|
| Guest house for legislators in the Beer Chand Patel Path area that would be demolished to build the new duplex bungalows. Picture by Deepak Kumar |
Patna, Jan. 13: Lawmakers in the state will have to spend the next couple of years in rented accommodation till sprawling duplex bungalows come up.
It’s not known when the final makeover will take place — sources said the deadline would be 24 months — but they have to vacate their existing flats by the end of this month.
The Assembly and building construction department are in the final stages of completing the groundwork. While members of both the Houses are being given notices to vacate the existing flats, the department has floated tenders for demolition of the existing flats. It also shortlisted firms for construction of bungalows by March.
Assembly Speaker Uday Narayan Chaudhary said: “Legislators — both MLAs and MLCs — have been asked to vacate the existing flats at the project site by the end of this month, enabling beginning of the construction at the earliest. They would be given a fixed monthly house rent for staying in rented accommodation till their duplex bungalows are ready.”
According to the sources, the legislators would get around Rs 35,000 per month for staying in the rented accommodation.
The building construction department is also expected to award the contract for construction of the duplex bungalows by the end of January. “Several firms have been shortlisted during the pre-qualification stage. Accordingly, it is expected that the final selection would be done this month,” said a senior officer of the department. He added that tender for demolition of the flats on the project site had also been floated.
Chanchal Kumar, the secretary of building construction department, said: “Though we have a target to start the process of razing the existing flats by March, there are still several impediments that may hinder the process. The bottlenecks include occupants in a few of the flats who are employees of the state legislature and the high court. We have received clearance from the legislature but the same from the high court is still awaited. We will start demolishing the existing buildings as soon as the occupants vacate them.”
On December 20, 2011, the cabinet gave green light to the proposal to build 325 duplex bungalows (each with a floor area of 3,500sqft) at an estimated cost of Rs 307.73 crore. The bungalows would be constructed across 69.85 acres spread in three adjoining locations — R Block (39.63 acres), Daroga Prasad Rai Path (23.25 acres) and Beer Chand Patel Marg (5.97 acres).
According to the plan prepared by a Vadodara-based private firm, the modern colonies would have two hostels with room for 50 beds and 30 beds, respectively, for temporary accommodation. The hostel with 50 beds would be constructed on a built-up area of 4,029sqm and that with 30 beds would be constructed on built-up area of 2,400sqm. The estimated cost of developing the two hostels would be around Rs 2.5 crore. The R Block colony would have 175 duplex bungalows, 128 bungalows at Daroga Prasad Rai Path and Beer Chand Patel Marg colony would have the rest 28.
These colonies would have community establishments and amenity spaces on total 61 acres spread in all three locations to make them self-sustained neighbourhoods.
| 
