Home truths: Construction cost set to increase

The cost of construction in the city will go up in the coming days as the price of gravel is set to rise.

As the government had forced shut stone-crushing units on September 3 owing to environment-related concerns, builders in the state have been sourcing gravel from neighbouring states of Andhra Pradesh, Kerala, Maharashtra and Tamil Nadu for gravel. With the recent increase in the price of diesel, the cost of transportation has increased, which means city builders will have to shell more for gravel. For a site measuring 30X40 sq ft, the cost of construction will increase by Rs30,000.

Suresh Hari, secretary, Confederation of Real Estate Developers’ Associations of India (CREDAI), Karnataka, said the price hike is inevitable. The cost is expected to increase in a few days or weeks.

Karnataka State Pollution Control Board (KSPCB) had ordered all stone-crushing units in the state to shut shop with effect from September 3. This directive followed a Supreme Court order, which had asked the state government to shift the units to safe zone within six months of the order. As land was not allotted to shift the units, they were forced shut.

Forced shut
Sudhakar S Shetty, chairman of district co-ordination committee, FKCCI, said there are around 3,800 stone crushing units across the state and they provide livelihood to more than four lakh people. He said the turnover of stone-crushing industry is around Rs6,000 crore and the state government gets Rs900 crore revenue from the industry per year. After highlighting this, he noted that stone-crushing units have been closed in in 17 districts in the state.

Confirming the information, Ramesh Kumar, senior environment officer (mines), KSPCB, said the ban was imposed on the units as per the Supreme Court’s directive. He said no unit can be allowed to function from its existing location. These units have to be shifted to safe zones identified by the respective district administrations, he said.

Govt apathy
Raghunath V Lakkanna, president, Akhila Karnataka Stone Crushing Units Owners’ Federation, blames the state government for failing to protect the interests of stone-crushing units across the state. “We are in a dilemma with state government becoming negligent towards stone-crushing industry despite reminding it on several occasions about the measures to be taken for the benefit of the industry,’’ said Lakkanna.

Coming down heavily on the district administrations for not providing basic infrastructure at the locations identified as safe zones, Lakkanna said the land for the proposed safe zones was yet to be identified by the authorities concerned. “A few district administrations have identified the land for the proposed safe zones, but (it’s of) no use. There is no power, water or even a road at those places. What to do with such land?” asks Lakkanna.

Echoing the opinion, K Shiva Shanmugam, president, FKCCI, said it was not fair for the authorities concerned to impose a ban or shift the stone-crushing units to safe zones without providing the basic amenities. “We have already requested for an appointment with chief minister Jagadish Shettar to discuss the problems of stone-crushing industry in the state. We hope to meet the chief minister within a few days,’’ said Shanmugam.

‘Land identified’
Meanwhile, Gopal Reddy, an official from Bangalore Rural District office, confirmed the identification of 75 acres at Makenahalli, 37 acres at Olavenahalli near Hoskote and 55 acres at KG Lingenhalli in Doddaballapur taluk for safe zone.

MK Ayyappa, deputy commissioner, Bangalore Urban, said hundreds of acres of land was identified at five locations around Bangalore to shift stone-crushing units. “There is no problem to identify the land for stone-crushing units. The necessary orders will be issued shortly and all formalities will be completed within a month to hand over the land to the owners of stone-crushing units,” he said.

However, Leo Saldanha, coordinator of Environment Support Group, opined that the KSPCB should not have waited for the directive of the high court and Supreme Court to close the stone-crushing units as they cause a lot of pollution. “I think the KSPCB has already given much time to the stone-crushing units to shift to safe zones. I think that no one has any reason to complain against the ban,” said Saldanha.