A quarter-acre bungalow for each of our ministers!

A quarter-acre bungalow for each of our ministers!

Move comes as town planners suggest vertical growth, especially in a congested metro like Bangalore

Suchith Kidiyoor
Posted On Thursday, November 20, 2008

Some of the ministers from Team Yeddy will now have a new residential address: Near Hebbal off the eight-laned Bangalore International Airport (BIA) road.

The state cabinet which met here on Wednesday decided to construct new bungalows for the ministers on 14.2 acres of land belonging to the Karnataka Agro Industries Corporation (KAIC), next to the University of Agricultural Sciences. Each minister will have a residence on an area measuring a whopping 10,000 sq feet.

The explanation given by rural development and panchayat raj minister Shobha Karandlaje was: “This has been mooted to overcome the problem of shortage of residences. At present, only 18 ministers out of the 34-member cabinet team have been allotted official quarters and the remaining are in need of houses.”

Those who have failed to get official residences are either staying in their own houses or in buildings taken on rent. “By having own buildings, a lot of money can be saved on paying rent,” another minister contended. Some ministers like primary and secondary education minister Visveswar Hegde Kageri continue to stay in the legislators’ home. After several rounds of internal discussions and spot inspections, it was decided to take the land belonging to KAIC because of its proximity to both Vidhana Soudha and the airport.

Though the government’s contention has put a smile on the ministers bereft of official residences, it has raised questions on government’s commitment towards adopting austerity measures. For the concept of bungalows comes at a time when town planners, across the world, are recommending vertical constructions as it saves a lot of space and is beneficial in terms of providing logistics. “Why can’t a multi-storeyed apartment complex be constructed on a single bungalow site and the ministers be housed there instead of having individual houses. Perhaps, in an apartment, the ministers can have a common visitor’s area in one or two floors and reside on the other floors,” said an architect, who did not want to be identified.

Though Yeddy’s men are not enthused with this, prudence speaks otherwise. If a ten-storeyed apartment is constructed on 10,000 sq ft land for the economically weaker sections, it can easily house 200 families. Instead, the government is going for independent houses for the ministers. Cost-wise too, these independent houses will take a heavy toll on the state exchequer as each house will not be less than Rs 1 crore.