As part of its redevelopment plan for the people displaced by the twin building collapse in Madhavnagar on August 28,the Vadodara Urban Development Authority (VUDA) on Friday announced its decision to open bids for the e-tenders on November 11,on the occasion of Labh Pancham. The VUDA committee met on Friday evening to finalise the conditions of the tender for the apartments that are to be built on a public private partnership (PPP). The step comes after the state government formally approved the redevelopment proposal put forth by VUDA. VUDA officials said they will issue public notifications for the e-tender on November 7. On November 8,the authorities will open the e-tender and on November 11,the bidding process will take place. Assistant Chief Engineer and Assistant Town Development Officer A C Vyas said,We have decided to go online with e-tenders on November 11,after the state governments approval of the project. The finalisation of the bids will take place by the end of this month. The Indian Express had earlier reported that VUDA had finalised the tenders for November. According to the plan,the multi-storey structures will accommodate the residents of Madhavnagar and Keshavnagar,who were displaced by the twin building collapse. In case the design has stilt parking on the ground floor,it will be a five-storey structure. Otherwise it will just be ground plus three, Vyas said,adding that the government has approved a structure of seven-storey (not more than 40 metres). The builder will be allowed to construct seven floors with an FSI of three as some space has also to be left around the constructions, he said. The authorities have laid down a 10-year-guarantee condition before prospective developers. According to VUDA,the developers will be responsible for maintenance and repair of the structure for 10 years. It does not,however,mean that the life of the structure will be 10 years. The life will be much more,at least 50 years, says Vyas. VUDA will also employ a third party inspection for the quality of the construction at every stage. The design of the colony will also have to be approved by the committee that is overseeing the tendering for the redevelopment of the two colonies. The committee includes the Chief Executive Authority,Town Planner and City Engineers of VUDA. VUDA had decided to redevelop the Madhavnagar and Keshavnagar colonies under a PPP scheme at its October 3 board meeting. It was decided to reconstruct both colonies individually,after residents of the colonies opposed the plan to combine them into one single colony at Madhavnagar. Two towers of Madhavnagar had crashed on August 28,killing 11 and injuring three. On September 28,two more towers collapsed partly. However,no one was injured in that incident as they had been vacated in advance. Congress memo to Modi,letter to NHRC Vadodara City Congress has dashed a letter to the National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) regarding the inaction of authorities in punishing the officers of the Vadodara Urban Development Authority (VUDA) in connection with the twin building collapse in Madhavnagar on August 28 that killed 11 persons. The city Congress has also sent a memo to Chief Minister Narendra Modi,citing that the authorities are planning to mint more money out of the redevelopment in the Public-Private Partnership (PPP) model. Vadodara Congress president Narendra Ravat says that Modi,who visited Bihar on Friday to meet the victims of the Patna serial blasts,doesnt have time to meet the Madhavnagar collapse victims. Ravat says,The Chief Minister made second visit to Patna in a week to meet the victims of the blast,but he did not heed the requests of the residents who have been homeless for the past two months. Its very inhuman and cruel on the part of the Gujarat government that even after two months of the incident,it has not visited the affected families. The letter written to the NHRC demands its intervention to help residents get justice on humanitarian grounds as the Gujarat government has failed miserably to compensate and rehabilitate the victims.
