Chief Minister B S Yeddyurappa inaugurated the Centre for Infrastructure, Sustainable Transportation and Urban Planning (CiSTUP) on the premises of Indian Institute of Science (IISc) here on Friday. CiSTUP will focus on issues related to urban transport, planning and infrastructure, besides urban local issues such as water supply, sewerage and solid waste management.
The first meeting of the executive council of the centre will be held before January 26.
CiSTUP is planning to hold an international conference on urban infrastructure and geoinformatics on March 12 and 13. A memorandum of understanding between the Government of Karnataka and IISc to set up CiSTUP was signed on November 19, 2008.
Various government agencies like the Bangalore Development Authority (BDA), BMTC, KSRTC, NEKRTC and NWKRTC are the stakeholders in the centre and have contributed to the corpus fund of Rs 30 crore. The centre will run on the interest generated from the corpus fund, besides course fees, training fees and consultancy fees, and will not spend any part of the corpus fund.
The grant of Rs 30 crore is the largest budget for an individual centre at IISc.
As United Nations University (UNU) University status CiSTUP will be developed in the coming years to attain the status of a United Nations University (UNU) on the lines of UNU, Tokyo and UNU, Maastricht, The Netherlands. CiSTUP, Bangalore will be the South Asian centre of UNU on urban planning, transport and infrastructure.
For the full report, click on:
http://www.expressbuzz.com/edition/story.aspx?Title=Sit+up+and+take+note+Cistup+is+here&artid=nZ9vTXLlt5U=&SectionID=7GUA38txp3s=&MainSectionID=fyV9T2jIa4A=&SectionName=zkvyRoWGpmWSxZV2TGM5XQ==&SEO=
It was not for want of such a Centre that things have been going wrong all this while. But, whatever, if it can help professionalise the outlook, may be we can hope for better days.
Muralidhar Rao
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A welcome development
A Long overdue Multi disciplinary research center like this one is very appropriate addition to the premier institute of our nation.
It is indeed a very exciting development for us in Praja. The realities on ground are exasperating. However it is important to re - search though in theory to get an insight to the problem facing us on the ground.
Politics and research are two different entities both important in there own merit / context. They need not be confused to be contradictory.
Determining contribution
A slew of new taxes
http://www.starofmysore.com/main.asp?type=news&item=19328
Full Text
Bangalore, Jan. 15- The Union Urban Development Ministry has asked the States to set up a dedicated Urban Transport Fund through collecting annual renewal charges for Driving Licences (DLs) from motorists, additional registration charges for two-wheelers and four-wheelers and registration charges for diesel vehicles for personal use.
The Ministry, in its order to all the Chief Secretaries and State Urban Ministries on Monday, suggested various measures to generate money to set up an Urban Transport Fund at the State-level that could be utilised to address urban transport issues.
According to Union Urban Development Ministry officials, the directive suggests that States should levy additional charges and new fees in various sectors.
"The measure aims at financially enabling State Governments to handle transport issues. Though there are different grants and aids under Jawaharlal Nehru National Urban Renewal Mission (JNNURM) and annual budgetary allocations, the funds available are insufficient to carry out transport reforms. Such a system exists in many countries in the Middle East, Asia-Pacific as well as European countries," the officials say.
Further, the Ministry which is in the final stages of formulating a National Commission on Urbani-sation is of the opinion that if India has to move forward, reforms in the transport sector is essential.
Tax personal transport heavily
Registraiton charges
High registration charges on an annual basis should be applied for cars of various classes. For example, a costly Honda CR-V which runs on diesel can be slapped an annual registration charge of Rs. 50,000 and a simple Maruti 800 could be slapped a registration charge at Rs. 10,000.
This along with additional Driver's License renewal charges should be in place.
Such measures should ensure that personal transport is taxed in a way that encourages public transport.
license renewal fees should remain nominal
I am not in favour of huge increases in license renewal fees, nor any drastic changes in the license validity periods from what it is currently. I am all for increased levies on fuel consumption.
Now, supposing the government relaxes the licensing regime, and "Muralidhar Rao associates bus services" comes into operation, I'll be using it for over say 75% of my travel requirements. And, if it becomes really good over time, the percentage can increase to over 90. But, there will still be the 10% emergency and leisure requirements, for which I will need to keep my license valid, and that should not cost me too heavy. Of course, for these 10% trips, I'll be buying fuel at the increased charges. And, that should be a good enough disincentive.
Muralidhar Rao
Electric cars should be encouraged
1.) Excise duty reduction
2.) Registration tax reduction
3.) Longer loan tenure and lower interest rates
All the three above could be raised for conventional cars.
Electric Cars?
PSA