Bengal Peerless?s housing estate Avishikta, on the EM Bypass

Multi-crore housing estates coming along the arterial Eastern Metropolitan Bypass and its adjacent areas run the risk of being overtaken by an infrastructure collapse before long, housing officers warned on Sunday.

?A population explosion has begun on the Bypass. About a lakh of people will have moved in before long. But the vast area, I am afraid, suffers from an absence of drainage and sewerage lines. We will have to put in remedial measures without any further delay, otherwise we will have to pay a heavy price for not responding to the signs of the coming crisis,? said housing minister Goutam Deb.

Bengal Peerless, one of the joint-sector housing companies overseen by Deb, chose to go public on Sunday with its experience of construction on the Bypass, saying that unless the problem is soon taken care of, the absence of drainage and sewerage lines will lead to severe waterlogging in a large area. Bengal Peerless?s complex Avishikta, comprising nearly 700 apartments, stands here.

?If a developer has to make arrangements for such lines on his own, the end product, the apartment, will set the buyer back by another Rs 75,000 to Rs 80,000. In the long run, such a development may affect the sale of flats. In Avishikta, we witnessed spiralling prices,? said Kumar Shankar Bagchi, managing director of Bengal Peerless. ?We deposited a sum of Rs 36 lakh with the Calcutta Municipal Corporation (CMC) for a drainage outlet, but civic officials now tell us the work will be carried out by the Calcutta Metropolitan Development Authority (CMDA).?

Unable to galvanise either the CMDA or the CMC into action, Bengal Peerless has spent an additional Rs 65 lakh for setting up a swamp and a treatment plant for the purpose. The water will be pumped into the swamp, from where it will be pumped out to a nearby canal. Other major builders are following suit.

By a reliable estimate, Bengal Peerless, Bengal Shrachi, the state housing board and a few others together will construct nearly 2,000 apartments in several highrises. Apart from over 700 flats in phases in Avishikta, Bengal Shrachi is all set to build 400 units and the state housing department another 500 units. Bengal Peerless is also building Avishar, a shopping complex. The project on 16 acres, work on which will start later this year, will be completed in another three to four years? time. ?The infrastructure collapse is inevitable,? Bagchi said.

A senior housing board official said the area was destined to become waterlogged. The problem will remain even if the developers elevated individual project sites. ?We need a proper drainage system,? he said.

But the CMC and the CMDA are yet to define a plan of action with regard to drainage and sewerage lines, though CMDA chief executive officer P.R. Baviskar said: ?We are working on commissioning certain outflows towards Adi Ganga canal, but our exercise is confined to areas under our jurisdiction. The CMC will also have to manage its areas.?

The cost incurred by the companies by fighting cases over land acquisition has made the flats more expensive.