File picture of apartment blocks in Bhubaneswar

Bhubaneswar, May 9: Residents of the capital still consider living in housing societies safe despite the recent incident of firing at the Chandrama apartment.

This is holds true more for the elderly couples or families where husbands go out to work leaving their spouses and children at home. No wonder apartments are mushrooming across the city.

Although the Bhubaneswar Municipal Corporation has 300 apartments on its list, assessment officials of the corporation feel their actual number would be more than 500. In fact, people looking to buy houses are making a beeline for apartments and gated complexes.

“In Pokhariput area, the price of an apartment was almost Rs 2,600 per sqft three months ago. Last month it was Rs 2,800 and now it has reached Rs 3,000,” said a home loan counsellor.

Likewise, he said, the price per square foot at Sundarpada — a little further on the outskirts of the city — has jumped from Rs 1,300 to Rs 1,700. The price is almost the same in areas such as Ainginia. In Patia and nearby areas the rate is has already crossed Rs 3,000 with big builders charging nearly Rs 3,500,’’ said the counsellor.

D.S. Tripathy, president of State Chapter of Confederation of Real Estate Developers Association of India (CREDAI), said: “The trend also reflects a changing social situation. In many families the husbands are out on touring jobs, especially the ones holding marketing and managerial positions. For these families the apartments with good security back-up serve as better places to live than independent houses. Even many buyers are opting for apartments while they have an independent house in the city.’’

Julie Dash, a homemaker who recently moved to her three-bedroom rented house in Forest Park area, said: “I was having a good house in Lingaraj Vihar near Pokhariput, but since my husband was always on assignments and there were at least four cases of petty thefts in one year, we put our own house on rent and now live in this house. On the other hand, the new accommodation, apart from the security aspect has more accessibility.’’

Niladri Bihari Panda, a buyer of a property in Sundarpada, who works as a banker in another city, said: “Earlier there was a trend of people having individual houses on a plot of land, but now the people have come to know that with growing economic prosperity, there will be more crimes especially in independent living zones than in the gated communities or apartments. With one entry and exit point and good security personnel, safety of residents can be ensured. Hence, builders are charging more for quality complexes with security as their USP.’’

Apart from the local players, the big builders coming from metros such as New Delhi and Calcutta are trying their luck at the real estate business in Bhubaneswar. They have also started attracting the buyers with the ‘better security’ tag.

The recent police action in Chandrama complex in Kharvel Nagar also helped the promoters to draw the attention of their buyers. All of them are emphasising on a single point entry and exit.

Recently the city police have instructed the residential associations of the apartments to make only one entry and exit gate in the apartment, as many such gates make the society vulnerable.

Senior officials also asked them to install close circuit TV cameras at gates and at various sensitive points of the apartment such as parking area, reception area and lifts. The police told them to keep well-trained security guards who have been trained from registered security agencies and these personnel should be provided with photo identity cards. Periodic security checking and briefing must be done and the inspector-in-charge of the nearest police station should be informed about this.