The residential project under construction at Begunia-Barehi in Bhubaneswar. Telegraph picture

Bhubaneswar, July 24: The wait for a house for the serving and retired central government employees under the Central Government Employee Welfare Housing Organisation is going to get longer.

Earlier, they were expected to get the flats by May 2010. The beneficiaries have no idea as to when they would get possession of the flats.

“We banked all our hopes on the government-sponsored scheme, as we hoped that the flats would be delivered on time. But, in practice the ministry of housing and urban poverty alleviation (HUPA) has turned out to be a professional builder-like organisation. There was an interim escalation and there might be more, leading to a breaching of trust by a government-sponsored agency,” said a beneficiary of the project.

The organisation announced its first housing project in Orissa on January 31, 2007. The 10-acre project was planned in two phases at Begunia-Barehi near CV Raman Engineering College on the city outskirts. In the first phase, 256 flats in the categories of one, two, three and four bedroom units were offered.

Applicants were allotted flats in February 2007. The cost of four bedroom unit was Rs 17.76 lakh, three bedroom Rs 15.75 lakh, two bedroom Rs 12.70 lakh and one bedroom Rs 6.98 lakh. The beneficiaries had paid four installments which was about 65 per cent to 70 per cent of the total cost.

The organisation had mentioned that the project would be completed within 26 months after approval of plan by the Bhubaneswar Development Authority. Going by its clause, the project should have been completed by May 2010.

One year after the scheduled time, the organisation was able to complete only 50 per cent of the construction. However, the delay has also caused the beneficiaries more trouble, as the housing organisation, in stead of accelerating the construction process, hiked the price by around 25 per cent in 2010.

Goutam Das, a central government employee and one of the beneficiary, said: “The slapping of the escalated price has violated all norms. The HUPA authorities should have punished the contractor. For a three bedroom house, I had deposited Rs 15.75 lakh and again I had to provide Rs 5 lakh. Therefore, it is just like milking money from the government employees benefiting the contractor. We have written at least 50 letters to the HUPA authorities as well as the minister concerned, but no response.”

Das, a member of the project monitoring committee, constituted by the HUPA, said: “The reason behind the delay perhaps was due to sub-letting of the contract as the original contractor sub-lets and it goes to the third or fourth sub-letter in the chain. As the bottom one on the ladder gets the minimum percentage, there is delay. But, instead of punishing the original contractor, the ministry has awarded the Phase-II construction to the same contractor.”

Even many retired employees, who had deposited their income to get a flat near Bhubaneswar, are now staying on rented premises and do not know when to get the unit. “For them, the project has come as an extra burden,” Das said.

“There should be a roll back of the escalated cost of 25 per cent and the HUPA officers, responsible of mismanagement of the project, should be held accountable,” demanded the beneficiaries.

Public grievance officer of the organisation M.K. Maity had informed the committee that “since the construction schedule could not be adhered due to the reason for delay which was beyond the control of the organisation, we are taking all out efforts to complete the project by October 31”.