Requirements to submit property tax online

1) Need previous year property tax application number
2) Need BESCOM or BWSSB RR number
3) Net banking --> They don't accept credit/debit card.



2) Enter your application number in "Renewal Appl. No" field. You can find your application number (55116XXXX) in the previous year application form.


3) Click Find button


4) Your name and number will get displayed in below text area. Click "Show" button and your 

a) SAS BAS application number (8690XXXX)
b) Name & Address
c) Khata No
d) Payment made in the previous year will get displayed. 

5) Make a note of your SAS BAS application number


Now you are all set to deposit property tax for the year 2013-2014

6) Go to http://1113.sasbbmp.com/Forms/frm_OnlinePayment_Form4.aspx?Y=2013-2014

7) Enter your SAS BAS application number (from step 4a) in "Please Enter The SAS 2008-09 Application" No field and click Find button and then click Show button 


8) All your data will be pre-populated. Enter your Mobile number, BESCOM RR Number and then go to next step to make payment


9) Finally you can print your receipt in .pdf format and then use the application number for the next year.


Hope you were saved from visiting BBMP office. If the steps were helpful then please share it with your friends and in your apartment community.


Thursday, November 8, 2012

Bus route at Bangalore

As I was researching on bus route from Brigade Metropolis to Manyata tech park, I came across this great site (Yulopindia) where you can search for a route by 

  • Entering bus number
  • Entering source & destination location



Friday, November 2, 2012

Find your name in electoral rolls at Mahadevapura

How to find your name in electoral rolls at Mahadevapura constituency?

1) Go to http://164.100.80.163/ceokarnataka/Home.aspx and search by Name, EPIC number of acknowledgement number

2) Go to http://164.100.80.163/DraftRoll2013/Part_List_46.aspx?ACNO=174 and click part no 125 or Polling station Anganavadi Kendra

Doctors close to Brigade Metropolis

Doctors recommended by Brigade Metropolis resident


Pediatrician
Dr Gurumeet , RxDx
Dr.Radhakrishna , Manipal Hospital
Dr. Arvind Shenoy, Manipal Hospital 

Doctors at Brigade Metropolis
Dr. Janisankar - K-1101
Dr. Yogita - G block

Orthopedic
Dr. MaheshRxDx
Hosmat hospital
Dr.Deepak sharan : recoup, arcade


Dr Hemant Kalyan, Inidranagar (Sr doctor in Orthopedics dept of Manipal
Dr Ram iyer, 12th main, near 100 feet road, Indiranagar 

ENT Doctor
Dr Meera Ranjini, RxDX

Dr. Shalina Ray @ Teleradiology
Dr. Bathireddy at Manipal Hospital

Homeopathic doctor
Dr.Surekha Tiwari, Brookefield - Opposite lakme salon on itpl main road.
Dr. Janisankar - K-1101
Dr Aradhana at RxDx - 9341251421

Gynecologist 
Dr. Praveena Shenoy at Manipal hospital
Dr.garima jain @ telerad rxdx
Dr.Chaitra Niranjan @telerad rxdx


Doctors at Brigade Arcade
Dr.Chatterjee(Cardiologist) , Tue,Fri(5Pm-7Pm), Sat(11Am-1Pm)
Dr.Arvind(Orthopedic) , Mon,Wed,Fri(9.30Am-10.30Am) Tue,Thr,Sat(7.30Pm-8.30Pm)
Dr.Shanthanu(General Physician), Wed(10Am-12Pm), Sat(5Pm-8Pm)
Dr.Lohith(General Physician), Mon(5Pm-8Pm), Sat(10Am-1Pm)
Dr.Gowri(General Physician), Thr(5Pm-8Pm)
Dr.Jayashree(Gynaecologist), Mon,Wed,Sat(10Am-1Pm)
Dr. Lipika (Psychologist) , (Mon-Fri)(2.00Pm-8.00Pm) , Sat on Appointments
Sangeetha Subramanian RD(Dietitian) , Mon,Tue,Fri(9.00Am-12.00Pm) , Sat after-2.00 PM
Dr.Sudha(Dermatologist), Wed(10Am-12Pm), Fri(5Pm-8Pm)
Dr.Payal(Ayurvedhacharya), Tue,Fri(5Pm-8Pm), Sat(10Am-12Pm)









Sunday, February 27, 2011

Trial run of Bangalore Metro at MG Road

Trial run of Bangalore Metro at MG Road




IT hiring at Bangalore will hike rent at Brigade Metropolis

Source - Times of India

BANGALORE: Sunita Koppar, an IT professional with Oracle, never expected her flat owner's random talk on inflation would come with a rider. He dropped a hint on passing on any price hike to her. His yardstick: anything from onions to foodgrains going through the roof. This year, he raised the rent by 20%. But that didn't quite match the hullabaloo created on commodity inflation.

He sprung another surprise -- one more round of substantial hike when the agreement comes up for renewal. "The hike in rent has been significant in the past one year. But I will hang on till we move in to our new apartment," she said.

As IT/ITeS firms are back on the growth track, companies are going full-throttle on their hiring plans. This has attracted a lot of talent from outside Bangalore, hence a pent-up demand for apartments around the IT hub. "Rentals have gone up by 15-20% at Marathahalli, Sarjapur, Whitefield and Outer Ring Road compared to last year. Rentals in pockets of North Bangalore have also moved up," said Sunil Simon, proprietor of property consultancy firm Aaron Associates.

Post-slowdown, the market witnessed a correction in residential space. The recovery was felt in luxury and mid-sized apartments, lending itself to a moderate increase in rentals. "Rentals in high-end apartments like Epsilon, Palm Meadows, Prestige Bougainvilla and others have seen a revision. Newer developments, especially gated communities, have witnessed an increase in capital values. That's also reflecting in the rentals," said Ram Chandnani, deputy managing director, South India, real estate consultancy CB Richard Ellis.

The city's rental graph has moved up in traditional IT hubs like South and East Bangalore too. Residential layouts in Koramangala, Hosur Road, Bannerghatta Road, Sarjapur Road, Jayanagar, J P Nagar and Banashankari have witnessed 10 to 15% jump. A similar trend is seen in pockets of East Bangalore, including parts of Indiranagar, Airport Road, Fraser Town, Cooke Town, Lingarajapuram, Marathalli, HRBR Layout, Banaswadi, Old Madras Road, K R Puram, Brookefields, Hoodi and Whitefield.

But the reverse happened in 2009. IT firms froze recruitment plans. As a result, the job market was shaky and spending power shrank. Oversupply in Sarjapur, Outer Ring Road, Whitefield and Marathalli forced apartment owners to press the panic button. They offered steep discount on rentals to combat weak consumer sentiments. Prices during the slowdown tanked by as much as 35%, said real estate brokers. "Apartment owners in Palm Retreat or Brigade Metropolis expected 6 to 7% return on investments as they had purchased flats at a premium. They only got 3% return then. But things are looking better now," added Chandnani.

On the flip side, Metro rail work and congestion in the central business district of MG Road, Richmond Road, Residency Road and Lavelle Road, to name some areas, has pushed down rentals by 10-15%. "Villas demanding rentals close to Rs 1.5-2 lakh have dropped by 20% compared to a year before," said regional director (south) of Knight Frank India, Naresh Dandapat.

A Knight Frank research estimates that the city will witness a residential supply of 38,000, translating to 72 million sqft between 2009 and 2011. Around 53% of this supply will be 3-BHK apartments and 30% will constitute 2-BHK ones.


Feedback from Brigade Group on drainage issue at Brigade Gateway

Source - Deccan Herald

The Brigade Group on Tuesday stated that it had not blocked any stormwater drain at any point of time during the construction of ''Brigade Gateway'' in Rajajinagar.

The Group was responding to allegations by a few members of the BBMP Standing Committee that the project was constructed on the drain.

The Group said in a release that it had not noticed the existence of any such stormwater drain. “The land where Brigade Gateway project is coming up was originally allotted in 1950s by CITB - City Improvement Trust Board (now known as BDA) to the Kirloskar Electrical Co. Kirloskar’s had put up a number of factory sheds and buildings in the property which we demolished and constructed new buildings. At no time was there any drain passing under any building, then or now.

“At the insistence of BBMP, we have connected the stormwater drain on railway parallel road, Malleswaram (eastern side of our property) to the stormwater drain built by BBMP few years back, in the Milk colony area, Subramanyanagar.”

The Group said the 15 ft width of the compound wall removed on Dec 4, 2010 for BBMP inspection purposes was a compound wall built by the Kirloskar Electric Co 40 years back on Dr Rajkumar Road side.

“There has never been flooding of the area even during heavy rains on the west sideof the property which would have happened if we had blocked the drain, if any, as alleged,” the release said.

Brigade Millennium landmark victory over BESCOM

Source - Citizen Matters

They persisted with what is right and have saved scores of Bengaluru's apartment associations lakhs of rupees in 2011. Arathi Manay Yajaman, 40, and O P Ramaswamy, 64, of JP Nagar challenged BESCOM's levy of penalties on their apartment complex and, despite being pushed around initially, won their case. BESCOM had penalised their apartment complex in August last year for not taking into account the building's fire safety equipment (pumps) as part of sanctioned electrical load.

On January 12th, the Brigade Millennium Mayflower block residents association, represented by Arathi, received a letter from BESCOM, which in effect said BESCOM was taking back the demand for penalties and higher charges. The 22-acre Brigade Millennium complex in J P Nagar VII Phase houses 5 residential towers including Mayflower, apart from other amenities.

Arathi Manay Yajaman and O P Ramasamy behind the pumps for which BESCOM levied 'unauthorised load' penalties. Pic: Yograj S Mudalgi

As a result of the victory, multistorey buildings in Bengaluru with fire safety equipment are now saved the worry of having their power disconnected over BESCOM's ‘unauthorised load' claim.

BESCOM's notices on ‘unauthorised load'

This saga began in August 2010, when BESCOM sent a notice to Brigade Millennium (BM) residents associations. In its notice to Mayflower Block, BESCOM said that while their sanctioned load was 99.47kW, they had connected a load of 177.85kW. They had thus connected an excess or ‘unauthorised load' of 78.38kW, claimed BESCOM.

BM was not being singled out. Similar notices sent around the city to apartment complexes with multistorey buildings. On BM's Mayflower block alone, BESCOM imposed Rs 29,484/- as back billing penalties. In addition, BESCOM added monthly penalty charges of Rs 4680/- until the unauthorised load was either removed or extra sanctioned load was obtained.

This is where Arathi Yajaman and O P Ramaswamy, both past presidents of BM's Mayflower Block residents association stepped in. They found out that excess load claimed by BESCOM was actually the power needed to run the fire hydrant pumps (statutory requirement for high rises) that come into play during emergencies only. This amounted to about 90KW. (Arathi and Ramasamy are also trustees of Puttenahalli Neighbourhood Lake Improvement Trust.)

The Brigade Group, builder of the complex confirmed the residents' finding, but declined to intervene directly with BESCOM in the matter. Brigade noted that the fire safety equipment is kept on standby only and is not a part of the day-to-day regular power requirements of the buildings. Brigade also pointed out that the in the event of a fire, lifts and other electrical equipment are switched off. The fire pumps themselves are all never operational at the same time.

Also, during any fire accident all the power utilities need to be shut down as a measure of safety. Therefore the issue of all the equipment being used ‘simultaneously' and thereby exceeding the sanctioned load, did not arise. Based on this, Arathi and Ramasamy concluded that the usage of fire hydrant pumps was not 'unauthorised' load as claimed by BESCOM.

However despite filing written objections with BESCOM and meeting a subdivisional engineer, the latter did not accept BM residents' explanations. BESCOM continued to impose penalties in monthly bills instead. BM residents, like those in apartments around the city were a worried lot. Merely because the notices were from the government-run electricity supplier, the associations decided to start paying the penalties to avoid disconnection, and did so in protest, says Arathi.

The residents also started preparing to file applications for increased load, which Arathi estimates would have amounted to Rs.1 lakh for the Mayflower block. Not surprisingly, the worries had spread around many areas where BESCOM's notices were received. "I had already started getting calls from worried residents of Sobha Tulip and Brigade Gardenia complexes nearby who had received the same notices", says Arathi.

Citizens' action

Arathi then wrote to BESCOM Managing Director, IAS Officer P Manivannan, 38, who had taken over in October. Manivannan issued an internal circular asking his officials to look into Arathi's complaint. Despite a fresh visit by BESCOM engineers to the complex, nothing changed and penalties remained on the bills. BM's block residents associations continued to pay in protest fearing disconnection of power supply.

But Arathi and Ramaswamy did not relent. They took the matter up with the state's power regulator, Karnataka Electricity Regulatory Commission (KERC). It is the appeals authority for citizens against BESCOM decisions.

Arathi wrote to the KERC on December 13th pointing out the issue with BESCOM's definition of 'connected load' and faulty interpretation by including fire safety equipment in calculation of ‘connected load' by BESCOM. Arathi and Ramaswamy had also researched rules in other states in preparing their case. "Other ESCOMs (like Maharashtra, Kerala) have clear definitions of ‘connected load', among other terms. They have also made provisions in their regulations, for excluding load arising due to fire safety equipment...", they wrote in their letter to KERC.

The KERC sent BESCOM a notice on 24th December asking the latter to look into Arathi's complaint. BESCOM revised its position and sent its letter to Arathi on January 12th. Since the fire safety equipment would not be used regularly, it should not be considered as excess load, acknowledges the letter, bring much awaited relief to residents. "This subject was discussed in the weekly meeting and by the concurrence of all the members, it was decided that though the fire extinguishers were connected to the electricity, the load must not be taken into account while calculating arrears", says the BESCOM letter (translated from Kannada).

A General Manager (Commercial) at BESCOM, speaking on condition of anonymity because she was not authorised to speak to the press, confirmed that the revision had since been communicated to all Executive Engineers at the divisions.

Victory for the city at large

With this verdict, all multistorey buildings with fire fighting equipment that received the original penalty notices from BESCOM can rest. In an action to set things right for their own apartment complex, Arathi and Ramaswamy set the problem right in one stroke for all of the city.

In doing so, they also set right a related problem that would have come up, had BESCOM been able impose its original decision. Thousands of multstorey buidings in the city would have had to apply to increase their sanctioned load. Based on this, BESCOM would have likely projected a far higher power demand for Bangalore than was the reality.

So are the apartment associations that paid penalties going to get their money back? Yes, says BESCOM. An Assistant Executive Engineer at BESCOM though adds that the refunds may not be made immediately, as the paperwork involved will take some time to get approved.

Security opens at large apartments

Use remote control to switch on lights and draw your curtains; or a GPRS-enabled control to use all your electronic gadgets; motion sensors to activate lighting; or biometric access to lifts and apartments. Sounds like features in a condominium in the hi-tech West? Not really. These are facilities offered in some of the high-end apartment complexes in Namma Bengaluru.

Not too far ago, the provision of club facilities offering swimming pool, tennis and badminton courts, squash courts, and hi-tech gym were a novelty, and found only in high-end apartment complexes. With these facilities increasing the marketability of these complexes by offering a lifestyle sought by customers both from the budget segment as well as medium and high-end, such features may soon became part of every new project proposed.

With expanding customer expectations, mini townships too surfaced offering facilities such as school, shopping complex and more. But it now appears that is not enough. For, the discerning customer with constantly expanding needs and expectations is looking for something more that would set the dwelling apart from the rest; a totally hi-tech home where not only security is controlled by sophisticated electronic gadgets, but where lifestyle is governed by the touch of a button on a remote control.

Literally high-tech

Thus, a manned security post or an intercom-connected apartment can now be considered outdated. In place are security features like a video door frame, biometric access controls that can range from smart cards to thumb impression or even a sophisticated eyeball recognition device. CCTV cameras, old though the concept, could now feature in vantage points and be accessible from remote locations instead of from within the complex.

While these may no more be perceived as fancy fittings but as essentials in a high-end apartment, a question that raises here is how workable are these features. For instance, with live-in household help figuring on a significant scale in such apartment complexes, features like a smart card or eyeball recognition devices may prove to be a little too sophisticated for this section of residents.

Operational problems

Similarly, operational problems can arise when the gadgets malfunction because of wrong usage. When used in small apartment complexes, the cost per unit can get significantly impacted as a result of installation of these features.

Unless there is a significant and perceptible market for these features, a sharp increase in cost per unit can prove as a deterrent, as it can act as a trade-off between opting for a more spacious unit in an equally high-end complex as compared to a smaller one sporting these features. It is not uncommon to find the market declining to compromise on space especially when a competing option is equally attractive.

Cost factors

Says Viswa Pratap Desu, Vice-President, Marketing and Sales, Brigade Group, “The increase in cost is not significant in large complexes, approximating to about five per cent. The value addition, however, for this incremental cost is tremendous as is evident in the market for it.” Incidentally, Brigade Gateway, a township project of this group, incorporates many of these features including video alarm, building automation system, CCTV in vantage points in common areas, access card for exit and entry doors leading to lobbies and garden areas, and panic alarm in the kitchen. In one of its upcoming premium projects where the lift opens on to the lobby of the apartment, even the lifts are accessible only through swipe cards.

Adds Desu, “biometric access may pose functional issues, especially if the complex is large. It is workable in a smaller premium project.” According to him, eventually, how these features work solely depends on the mindset of the residents. “There have been cases where residents have decided to close even simple features like garbage chutes because of the regular maintenance issues.”

Features, still new

Says Bijay Agarwal, MD, Salarpuria Sattva Group, “Since these features are still new in their concept in apartment complexes and are currently incorporated only in high-end apartments, the cost addition can be 15 to 20 per cent, especially if it is a smaller project offering premium units.”

But this should not deter the customer, according to him as there is a significant market for it, with people seeking such features. “A few years down the line, these can become standard features in all high-end segments.”

Besides incorporating hi-tech features to meet security concerns, Salarpuria is also introducing lifestyle-oriented automation such as GPRS-enabled control for electronic gadgets, motion sensors, and remote control for lighting and curtains.

Concurs T.S. Sateesh, MD, Hoysala Projects, “Bangalore being a hi-tech city, its residents too are seeking a similar hi-tech lifestyle and are willing to pay for getting that facility.”

As for the operational hassles involved in these gadgets, he adds, “the systems need to be of a very high quality and maintained well.” Hoysala has incorporated smart access cards to its lifts and homes in its upcoming premium project.

BBMP notice to Brigade Gateway for water canal encroachment

Source - DNA India

The Bruhat Bangalore Mahanagar Palike has initiated action to ensure the natural flow of the Vrishabhavati Canal in Rajajinagar, after a two-member survey team reported that the storm water canal has been taken over by a prominent real estate firm.

The civic body has served a notice on Brigade Enterprise Private Limited, asking it to file details regarding the owner of property within seven days.

The survey team found that the builder had carried out construction in pieces of land owned by the BBMP and government, besides those belonging to private parties on Dr Rajkumar Road in Rajajinagar.

It was also found that the developed area, Brigade Gateway, has a building constructed on the storm water drain, blocking its natural flow. The canal has been allegedly diverted to a nearby residential area in Subramanyanagar.

The members of the BBMP standing committee for major works conducted the survey on December 5, 2010, under the leadership of its chairman H Ravindra.

After discrepancies were found in the inspection, the committee ordered a detail survey of the 40 acre where the building has been constructed. To facilitate the survey, the BBMP had dismantled a portion of the 15 feet compound wall of the property.