The proposal to set up a flat complex replacing the NGO Quarters at Kakkanad, which has long outlived its expected life, continues to remain in the backburner three years after it was first conceived.
It was in 2008 that a proposal to set up three towers with the capacity to accommodate 450 families at an estimated cost of Rs.30 crore was proposed by the Public Works Department (Buildings). The idea was to set up the towers where the NGO Quarters stands and to allot the rest of the land for appropriate development purposes. However, it never progressed from the proposal stage owing to the lack of funds.
The proposal is again likely to come up before a meeting of the ministerial committee formed for the development of the district on Thursday. That, Public Works Minister V.K. Ibrahim Kunju is among the three Ministers in the committee has created fresh hope about the proposal.
PWD sources said that it was futile to undertake full-fledged maintenance of NGO Quarters buildings set up back in 1956.
Doing costly repair works on buildings, which have already outlived the expiry period is a meaningless affair, they said.
“We do necessary maintenance works from time to time. Spending heavily on buildings that are not expected to last more than 50 years doesn't make any sense,” a PWD official said.
Sources said that the worn out state of the NGO Quarters stands testimony of the neglect of successive governments towards investing in accommodation for government employees during the last close to half a century.
The NGO Quarters has 559 quarters. Prospective occupants will have to apply to the District Collector who allocate the quarters based on seniority. The tenants then will have to enter into an agreement with PWD.
Often the quarters allotted to employees remain in their custody even after they have moved out to other places since a specific time period within which the tenants are supposed to vacate is absent in the agreement with retirement age being the criteria.
