The delay in taking up work on the Suvarna Vidhana Soudha building in Belgaum city is likely to lead to cost escalation, considering the increase in the prices of construction material in the past two years.
The prices of construction material have gone up by 10 to 15 per cent in the wholesale as well as retail markets during the past two years.
Added to the cost escalation factor is the fact that the farmers, who had given consent to handing over their land to the Government to set up the Suvarna Vidhana Soudha, are now demanding four times the price they quoted last year.
The farmers of Halaga, the new site situated on the Pune-Bangalore Express Highway that was unanimously chosen by the high-level committee headed by Speaker Jagadish Shettar recently, have given written consent to hand over 60 acres of their land to facilitate the establishment of the Suvarna Vidhana Soudha.
The government offer for one acre of land was around Rs. 5 lakh, while the market value was much high. The cost of the land in and around Halaga would shoot up once construction work on the Suvarna Vidhana Soudha commences.
The actual estimates for the Suvarna Vidhana Soudha were not ready even though the Government invited tenders in September last, he said. The farmers, who had agreed for Rs. 5 lakh an acre more than a year ago when Halaga was one of the three venues proposed for setting up the Suvarna Vidhana Soudha, were demanding at least Rs. 20 lakh an acre now.
Building of the Vidhan Soudha does not seem to be an easy task. Where ever the site is chosen there have been protests, against it from the farmers of that area. The government should solve the issue amicably with the farmers, as it is the question of their livelihood.
All the best to the Government.
See Original Story The Hindu
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