Nagarjuna clamps down

Nagarjuna Construction Co. Ltd. has clamped down on future real estate projects due to current slowdown in the sector and has tempered its capital expenditure plan for 2008-2009, a top official said. The company is also planning to spin off its real estate operations by March 2009 to its subsidiary NCC Urban Infrastructure Ltd, Subba Raju, vice president-finance, told analysts after the company’s results, reports Reuters.

NCC Urbanis working on a games housing project in Jharkhand.,
US new homes’ sales up

New home sales in the U.S. showed a modest 2.7 per cent rebound in September helped by falling prices, government data showed, according to AFP report. The sales of new one-family houses rose to an annualised pace above market expectations.
Fire safety seminar

A 2-day national seminar on ‘Fire Safety and Security of Mega Structures’ is being organised by the Fire and Safety Association of India at Hotel Taj Krishna from November 14.

Rooted in art

Colourful butterflies, designs including those of deities and wall hangings that catch the eye with an aesthetic finish. If one is looking for a different touch to the interiors and that too at a cost that is highly affordable, then Lavancha from Karnataka is the ideal choice.

A good collection of décor pieces made from Lavancha (khus/vettiver) roots were on display at the recently held expos in the city. It boasted of simplicity, variety and beauty and that made it stand apart from the regular items that one goes to shop to decorate the interiors. These handmade pieces came as cute Ganeshas in different sizes and few boasted of an artistic touch that made them irresistible.

These are made from aromatic ‘khus’ roots and that fragrance lingers on for a long time, the store in-charge at the expo held at Exhibition Grounds informs. “Each piece is handmade and the fine craftsmanship takes up to three days to finish in cases of bigger ones,” he adds.

Butterfly patterns as hangings come in subtle colours that promise to go with any wall finish and add a soothing effect. There were buttis, those traditional woven baskets that offer a varied usage . Pouches designed as tiger and cat faces apart, the collection included letter racks and key stands in different sizes .

The Ganeshas ranged from Rs.120 to Rs.250 while the butterfly designs sported a price tag of Rs.120 and for those handy pouches, one only has to pay Rs.100.

Regain your paradise the Brand Organic way

With the Green Revolution and its positive contribution to the nation’s self sufficiency fast on the ebb, the 21st century India is in the need of another revolution in its farming sector. While a few argue that biotechnology is the panacea, a few others vociferously prescribe organic farming in the context of a second Green Revolution.

Whatever be the larger picture, it remains a fact that nothing works better than organic cultivation on the home front. After all, one would expect the fruits and vegetables from one’s backyard to be in their pristine form for consumption.

Organic cultivation basically has two branch-offs namely fertilizers and pesticides. While organic pesticides are available under different brand names in the market, manure is very simple to prepare within one’s own premises.
Nutrients

“Nutrients required by plants can be broadly divided as primary, secondary and micro nutrients. While chemical fertilisers boost the yield by supplying primary nutrients in excess, they ignore the proportionate demand for secondary and micro nutrients. As a result, plants absorb the latter totally from the soil, thereby draining it of its fertility. Organic manure, on the other hand, supplies all the nutrients in a perfect balance. It also improves the disease-resistance of the plant,” explains M. Ananth Reddy, chairman of Agri-Horticultural Society (Ph: 040-23299779).

A method almost synonymous with organic cultivation is vermi-composting.

“Vermi-composting as a method of organic farming is extremely beneficial to the plants. It binds the soil, supports the soil microbes, improves the water retention capacity, and aids the root penetration. Compared with the farmyard manure, it provides the plants with five times more nutrients. In addition, it aids growth by supplying plant hormones,” says M. Narayana Rao (Ph: 9440552660), a member of the Society.

Vermi-compost can be prepared by any plant lover irrespective of the space one is disposed with. One can also have the unit on the terrace if there is no availability of backyard. The process involves converting the decomposable organic waste into compost with assistance from earth worms. Temperatures between 15°C to 25°C and due protection from the sun and rain are the minimum requirements for a vermi-compost unit.
Worm contribution

Unlike the heaps composted for a farm, vermi-compost unit for a home garden requires a concrete ring, 1.5 feet in height. It should be filled with pre-composted manure (largely dung manure dried for six months; commercially available), kitchen waste, dry leaves and such decomposable waste. However, the waste should not contain non-vegetarian particles, pebbles, or glass shards. After filling the ring, a kilogram of earth worms should be introduced for every square foot of waste. Earth worms too are commercially available and can be obtained from the Society too.

Once the worms are added, the compost should not be disturbed for 60 days, except for the daily sprinkling of water. Excessive watering should be avoided while ensuring that the mixture is slightly moist all the time. However, watering should be stopped a day before the completion of the prescribed gestation period. The odourless, coffee-powder-like compost in the top portion should be made into a heap for easy collection while leaving the wet portion for the earth worms to thrive in. The powder, mixed with soil in equal portions will work wonders with the plants.

Where there is not sufficient space for the elaborate procedure, one can directly introduce earthworms into the potted soil. In preparation for this, one has to loosen the soil and add dung manure to it.
Vermi-wash

One more method recommended by Mr. Rao involves preparation of vermi-wash. Primary requirement for this would be an ordinary barrel fixed with a faucet in the bottom and provision to place a pot of water in the top portion.

“The barrel should be filled upto six inches with pebbles, and a further six inches with sand for easy drainage of water. A Netlon mesh should separate the sand from the organic waste in the topmost chamber. A kilogram of earthworms should be introduced to the compost with inflow of water only drop by drop from the pot above. The compost should be allowed to rot for two months,” explains Mr. Rao.

After two months, the faucet fixed to the barrel will yield vermi-wash as yellow, sparkling liquid, while the top portion can be used as compost as usual. One part of vermi-wash sprayed along with two parts of water will be more effective than the compost itself.

The process may be continuously repeated once in every 45 days thereof.

Other forms of organic manure include oil cakes, which may be applied like any other manure, and leaf mould that involves gathering of dried leaves and sprinkling them regularly with water. Traditional composting technique involves mixture of manure, dried leaves and waste that gets decomposed in a trench.

Consumer courts can try construction service cases

What if a builder refuses to register the flat after accepting advance amount? A recent verdict by A.P. State Consumers’ Disputes Redressal Commission (APSCDRC) assured that it is possible to hold the service provider respio in this kind of cases, if the victim has enough documentary evidence. It also clearly stated that construction services come under the jurisdiction of consumer courts.

According to the case, D. Vijaya Kumar, a resident of Abids, made a payment of Rs. 4 lakh to Sai Victory Constructions in August, 1997 as advance towards purchasing a flat in their residential complex at Himayatnagar. The total amount of the deal was Rs.10 lakh. However, Mr. Vijaya Kumar couldn’t get his flat registered and he later came to know that the flat was sold to a third party without his knowledge. He filed a case in Hyderabad District Forum-I in 2003, seeking the agreement to be executed or refund of his money with as interest of 24 per cent per annum, together with compensation of Rs.20,000 and court costs of Rs.10,000.

The respondents, Sai Victory Constructions, resisted the case and said the payment of Rs.4 lakh was never done to them. They also argued that this case doesn’t fall under consumer courts, but that of civil court, and prayed the dismissal of the complaint with court costs. The district forum saw that six years gap between the commencement of agreement and filing of case as a reason for disqualification and asked the complaint to file a civil suit. It dismissed the complaint.
Bank statements

Aggrieved by the decision, Mr. Vijaya Kumar appealed in the State Commission. He argued that registering the flat to a third party after receiving an amount more than 20 per cent of the deal as advance was against the A.P. Apartments (promotion of construction) Act. This time, he took care to furnish the detailed bank statements, which said that the banks had issued checks in favour of the Sai Victory Constructions. The company filed no evidence to disprove the bank statements.

The State Commission took this point into consideration and stated that company had entered into an agreement. It made two important observations at this juncture. It said that - a decision of National Commission reported in 2005 (2) CPR 1 (NC), holds that the problem will continue if the developer failed to give possession of property or refund the money and the transactions of flats or construction activity by builders come under the consumer affairs with an amendment inserted by Act 62 of 2002.It asked the builders to refund Rs.4 lakh with interest of 12 per cent per annum from August, 1997 to till date along with compensation of Rs.20,000 with court costs of Rs.5,000. Time for compliance was four weeks.

Get it right, from design to finish

In the olden days, master craftsmen, called ‘Thachans’ or ‘Asaris,’ used to design and construct buildings. Without any formal engineering education, these highly-skilled carpenters used to design, fabricate and erect wooden floors and trusses for tiled roofs. Intricate roofs of huge temples and palaces, with ridges and valleys of complex shapes, reveal their skill. Fabricating and assembling the components of trusses is no easy task, especially wit hout accurate drawing tools.

The legendary ‘Thachans’ disappeared as concrete replaced timber in floors and roofs. With reinforced cement concrete (concrete with steel reinforcements), engineers design beams, slabs, columns and foundations. Essentially a civil engineer’s domain, building engineering is considered part of civil engineering.

This is true as long as the buildings are of up to three or four storeys. For designing and constructing high-rise buildings, civil engineering skill alone is not enough. A coordinated effort of specialists in diverse disciplines is needed to build high-rises. A specialist in one discipline should have more than elementary knowledge of others.
It begins here

The architect is the first to enter the scene. He prepares the conceptual plan, considering the functional requirements of the building and the owner’s preferences. While planning the building layout, he or she must make provisions for electrical systems, plumbing, air-conditioning, fire-fighting, water supply, sewage treatment and lifts. The limitations likely to be imposed by the structural designer should be kept in mind.

The architectural design must conform to building rules. If it violates any statutory requirement and consequently, the building owner suffers a loss, the architect is liable to compensate him or her. So, the architect should know more than just architecture.

Specialists in other disciplines, such as plumbing, electrical, fire- fighting and air-conditioning, will study the plan to ensure that requirements of their works are taken care of. The plan then goes to the structural engineer for the design of the structure.
Crucial survey

The geo-technical engineer comes on the scene before or when the architect and other specialists work on the building design. He or she conducts a soil survey and studies the soil properties, determines the load-carrying capacity of the soil and suggests the type of foundation suitable for the structure.

The survey findings are important for the architect to decide the number of floors below the ground level for cellar, car park, underground tanks and so on and to determine the type of waterproofing below.

Experts in several disciplines thus work together to finalise the design. When the construction starts, services of other experts become necessary.

Before commencement of any activity on the site, several permits and approvals from various departments are required. Some of them, such as the building permit to construct the building on the site and registration as principal employer, are legal. Some others, such as environmental clearance, are techno-legal. The work on the field starts with the survey to mark the location of the building on the ground. This is called ‘setting out.’

Earlier, skilled masons used to set out the buildings using just a tape and a transparent hose. Today, sophisticated instruments, such as ‘Total Station,’ are used.

The surveyor is required not only for initial marking but also till the structure is complete to locate the columns on each floor. After the survey, agencies for executing each package of work start their work in the predetermined sequence.
Packages

Usually, the entire work is divided into the following packages:

• Piling, if the building is supported on piles

• Civil works consisting of earthwork, concrete, masonry, plastering, flooring, painting, doors and windows, hand rails, structural steel, false ceiling, and internal roads and drains

• Waterproofing: this may be a separate package if special waterproofing for underground cellars and car park are required. Otherwise, waterproofing of exposed slabs, toilets and balconies may be included in the package for civil work.

• Special finishes such as structural glazing and aluminium composite panels

• Plumbing and sanitary work

• Electrical work

• Fire-fighting

• Water, sewage treatment

• Lifts

• Security systems

• Communication system

• Centralised cooking gas distribution system

• Swimming pools

• Landscaping
Assigning work

The entire work may be entrusted to one executing agency, which will make the owner’s task of monitoring easier because he need deal with only one agency. But the disadvantage is the increased cost.

No agency has in-house wings for executing all the packages. So, work which cannot be executed in-house will be sub-contracted. The owner will end up paying the cost of execution by the sub-contractor and the margin on that to the nodal agency.

A high level of mechanisation is unavoidable in a major project. Machinery, such as batching plant, concrete pump, tower cranes and slip form shuttering, is expensive. Engineers and technicians familiar with operation and maintenance of these machines should be available on the site.

The works are inter-linked and inter-dependent. One agency can do its work only if the other completes its tasks. For example, the civil works contractor can cast a slab only after the electrical contractor lays concealed conduits. The electrical contractor can continue his work only after the civil contractor completes the slab and masonry.

Planning and scheduling the myriad activities is a complex job. Planning has become a special discipline by itself. Planning must take into account the limitations, such as availability of space, restrictions in movement of lorries, restrictions in working beyond normal working hours and fund flow.

Monitoring the progress is equally complex. Services of planning engineers conversant with the latest software are as essential as the services of civil, electrical and mechanical engineers.

Quality control and safety are other important functions in project implementation. It is a desirable practice to have these departments function independently and directly under the top management.

Materials management in construction project requires special skills for two reasons. One is that materials purchased for one project may not be required in another. Even if it can be used, transporting it to another site will be expensive. Hence, the estimate of materials has to be accurate. Also, because of the restrictions in storage space, supply must come in phases and in time.

This requires close and continuous monitoring. Finance and cost control is another area requiring an expert’s service.

During the construction, several labour laws have to be complied with. Compliance with statutory requirements and keeping records is another specialised job and non-compliance might invite punitive action.
Team work

Thus, implementation of a modern building project requires team work by professionals in various fields. Managing these professionals is a demanding and difficult job.

According to Peter Drucker, management expert, managing professionals is the most difficult job of a leader. This is because a professional usually respects only a more competent professional in the same subject.

He has scant regard for the work of others. So, the leader should have special skill to persuade the professionals to work as a team focussed on the ultimate goal of the organisation. Building engineering is, thus, a multidisciplinary specialty, and in fact, implementation of a building project is more than engineers’ job.

S.R.C. NAYAR

82 house sites distributed to the poor

Bhimavaram: Grandhi Srinivas MLA, Bhimavaram has distributed 82 house sites to poor beneficiaries at Gunupudi Township under Indiramma housing scheme today.

Speaking on the occasion local MLA Srinivas said that the Congress government had commuted for the welfare of the poor and weaker sections by grounding various welfare schemes like Arogyasri, , Pavalavaddi scheme to SHGS. He said that the Township would consist of 580 Indiramma houses and they would be inaugurated byChief Minister Y.S. Rajasekhara Reddy, soon.

He has vehemently criticised that during TDP regime the welfare of poor and weaker sections were utterly neglected. G. Srinivas MLA said that another 9,000 houses under Indiramma Housing Massive Programme would be constructed.

70 lakh houses sanctioned in State, says Minister

KADAPA: The State government is committed to the welfare of poorer sections and has sanctioned 70 lakh houses and 71,000 pensions in the State, Minister for Medical Education Galla Aruna Kumari said on Friday.

Speaking after the inaugural of Indiramma Sambaralu in Kadapa municipal stadium, she said the government constructed 19,000 pucca houses in Kadapa city the last year as against 4,732 houses built between 1982 and 2004. It sanctioned 17,814 pensions in the corresponding period in addition to 6,000 existing ones. The government was implementing innovative schemes such as Rajiv Arogyasri, which were not among the election promises, and spent Rs. 370 crore for 1.40 lakh surgeries performed in corporate hospitals in the last one-and-half years, the Minister said. One hundred and forty speech and hearing impaired children were operated upon at a cost of Rs. 6 lakh each. House site pattas would be issued to 16,000 poor persons in Kadapa at a cost of Rs. 6 crore. The Minister lauded Kadapa Mayor P. Ravindranath Reddy for supplying bricks out of his personal contribution of Rs. 8 lakh. She urged the public representatives to extend their support in a similar manner. Chief Minister Y.S. Rajasekhara Reddy has developed Kadapa into a model town in Rayalaseema region, she said. Mr. Ravindranath Reddy, who presided, said housing and pensions were being sanctioned to all eligible beneficiaries irrespective of political affiliation, caste and religious considerations. Women were being given Pavala vaddi loans of Rs. 18 crore in order to ensure their empowerment, he said.

Rs. 550-crores for housing in city: Raghuveera Reddy

The State government will spend Rs. 550-crores to provide housing for 31,000 eligible families in the city under Jawaharlal Nehru National Urban Renewal Mission (JNNURM), said Minister for Agriculture N. Raghuveera Reddy on Friday.

The Minister inaugurated two blocks, of 32 houses each, constructed under the scheme at Radhanagar in Kundavari Kandrika. The Minister, along with MP Lagadapati Rajagopal, Kankipadu MLA Devineni Rajasekhar (Nehru), Mayor Mallika Begum and Deputy Mayor Samanthapudi Narasaraju, participated in the house-warming ceremony (boiling of milk until it boils over) in a few new dwellings.

Mr. Reddy said “development and prosperity will swell up in the lives of poor in the way milk boils over.” He said it was no more the privilege of the rich to look down from multi-storeyed buildings. Even the poor would be able to live in apartment buildings. For a token amount of Rs. 5,000 from the beneficiary, the State government was giving them a house worth Rs. 5 lakhs.

‘No right to talk’

Describing the erstwhile Telugu Desam Government as a “non-performer”, Mr. Reddy said leaders of the TDP, who relegated the ideals of a great leader like NTR to the dustbin, had no right to talk. The party had failed to perform in its nine-year rule, but was now promising to give the people everything free. “If they say one word against us, they should be prepared to hear a hundred words in reply,” Mr. Reddy said. Mr. Rajasekhar said TDP leaders were trying to kick up a racket, but no other chief Minister could extend welfare and development to the people like Y.S. Rajasekhara Reddy.

The Minister earlier laid a foundation stone in Pathapadu village for several infrastructure schemes that would be taken up by the Vijayawada Municipal Corporation at an estimated cost of Rs. 1 crore in compensation for dumping of solid waste in the village limits. The Minister also inaugurated a 1,500-KL water tank constructed at a cost of Rs. 93 lakhs in Ajit Singh Nagar and laid the foundation stone for a cement concrete road in Kundavari Kandrika and Vambay Colony.