Zahid Ahmad, 40, a resident of old city Srinagar, planned to construct his house. He thought of moving out of the congested old house where he lived with his elder siblings. A year later, his dream of having his own house is nowhere near realization as the escalation in construction material costs has made it prohibitively expensive to do so.
Ahmad, a Kashmir handicrafts dealer, was living in South India for the past two decades. “Constructing a house was not that costly earlier as official impediments and procedures were less,” Ahmad said as he started realizing the cost of constructing a house. At the very start, he had to cough up two lakh rupees as stamp duty for the land he acquired. “I had no problem with legal procedures but when the municipality and police questioned the legal construction that took me by surprise.”
Finally, he said, he did what Romans do - greased palms of different officials at different levels. As he moved towards construction, Ahmad was shocked by the sudden soaring of construction material costs.
“The extra labour costs and sudden soaring of prices are back-breaking,” Ahmad said. “I had never estimated this worst-case scenario,” he said.
Ahmad said he spent many days enquiring rates from different kilns from South to Central Kashmir but was disillusioned. “I don’t know if there is any fixed rate. Initially, when I chalked out the budget I had estimated the cost of a truckload of bricks for Rs 21000 and sand Rs 6000,” said Ahmad. He now pays Rs 27000 for a truckload of bricks and Rs 10500 -13000 for a truckload of sand. The labour cost to ferry the bricks to the site of construction adds Rs 2500 per truckload.
Denne historien er fra November 14, 2020-utgaven av Kashmir Life.
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Denne historien er fra November 14, 2020-utgaven av Kashmir Life.
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Before The Kabul Retreat
Described as the ‘Graveyard of Empires’, Afghanistan was always termed to be at peace when it was at war. But the land-locked desert country that was always in turmoil and one of the worst targets of the Great Game suffered immensely throughout, especially in the last 40 years, Masood Hussain writes
FINGERS CROSSED
Almost everybody in academia and politics that Khalid Bashir Gura spoke to, the response over Kabul happens was simple – wait and watch
Parliamentary Committee In Srinagar
The visiting 28-member Parliamentary Standing Committee on Home Affairs have had detailed interactions with top civil administration and discussed developmental scenario and people’s welfare measures in Jammu and Kashmir. It is on a 4-day visit. Congress leader and MP Anand Sharma is heading the committee.
MUSIC IN MUD HOUSE
Deep into north Kashmir, Faheem Mir meet a small community that sings and lives on folk music but is facing a tense situation in the last few years
THE KABUL SPILLOVER?
Security experts are divided over the possible impact of the Kabul situation on Kashmir. But the dramatic Taliban triumph has altered the region’s geopolitics, for the time being, writes Riyaz Wani
Durga Bhawan At Katra
To enhancing facilities for the convenience of the Vaishno Devi pilgrims, Lt Governor Manoj Sinha laid the foundation for the Durga Bhawan, a high utility pilgrim-centric facility worth Rs 24.4 crore. The facility will accommodate 4000 pilgrims.
Women Empowerment
In the first, 480 talented girls from Jammu and Kashmir were included in the degree and diploma courses of the Pragati Scholarship. Jammu and Kashmir has also got nine scholarships under the Saksham Scheme for Persons with Disabilities.
‘SOME HISTORIANS BELIEVE THAT AFGHANISTAN CONFLICT IS THE OUTCOME OF INDIA AND PAKISTAN KASHMIR STAND-OFF'
Foreign policy expert and editor of HardNews magazine, Sanjay Kapoor believes that Taliban 2.0 has more legitimacy unlike in the past as it had signed a deal with the US and negotiated with other countries of the region, but the final verdict can be passed only after it manages ticklish issues involving half of its population, the women
Boredom Is Creative?
Getting bored is not as boring as it gets, writes Azra Hussain
LG In Bangus
Lt Governor, Manoj Sinha inaugurated the Bungus Awaam Mela amidst grand arrangements for village games, exhilarating local performances, and other activities to celebrate the 75th year of Independence.
