A sad tale of government apathy

KOCHI: Even as the government employees in Kakkanad are running from pillar to post for accommodation, 50 flats are lying unused due to the lack of government patronage. The flats are unusable and hence a waste. At the end of the day, it is land which is worth more than Rs 8 crore that has been rotting away for the last several years. The sources with general administration said that the applications seeking an accommodation in the NGO quarters are surging and it has become a nervewracking job for them to allot quarters to the government employees. Adding to the woes, there are 50 buildings that are not worthy of accommodation.  “The PWD has to certify that the existing quarters are in good shape before allocating any quarters. These 50 quarters are not inhabitable and the PWD has not taken any steps to pronounce them as uninhabitable. We cannot demolish the building until they pronounce it so,” they said.“We gave a proposal a year ago to the Government asking to demolish the dilapidated quarters and build flats on the same plot that can accommodate more families, but that is still pending,” sources said. The sources also added that there exists many other hassles. The families have to inform the authorities concerned before vacating the quarters. “As they do not follow the formalities, we are not aware of the vacancies. This is a major hurdle in allocating the quarters to the needy.” When asked about the dilapidated buildings, P A Hashim, executive engineer, PWD buildings, said - “People are not opting for it as the buildings were made with low-cost materials. We have identified the same plot for building the collector’s camp house. We are waiting for the sanctions.”But the sources with the general administration disagree. “We completely refute these arguments as we are getting many applications seeking accommodation in NGO quarters.  We have 50 quarters that lay under-utilised, but only three or four will be demolished to build the collector’s camp house. Lack of maintenance of these buildings by the authorities concerned is the major problem,” sources said.