The Times of India                29.10.2013

Vadodara Municipal Corporation proposes to provide better flooring in housing schemes for urban poor

VADODARA: The Vadodara Municipal Corporation ( VMC) is proposing to provide ceramic and Kota stone flooring in houses being built by it for the urban poor. The administration moved a proposal in this regard to the standing committee recently.

Sources said that the civic body presently provide Indian Patent Stone (IPS) flooring in the housing schemes that have come up under the Basic Services for the Urban Poor (BSUP) scheme of the Jawaharlal Nehru National Urban Renewal Mission ( JnNURM). But in the third phase of the BSUP housing schemes, it is proposing to replace IPS flooring. The beneficiaries of the scheme will, however, have to pay for the additional costs involved.

The argument made by the civic body is that a majority of beneficiaries in the first two phases removed the IPS flooring and replaced it with ceramic, glazed or vitrified tiles. Some also used PVC flooring on the existing IPS flooring. The replacement lead to damage to the structures and also to wastage of money spent on the flooring when they were constructed.

The administration has also put forward data of socio-economic surveys by the civic body that indicated that the socio-economic condition of the beneficiaries was such that they could afford such flooring.