Constructing chaos

Even as an MP, it took me a couple of years alternately chasing the ministers of housing and rehabilitation to sell me a 80-square yard corner plot, which could not have been of any use — unless, it was wanted for a garbage dump!

The next hurdle was getting the corporation to sanction the plan. After months, the commissioner informed me that I would have to give a set-back of 10 ft for the plan being sanctioned — out of a total width of 15. This was as good as a rejection. Lots of buildings on busy roads stood without an inch of set-back. It took effort to get a kind official to dig out a provision in the bye-laws that stated that a side set-back could not be insisted upon.

Constructing was no less of an ordeal. The foundation had to be 18 feet deep because the land was on a nullah that had been filled up and a road adjoining my house had been laid on the filling. The traffic on the road had the effect of a score of earthquakes visiting the place every day. Cracks appeared all over our walls. I was warned that unless the road was given a retaining wall, the house could cave in. This got me into a new exercise: getting the corporation to provide one.

My plea was opposed at the commissioner’s office by functionaries at all levels, happy to get a chance to prove their credentials. The one honourable exception was a minister who spoke to the commissioner who sought legal advice. It was pointed out that I could sue the corporation for damages.

Just when I seemed to have won, the commissioner revealed that his officers didn’t agree with this conclusion. So was I expected to construct a retaining wall to support a public road?

The commissioner referred the matter to the standing committee, which made a special trip to inspect the site. At last the retaining wall was built. But that was not the end of my misery. During the rains the khud (depression) on the other side of the road had got filled up and the water percolated into our foundations. The only solution was to fill the khud. But how?

The chief engineer said the area did not come under the corporation. The city administration said it was forest area. Nobody seemed to know which authority the land came under. My ordeal continued until I happened to meet the vice chairman of the development authority. He got my point. Instructions were sent out that state lorries carrying construction debris were to empty their contents into our khud. It worked. What a long journey to common sense!