Large amounts of earth is being dug and shifted, heavy excavators with their booms, dippers, buckets and cabs rotate, picking and dumping heavy loads; wheeled loading shovels, dumpers, tippers and trailers are at full steam under the supervision of the site inspector who calls out on the bunch of workers asking them to speed up.
The scene at the construction site is a sight eagerly awaited by members of the Jawahar Autonager Mutually Aided Consumer Co-Operative Stores Ltd. The foundation stone for this housing complex project was laid way back in 2004 but a gamut of hurdles prevented its completion.
The 14-year-long wait will finally end for the middle and lower middle class owners of the 485 flats being constructed over four acres. Of them, 410 are double- bedroom while the rest are single bedroom apartments. The project is nearing completion after crossing hurdles ranging from legal disputes to ‘political interventions’.
In a happy ending to a long-drawn battle for owning a home, the members will own a dwelling in a self-sufficient set-up. “The complex includes common facilities like an open-air theatre, a playground with lush green surroundings, landscaping, a banquet hall, a departmental store, a gym, vegetable shops, laundry, a bank extension counter, tailing shops and a control room with e-security. This is in addition to Internet facility and infiltration beds for percolation of rain water,” says Yarlagadda Subba Rao, Chairperson of the Society.
“We will also have paved roads around and beautiful landscaping. It is earth quake-resistant design located on a higher level of ground compared to the adjacent Gurunanak Colony,” informs secretary J.A. Narasaiah.
Ready by January
The ₹127-crore “no-profit-no-loss” project will be ready for occupation by January 2018 and the owners can’t wait for it.
The building complex is located in the APIIC Colony, a habitation that came into being in the 1990s. The plot for these old houses was allotted in 1965 for housing purpose.
The ones who were left out wanted a home too. When they approached the government representatives, they were asked to form into a cooperative society. Thus came into being the Cooperative Stores Ltd in 2002 with Vemuri Rajendra Prasad as its founder Chairperson and Ganne Krishnaji as secretary with 36 members as promoters.
The housing project faced a rough weather right from the beginning. Following reports of mismanagement, the government cancelled it and the office-bearers moved the court of law. In 2009, the land was re-allotted to the cooperative body and work started in 2010. But it had to be stalled again following reports of scam in a section of media.
Permission granted
In 2013, the then Minister for Roads and Buildings Pithani Satyanarayana responded favourably to the office-bearers’ plea for re-examining the files and granted permission in May last year.
The whole exercise of roping in project consultants, technical committee and tender committee was repeated and e-tendering was the mode adopted to ensure transparency.
“We are happy that despite all odds, we are able to execute this project in the best possible way. It goes without saying that 2018 augurs well for people waiting eagerly to step into their dream home,” says Mr. Subba Rao.
