Agraharam Project
Gitalaya
Dear RV,
Thank you for your mail of date addressed to all our Group-members, giving out a detailed summary of your visit and findings on the site inspected by you around Vadakkancheri.
In your earlier mail of 7th Jan, you had said that you were having a list of properties in the price range of 8K to 10K per cent to inspect during your visit to PGT on the 12th. As against this, it is evident that you have been, clearly for want of time, able to inspect only one site around Vadakkancheri. I wonder whether you have any plans of making more visits to PGT to inspect the remaining sites particularly because this site comes to us at 18K /cent as against 8K to 10K featuring on your list. I have a doubt – is this the same site which you had mentioned in your mail of 7th Jan which was also on the Vadakkancheri-Pollachi State Highway, coming at 16K/Cent? If not, would you intend to visit this site later for inspection?
As regards the current Vadakkancheri site that you inspected on the 12th, you have mentioned that:-
a) this land is not classified as wet land which needs exemption from KLU;
b) The lease holder has apparently sown paddy as it fetches more price for the farmer;
c) According to the agent, there is absolutely no problem in converting this property into house plots;
d) We will have to confirm this from the village office records.
These are all certain negative points, in my opinion; my anxiety is that we should not get into legal tangles and invite problems for ourselves later. Frankly, I have absolutely no idea about the rules and legalities involved with the Kerala Land Development Authority or KLU or whomsoever it may be, that we need to comply with while purchasing any kind of land for construction of residential units. Since you have taken the lead for this Project, it goes to confirm without doubt that you are fully endowed with all the expertise that is required to foresee and pre-empt such pitfalls and steer the Project operations efficiently.
Also, in my opinion, we should also inspect all the remaining sites that are featuring on your list (your mail of 7th Jan to me), including the following two, before taking a final decision:-
(a) the one on the Vadakkancheri-Pollachi State Highway, coming at 16K/Cent (your mail of 7th Jan to me);
(b) the one against AD.No: PKL109: 5-10 Acres of land on the side of Malampuzha ring road, Palakkad (your mail of 11th Jan) (your own comments on this is are: “Compared to Aylur, this area is better in my opinion as this is a major water body”).
A few more points which I would like to raise, which are complementary to the task of identifying a suitable site and determining the minimum total acreage of area required for this Project, are:-
1) To get confirmation from each and every member on their participation in the Project; this will determine the final count of participating members;
2) Every member to confirm their total requirement of plot area in length x breadth format.
3) What should be the width of the frontal roads; whether the frontal roads should have a division with a central verge in between, affording erection of street light poles; whether a 10 feet service line is desired at the back of each plot or not;
4) Apart from frontal roads, what is the land area requirements for :
(i) community hall-cum-prayer room
(ii) central kitchen & dining room
(iii) few guest house rooms
(iv) a few rooms for the Service Staff
(v) Project Office
(vi) parking area for Ambulance and a couple of office vehicles
(vii) Any other utility area requirement
5) Once we can get a fair idea on the total area required for the above facilities, we can make an approximate estimate on the total acreage requirement of the land taking into consideration the final count of participating members. We should neither fall short of the area nor end up with land in huge surplus; the latter can prove detrimental to those who can ill-afford it now and maybe in many other ways later. The best way is that we stick to a commonly accepted single size (Length x Breadth) of plots and everybody accepts the same uniformly.
Rgds and a HAPPY PONGAL to all – Ganapathy, 13.01.2010
Gitalaya
14.01.2010
Dear RV,
Thank you for your detailed mails with the latest updates.
1. My suggestion to call upon the members to announce their requirement of plot sizes now and also to take a final count of members who are genuinely interested in participating in this Project – which would have enabled us to pre-determine the acreage requirement – has not been found befitting and you have preferred to postpone this for another date.
2. You are looking at an area of 3 to 5 acres maximum. In my view, 3-5 acres can easily cater to 25 to 30 residential units apart from allocating areas for Roads, Community-cum-Prayer Hall, kitchen-cum-dining hall, guest house rooms, staff quarters, office room, vehicle parking, and some other utility areas. If there are going to be only 8 participating members, (which again is only an assumption), which number you feel is sufficient to go ahead with this Project, the per head cost of land itself will be quite high as against what it would have been if it were to be shared by 25 to 30 members. Moreover, with 8 members, the very objective of the Agraharam concept of living will stand defeated. For disposal of surplus land, you will have to enter into another deal with someone else - you have already expressed your apprehensions on this; I don’t want to add anything further.
3. The success of this Project lies entirely in the hands of the participating members – after all, they alone can make it meaningful and purposeful and that is possible only if they all can come together and share their time and values with each other.
4. I don’t want to keep any of you in the dark. If there are not going to be sufficient number of participants from day 1, I will have to ask to be excused.
5. There is no point in dilly-dallying; confront the members and ask them to speak out their mind - for having single-handedly toiled like a donkey all these months, spending your precious time, energy and money, at least they owe you so much.
Regards - Ganapathy
