CHANDIGARH: After 11 years of wait, the Chandigarh Housing Board (CHB) for the first time will take up the repair of Dhanas rehabilitation colony.
CHB has initiated the process to allot the work to a firm. The work, estimated to cost around Rs 71 lakh, will include repair of column beams, damaged flooring and dismantled plaster in the common areas of the buildings, including roof.
There are 8,448 flats in Dhanas, which were allotted to people under the Jawaharlal Nehru National Urban Renewal Mission (JNNURM) for slum dwellers’ rehabilitation after demolition of various slum clusters.
More than 25,000 people live in the colony. The condition of the houses and common areas have acutely deteriorated in the past 11 years. “Cement is peeling off from the pillars and falling off. The condition of the stairs is worst. In many blocks, even the rods of the stairs are visible. People fear that the structures might collapse anytime,” said a local resident.
After much reluctance, the CHB, last year, agreed to more than a decade-old demand of the residents to repair the common areas. It floated a tender for the work, but no bidder came forward in the first attempt. In the second attempt, two bidders came but the tenders couldn’t be allotted. In the latest attempt, CHB has decided to allot the work to the single firm who participated in the tendering process.
The repair work of other rehabilitation colonies will also be taken up by the CHB. Survey has already been started, and in some of the projects, this has been completed, officials said.
“CHB teams are visiting different areas and checking the damaged common areas. After the survey, an estimated amount will be prepared, based on which tender will be issued in other rehabilitation colonies. This repair work will be done from a revolving fund of CHB,” said an official.
A total of 17,696 flats have been built in Maloya, Dhanas, Vikas Nagar Part-2, Sector-38 West, Ram Darbar, Sector-49C. It has been 14 years since small flats were allotted in many areas, including Sector-38 West.
“There is a great need to repair the houses. People have been demanding repairs for the last several years, but the CHB has refused to do so saying that there is no provision for repair of small flats by CHB. After persistent pressure from the residents, the issue was taken up at the level of the UT adviser. Thereafter, it was decided that a revolving fund would be created, from which the common area will be repaired. The administration released around Rs 2 crore to the CHB for these works,” said the official.
The ownership of the dwelling rests with the CHB, and it charges monthly rentals from the allottees. “After the CHB refused to get repairs done, allottees started to get the walls of their houses repaired. But the common areas of the projects were not repaired or maintained for all these years,” said the official.
