“With my 40-year experience in the private sector, I can say a cap of Rs 1 lakh may not be easy to construct a house. The contractor will have to make an optimum use of the design and have an efficient labour force. It can only suffice to just about to manage the construction activity,” opined Vishwanath.

Addressing mediapersons here on Friday, Vishwanath outlined the “Essential requirements for the mass housing in flood-affected North Karnataka region.”
The task force has prepared a set of guidelines for contractors to build the houses in various districts of flood-affected areas including a cost upper limit of Rs one lakh for construction activity per house.

Time frame
It has also given a time frame of 100 days to complete the project after doing a survey of the soil by appropriate testing at individual sites.
“We have requested the government to use the faculty members of 15 engineering colleges who have an expertise in foundation engineering. Mostly these colleges have come forward on a voluntary basis,” Vishwanath said.
The task force will hold a meeting with the faculty members on October 22 on finalising the extent and need of these faculty members. Vishwanath is expecting a minimum of 100 engineers from these colleges to assist the government and the private contractors on the field in testing the soil and overseeing the construction activity.

Recommendations
This apart, the recommendations made by the team include, open space on three sides of the houses to be built for further expansion, if and when required, for the families in the future. “We also need the new sites where the houses will be constructed on higher grounds for safety purposes, away from the water front,” he said.
The houses to be built will be of the dimension 20 x12 sq ft on a 30 x 50 site that has been suggested for flood victims. To questions whether the task force suggestion would carry the weight, Vishwanath stated that the government is of the opinion that they may very well be binding.