Kerala needs socially committed, environment-friendly, sustainable and disaster-resistant model of construction.
This is because illegal constructions in ecologically fragile lands and rapid deforestation played a role in unprecedented floods and landslips that Kerala witnessed in August, Sashi Tharoor, MP, has said.
Speaking after inaugurating the State conference of CREDAI here on Friday, he said that the State must also adopt low-cost, prefabricated construction technologies.
No construction must pose a threat to our rich biodiversity, wetlands and fragile coastline. Sadly, governments have been regularising illegal constructions for nominal fines. “Regularising wrongs won’t make them right. We must learn from the floods that lashed Chennai since huge wetlands were filled.”
‘Profit, Planet and People’ (the 3 Ps) must be the mantras a builder must adhere to. Else, the foundation will be shaky. Prefab construction model, which is a great success in foreign countries, can be implemented in Kerala to create light and durable buildings.
The Gadgil Committee’s report on the dangers posed by constructions in ecologically fragile locales stands vindicated by the massive destruction wrecked by the floods. The Gujarat model of reconstruction after the 2001 earthquake is an excellent model to be adopted for the reconstruction of Kerala.
The national president of CREDAI, Jaxay Shah, exhorted builders to come up with smart, sustainable, out-of-the-box solutions for affordable housing. He called upon people to avail the subsidy scheme for houses having area less than 2,000 square feet.