Hafiz Contractor started his career as an apprentice architect with T Khareghat in 1968 as an Apprentice Architect. He became an associate partner of the firm in 1977.
Hafiz Contractor started his career as an apprentice architect with T Khareghat in 1968 as an Apprentice Architect. He became an associate partner of the firm in 1977.
In 1982, he started his own practice and never looked back. He is a member of Bombay Heritage Committee and Lutyens Bungalow Zone Review Committee of Delhi. He has been involved in building many important projects in the country. Excerpts from an interview:
India will turn 60 within a few days. Any comments?
This country is running because of its people and not because of its leaders. Our leaders have not done anything for the country. In fact, it is because of them that more than half of our population is homeless even after 60 years of independence. The leaders get free accommodation so they don't know what it takes to make a home.
What in your opinion has been the biggest turning point for India?
I feel the growth in the IT sector and burgeoning of industries has been a big turning point. This had changed the way the world looks at us. Earlier, when we used to visit America we did not have any importance.
Today, if we go the US we are treated with respect because our engineers, programmers and professionals have become an indispensable part of the US system.
Why is it so difficult to buy houses in our country?
The laws are made that way. There is no civic planning. We are wiping out villages to make cities. We need rules that will improve our cities and make them worth living.
After more than half a century of independence many are still homeless. Whom do you blame for this?
Our leaders and the bureaucracy are to be blamed. Take away their free housing facility and they will know how difficult it is to buy a house.
Because they stay in free homes they don't feel the pinch. Over half of the country's population doesn't own a house, and these leaders are responsible for that. Building a house is not difficult but moving a government file from desk to desk definitely costs a fortune. Hundreds of clauses make people sick of the process.
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