The State Government of Maharashtra has formed a panel of experts with a two month deadline on possible suggestions for new guidelines in the construction of affordable and safe housing projects. In a report from dnaindia.com, one of the heads of the committee is the Principal Secretary of Housing for the state as well as the Secretary of the Department of Public Works.
One official said, as reported on niticentral.com, "Using of latest technology will ensure that we can save time as well as costs in construction of buildings. The committee will be given two months to submit a report on the use of technology that matches the demography of the city, earthquake resistance of buildings, environment friendly and cost effective measures that can be adopted."
The suggestions, according to an unnamed official quoted by economicindiatimes.indiatimes.com, would be used in the construction of large scale infrastructure and housing projects. These suggestions would be adopted by agencies such as the MHADA and the MMRDA for housing projects in their areas of jurisdiction.
The official added, "It has been twelve years since guidelines have been laid down for contractors to construct homes with the available technology. In this period, technology in the housing sector has evolved considerably. Hence, it would not be right to ignore the latest technology that is present today."
Amongst the noted personalities to form part of the committee are the Maharashtra Housing and Area Development Authority VP and CEO, Indian Institute of Technology Mumbai's Professor Ravi Sinha, Veermata Jijabai Technological Institute Civil Department Chief Dr Prashant Bhave as well as the MHADA Chief Engineer.
There have been eight pending recommendations made by the Building Material and Technology Promotion Council. These recommendations would be taken into consideration by the new panel for their work moving forward in the next couple of months.
