The document summarizes the story of a voluntary self-organized housing project in India built by 60 families. Key points: - The families formed an association and worked together to purchase land and construct apartment buildings at cost price without relying on developers. - They took assistance from professionals but did much of the work themselves, including organizing members and fulfilling legal requirements. - The project resulted in well-designed multi-story buildings and apartments that provide affordable housing while maintaining architectural quality. - Challenges included irregularities in the governing structure and defining responsibilities, but a shared vision and cooperative team effort led to the successful completion of the project.

1. Voluntarily Self-organised
cum
Self-made Housing Project in
India
Building of our housing complex is a rare story
Compiled & Written by Subrata Banerjee
It takes each of us to make difference for all of us

2. After deciding and developing
a lawful alternative way,
the team achieved the common goal of building
a residential housing estate at bare cost price.
Birth of a new housing complex with durable design
and elegant elevations, by not depending on
conventional vendor carrying on the trade of dealing
in apartments built viz. Promoter or Developer,
became possible.
It is the journal of a volunteer,
who is the writer of this story of solving the
problem of shelter of sixty families.
It contains a record of what has happened over the period of
making of our housing complex.
It includes important dates and references and writer’s
experiences, and thoughts or feelings, including comments on
related events.
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3. Voluntarily Self-made Housing Project in India: Building
of our housing complex is a rare story
We formed Baghbazar Housing Association for the one shot
programme of the construction of our housing complex and it was formed as
a non-profit organisation. Truly speaking, the governing body members, as
volunteers of BHA, worked towards building own housing complex without
expectation to receive compensation for services rendered there at.
Moreover, our project may be categorised as ‘self-organised’ and
‘self-made’ housing project, which means that it was co-financed by the
future users only and the apartments were made to cover the real needs of
the founder-members of the project. The project was ‘self-organised’ as
because we took the assistance of professionals viz., (a) advocates for legal
advices as well as documentations, (b) consulting architect for architectural
drawing and planning, preparation of bill of quantities and bid documents,
sanctioning of plan, periodical supervision, (c) contractors for the entire
construction of housing complex including plumbing and electrical work, lift
Installation, etc. The project is ‘self-made’ as because we have done the
remaining works of the project of our own initiative, viz., (1) finding out
optimum number of co-owner-members (sixty co-sharers), (2) organising
purchase of a residential plot under sixty deeds of conveyance, (3) uniting
the co-owner- members for carrying out their duties and responsibilities on
various understandings, self-imposed norms, acts and deeds for smooth
construction, (4) fulfilling pre-conditions for plan sanctioning and obtaining
NOC from different departments of CIT, ULC, KMC etc. for successful
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4. Sanction of Plan, (5) achieving the rest of the work upto handing over of the
project in the hands of the beneficiaries.
A positive surprise about the project was its high architectural calibre
as well as its potential in providing access to affordable housing. This project
offers strong proofs that good design and elegant elevations of the buildings
etc. are not a monopoly of private high cost real estate. The opinions of the
people (co-owners and their families) inhabiting this incredible housing
complex are very positive and praiseworthy and the reactions of the local-
society around us is encouraging particularly for its participatory planning
especially in solving own housing problem on the basis of bare cost sharing.
So, the study of history on ‘building our housing complex’ is important
because we share a common experience with the other co-owners that
binds us together.
The past period (pre-construction and construction period), which is
of the most vital experience in every second of our living in this housing
complex, can teach us more about the duties to be performed for keeping
our housing in a living condition.
I personally believe that discussion on past affairs specifically on
‘building our housing complex’ should never be confused with nostalgia. It is
written not to remind the ‘bygone days’, but to inspire our present living in
this housing complex. Symbolic recapitulation of the past is of course an
unavoidable aspect of all human attempts to make sense of the present.
I sincerely believe that when there is co-operation and faith,
wonderful things can be achieved. Moreover, a strong conviction will give us
the courage to stand for our beliefs even in adversity. If you want to know
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5. more on what strength that co-operation and conviction can really provide,
kindly read this article on “Building of our housing complex”.
Establishing a clear vision to achieve a common goal:
A few youths, driven by a wishful thinking that they, by no means, will
leave Baghbazar and must solve their housing problem here at Baghbazar,
and as such vowed to stay at Baghbazar locality. Focussing around a coveted
parcel of land, they started to consolidate their efforts for purchasing that
land by uniting interested persons to achieve the common goal of building a
residential housing estate there at bare cost price.
We know that a vision is the capability to see beyond the current
reality, creating and inventing what cannot now be perceived. The vision set
by one of the forerunners was able to ignite the required inspiration to me
for uniting other interested persons in purchasing the land and making the
prediction of building this housing complex into a reality.
Depending only on their honesty, integrity and sincerity, hard labour
and endless perseverance, the organisers gradually convinced some other
interested people that they could and would translate their desire into
action. “Own the land jointly and build apartments by united efforts at cost
price for own residential purpose” – this principle of joint endeavour was
announced. After a prolonged struggle of ups and downs, the endless
patience and never-ending continuous efforts bore results and at last sixty
apartments of more or less equal size and facilities by spending equal costs
of construction had been built up.
Patience is not only the ability to wait but also the ability to keep
good attitude and our co-owners knew that patience was bitter but its fruit
would be sweet. So, all the co-owner-members showed endless patience,
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6. good attitude and also extended unstinted support even in the critical
phases of the project which ultimately paved way for the successful
completion of the project – the slowly grown sweetest fruit for which they
waited.
That transparency always gives rise to a mutual trust and brings about
the success of any venture is proved once again by successful handing over
of the apartments to respective owners. We can rightfully claim to hold a
very high position in the category of ‘voluntarily self-made housing projects’
in India. Setting a clear vision for a project and ability to gather more
frontrunners and interested people around that vision was a breakthrough
achievement – that must be admitted.
Locational advantages also contributed :
“Don’t buy the house, buy the neighbourhood’ – once said one of my
friends. He also added his caution “Fancy projects in poor locations are still
subject to all the negatives of the poor location”. But in case of our project
site, we got various basic and peripheral advantages as noted below:
The site of the Baghbazar Housing Complex is one of the most
coveted places for residential projects that are located in Uttar Kolkata
(originally Sutanuti area). In the history of Kolkata and its process of
urbanisation, Baghbazar occupies a unique place. This is the place where a
wonderful mixture of traditional heritage and modernity always flows
without any interruption. Neighbourhood is also very peaceful. The charm
of Baghbazar, as the locality of dwelling place, is virtually incomparable for
its versatile glories.
Centred around Mayer Bari and Mayer Ghat at Ganga River side, it's
all within a five-minute walk in Bagbazar. Siddheswari Mandir, Udbodhan
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7. building, Nivedita’s house, Gaudiya Math, Balaram Mandir, Girish Ghosh’s
quaint building, Basu Bari (a palatial residence of Sri Nanada Lal Bose) etc.
all are situated at a stone's throw distance from the housing complex. The
entire region of Baghbazar is being marked off as a ‘heritage zone’ and
Kolkata Municipal Corporation is going all out to create the ambience for
one of the city's historic sites. The civil society of Baghbazar is proud of its
so-called “para culture” and over all peaceful ambience. Naturally, because
of the historical, social and cultural heritages of Baghbazar, the local people
feel attached to this place and are proud of being Baghbazarian. To my
mind, locational advantages also contributed vitally towards the success of
this project.
Overview of the Project:
All basic civic amenities, facilities and utilities that we need for daily
life are freely available here at Baghbazar. Especially, availability of daily
markets, post offices, banks, hospitals, schools, colleges, terminus for buses,
railway stations, metro stations, river transport, etc. is close by the project
site. Even airport is not far off from our housing estate. Proper drainage and
sewerge system, no water logging, supply of filtered water, regular garbage
disposal, plenty street lights etc. are either already arranged or maintained
since long.
The project offers to its residents well-planned and well-designed
multi-storied buildings (five) and apartments (sixty) with excellent interior
and exterior elevations, that are best suited for a premium lifestyle of
middle class people. People, who ultimately joined and afterward became
co-owners of the parcel of land for building apartments, now made it their
ultimate dwelling place. Modern amenities like 24 hours filtered water,
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8. parking lots, lifts, and Association’s room made the owners’ life extremely
cosy.
Governing Body and attempts to make it a team:
For any organisation, formal structures are absolutely inevitable for
having a status of legal entity. But in case of Baghbazar Housing Association
(BHA), due to not having any registration under any Act, it is based on
informal structure of organisation defining no power or duties and
responsibilities to be performed by the office bearers as normally found in
any concerned Act. The registration is essential at least for opening bank
accounts, and gives recognition to the Association before all authorities and
parties. Practically, Baghbazar Housing Association had no authority to enter
into a contract or agreement with anybody or with any agency or party. The
real character of BHA was “a mere aggregate of individuals” without any
valid authority from members. In absence of all these benefits or statutory
requirements, BHA had to perform. This is something which is unique in any
property development scenario with heterogeneous co-owners.
It is known that BHA was deliberately created through a notarised ‘Co-
owners Agreement’ but it has got no written rules and procedures to govern
nor any formal election process for the formation of the Governing Body
annually. No bye-laws were there specifying the manner to be followed
either on maintaining the accounts or auditing the said accounts by external
auditor.
The fact is that the responsibility of the governing body of BHA was
simply limited only to ‘rendering the accounts quarterly to members”
(clause no. 8 of Agreement Between Co-owners for Construction).
Moreover, no ‘bye-laws’ were there about the mode of publication of such
accounts. This was one of the major weaknesses of the said “Co-owners
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9. Agreement”. In spite of that the management of the fund, collected for
making this housing complex, ultimately met the demand of the project
otherwise the whole show would have been spoiled.
In addition to that, it was not the properly formed organisation based
on any past credentials or experiences. In practice, it was seen that different
Governing Body members had different personalities, and many of them
might require the social motive to bring out the best of them. Even,
perceptions regarding what were threats and opportunities also differed.
Amidst these irregularities, work for housing complex started.
As an amateurish endeavour, the members of the Governing Body of
BHA, started operation through a series of meetings with the co-owner
members with the stated aim of developing and promoting the mission of
building our housing complex. By working out on their ability to perform
and by expanding their united efforts, the Governing Body of BHA gradually
got confidence for building the self-organisational strategies incessantly to
achieve the target.
The Governing Body (afterwards including its permanent invitees) of
BHA was a body that supported the steering of its actions for the fulfilment
of its mission of building the housing complex at the targeted site. Its main
concern was in making strategic decisions concerning (1) organisation of co-
owners and (2) management of different agencies viz., various contractors
including consulting architect etc. and in making those decisions executed
properly. It was practically a co-ordinating agency for the co-owners and a
steering committee for the others.
Successfully managing a construction project requires a project plan, a
project schedule, a monitoring arrangement, and managing the changing
events of the projected plan. Moreover, uniting a full team of diverse
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10. individuals was not an easy task for the Governing Body, but they took the
appropriate actions in the interest of success of our project. The Governing
Body assessed and accepted all the ways and means or changes thereof by
means of consensus and gradually acquired appropriate knowledge of
suitable work manual and procedures for the project.
Every team needs to be driven by a deeply rooted sense of mission -
shared team goals. In case of our project, it was that team objectives that
bound the team together and kept it cohesive even when obstacles or
internal disagreements stood on the way. We cultivated all sensible
democratic norms for building an active team for our mission. So,
establishing a common goal and building an effective team did not just
happen easily.
Another common problem with the team was that the responsibility
of individual as a member of the Governing Body was not always well
defined. This had sometimes led to inactivity as participants waited for
additional guidance. Sometimes, the weaknesses as noted above had a
tendency to defeat the purpose of having a team. But, adhering to the best
practices of democratic understanding, we ensured a successful relationship
between the co-owners and the Governing Body and thus, the project of
construction of our residence had completed successfully.
Glimpses of our struggle:
We, the Governing Body including all co-owners, collectively have
developed our housing property under our voluntarily self-made and self-
laboured scheme: “Own the land jointly and build apartments by united
efforts at cost price for own residential purpose”. Birth of a new housing
complex, consisting of sixty (60) apartments ( more or less of equal size) by
not depending on conventional vendor carrying on the trade of dealing in
10

11. apartments built viz. Promoter or Developer, became possible in a most cost
effective manner. Since the very beginning, apartment-owners, all of Bengali
Community, are living here. This unique success of united effort became a
legend in the matter of solving own housing problem.
While approaching different departments of local statutory bodies,
in connection with the purchase of land and erection of civil construction
especially for residential purpose, viz. Registrar of Assurances, C.I.T, Urban
Land Ceiling Dept., K.M.C, even housing loan disbursement agencies i.e.
Nationalised Banks, for affirmation, permits, clearance, approval or
sanction, we have faced problems solely due to this unconventional and
uncommonness of this project : a self-made project with active participation
of co-owners obeying lawful alternative way of building own apartment.
Ultimately, all of the authorities concerned have welcomed the project and
done their respective duties and we have thus completed our dream
project.
In order to plan the entire project work conveniently, it has already
been agreed that for the purpose of construction of the 60 (sixty)
apartments along with related development of the housing complex, the
entire project had been divided into two phases i.e.
1. Pre-construction Period of 30 months Phase - 1,
(Consolidation of Willing Buyers, Purchase of land, Groundwork for Construction inclusive of Sanctioned
Plan)
2. Construction, Post Construction Period of 48 months Phase - 2.
(Construction and its Completion, Hand-Over & Commissioning)
It's easy to destroy but hard to build. Why does practically everything
take longer time to create than to destroy? It is said that creation is a
positive term, loaded with notions of order and directed effort. In
11

12. comparison with the hard nature of our project, we were compelled to
justify the time period that has elapsed for the completion of the project.
Details of items where the amounts of the cost of construction
(phase wise) were spent are noted below:
Expenditure/ cost on phase - 1 includes meeting expenses, searching,
advertisement in newspapers, legal expenses, lawyers’ fees, documentation
and copyright expenses, cost of land as per memo of consideration,
donation and brokerage, architect fees, drawing charges, clearance of urban
land ceiling dept. and C.I.T, road survey, conveyance, registration fee, stamp
charges for registration of deed and various documents, municipal tax for
land, electrical expenses, watchmens’ salary, mutation charges, printing and
stationary, plan fee to KMC etc. Bhumi Puja.
Expenditure/ cost on phase - 2 includes meeting expenses, electricity
charges, conveyance, soil testing, piling for plinth, water connection
charges, printing and stationary charges, salary to watchmen and project
engineers, postage and telegramme charges , various professional charges,
bank charges, legal expenses, corporation tax and fees, transformer
installation, furniture and fittings, sewerage fee and charges, cost of civil
construction, power supply, electrification of apartments and complex, lift
installation, architectural charges, rule 25 charges etc.
Salient points on phase-wise progress of the project:
1. To solve their housing problem, some interested persons joined hand
in hand, decided all necessary measures unanimously for building own
residential apartments conjointly and in due course purchased a land
(measuring 2978.957 Sq.Mtr.) during May, 2001. Each sharer (subsequently
member/co-owner) is the owner of an undivided proportionate 1/60th part
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13. of the premises no.2, Ananda Chatterjee Lane, Kolkata-700003, having
purchased the same under 60 (sixty) several deeds of conveyance.
2. Each member/co-owner, in persuasion of his/her intention to build up
own residential apartment jointly, made and notarised a CO-OWNERS’
AGREEMENT, in September 2001, agreeing to comply with various
understandings, self-imposed norms, acts and deeds for the smooth
construction of the apartments including final allotment of the same as well
as formation of the Owners’ Association in conformity with the provision of
the West Bengal Apartment Ownership Act, 1972.
3. Each member/co-owner, after purchasing the said land, jointly by
executing Power of Attorney, in September 2001, registered before the
Registrar of Assurances, Kolkata unanimously appointed two owner-
members as their Constituted Attorney for the purpose of several acts and
activities with the different Statutory Bodies and others concerned for the
construction of their apartments on the said premises.
4. A few forerunners formed an Association, on April, 2001, under the
name and style of Baghbazar Housing Association. The newly formed
governing body, after obtaining ratification and endorsement of all other co-
owners, notarised that Association in September 2001 under a deed of ‘CO-
owners Agreement for Construction’. The governing body of BHA was
entrusted with the responsibility to formulate and to supervise all the
necessary steps for the purpose of construction of buildings, appointment of
contractor(s) including the collection of the ‘bare cost of construction’ from
its members as well as disbursement of the same from the collective fund
and also for the allotment of respective apartments in the said buildings to
the co-owners. After the handing over of the apartments to its owners, the
above said Baghbazar Housing Association (unregistered organisation) was
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14. succeeded by Baghbazar Housing Apartment Owners’ Association in
November 2007.
5. By way of allotment process viz., lottery, the respective apartments of
the buildings (five) were allotted. All the co-owners have agreed to
demarcate and /or earmarked their respective apartments in terms of the
building plan, sanctioned by Kolkata Municipal Corporation on 08.07. 2003.
6. Arrangement of Bank Loan was another milestone for our success. It is
very important to have legally established ownership of the property to
avail of the Housing Finance. Financing Institutions generally rely on the
legal scrutiny report especially on the title of applicant’s property. At that
time, our entire property was under joint interest and we were all
shareholders of that joint property (one-sixtieth part of whole). In spite of
that we had managed the Bank Loan for individual apartments. We have
made impossible possible because of the uniqueness of this project. We
proved that it was possible to do things beyond our capabilities when the
intention is honest.
7. Co-Owner members, by their united efforts have finally completed the
construction of the said residential complex having five (5) buildings (Land
utilisation: covered area- 48.194 % and open area- 51.806 % of the net area
of land, FAR consumed 98.55 %, comprised of sixty (60) apartments at the
above said premises, 2, Ananda Chatterjee Lane, Kolkata – 700 003, PS.
Shyampukur for dwelling purpose. (Average Built up Area of each apartment
is 87.66 Sq. Mtr. and Average Covered Area is 93.65 Sq. Mtr along with 1.666
% of individual interest in the common areas and facilities appertaining to
each apartment).
8. In consideration of the sharing of payment of construction costs (truly
speaking: bare cost of construction) including all other charges, the
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15. Baghbazar Housing Association have granted, conveyed and transferred
each apartment to its respective owners with effect from 1st November,
2007 together with proportionate undivided interest or share in common
areas and facilities according to the nature, scope and extent as defined
under the West Bengal Apartment Ownership Act, 1972.
9. All the co-owners nominated and appointed Sri Subrata Banerjee and
Sri Shyamal Kumar Ash as their Power of Attorney and notarised the
respective deed on 30th July, 2008 to deal and sign all the documents
relating to the registration of the Baghbazar Housing Apartment Owners’
Association in respect of 60 apartments at premises no. 2, Ananda
Chatterjee Lane, Kolkata – 700 003. They were authorised by all the co-
owners to deal with all matters relating to submission of the property
description to the provisions of the West Bengal Apartment Ownership Act,
1972 by registering the Declaration Deed as per Form-A of the concerned
Act.
Afterwards, Co-owners have acquired individual ownership in the
above said Apartments under a Deed of Partition with Conveyance,
registered finally on 07.09.2011 in the Office of the Registrar in Book – 1, C D
Volume number – 43, pages from 2192 to 2437 being number – 11553 for
the year 2011 (Process for the Registration of Partition Deed started in the
month of April, 2010 and completed, after facing acute uncertainties, in the
month of September, 2011).
10. Co-Owner-Members, in order to make their apartments heritable
and transferable and also to ensure its management and maintenance, have
submitted the description of the property to the provisions of the West
Bengal Apartment Ownership Act, 1972, and formed Baghbazar Housing
Apartment Owners’ Association (formed on 25/3/2007 and registered on
15

16. 6/3/2012 bearing serial no. 7A of 2012) and unanimously adopted the
byelaws for its smooth functioning.
11. This novel residential housing property was submitted to the
provisions of the West Bengal Apartment Ownership Act, 1972, in March
2009, under a Declaration Deed executed (February, 2012) as per Form- A in
conformity with the provisions of the Act and registered in the Office of the
Registrar, A R A – II Kolkata, Registered in Book – 1, C D Volume number – 6,
Pages from 360 to 388, being no. 01544 for the year 2012.
12. According to the provision of The West Bengal Apartment Ownership
Act 1972, Co-owners have executed an instrument (May, 2012) as per Form
– “C” declaring, defining and demarcating individual ownership of own
apartment and registered the said instrument in the Office of the Registrar,
A R A – II Kolkata, Registered in Book – 1, C D Volume number – 23, pages
from 1100 to 1116, being no. 0 6267 for the year 2012.
13. In the above said statutory declaration, all the owners have already
taken the following oath: “We hereby further solemnly declare and
undertake that we, our heirs, executors, administrators and assigns shall, in
respect of the said Apartment(s), be subject to the provisions of the said Act
and shall comply strictly with the bye-laws made under section 13 of the
said Act and with the covenants, conditions and restrictions set forth in the
said Declaration”.
14. In order to create individual mutation and apportionment as well as
clearing of property tax individually for each apartment from November
2007, as per the provisions of Kolkata Municipal Corporation, each owner-
member is taking necessary steps in doing the needful. The payment of
property tax, as joint property, is already paid upto March, 2014 and the
assessment for property tax, as for individual property, is going on currently.
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17. 15. Being an organizer amongst others, I do hope that you will definitely
appreciate the fact that based only on voluntary endeavour, having no
statutory power and status, having no past experience, the Governing Body
of Baghbazar Housing Association had successfully handed over (in
November 2007) this matchless housing project and thus solved the housing
problem of its members.
Fighting against unscrupulous activities becomes very hard to carry
on:
Many are without shelter of their own. The problem is too large to be
met by the government alone. At least, if people of middle class category
take imitative like ours, they will be able to build their housing property of
their choice at cost price.
I am not denying that with our busy lives, it is very hard to find time to
volunteer. While volunteering at BHA, sometimes I wasted too much time
in useless or unproductive meetings, and sometimes I felt that we were
lacking professionalism and don’t know how to lead. Sometimes, I felt that
we were fondling much or flattering much to satisfy one or two persons not
amenable to reason.
Sometimes, it is seen elsewhere that (1) policy-makers manipulate
existing policy to their own purpose, (2) their unscrupulous activities create
difficulties in running the organisation along the rightful path, and/or (3)
some of their corruptions damage the morale of the organisation by putting
unjust financial burden.
In our case, it was seen that only monitoring and advocacy against
unscrupulous activities yielded very limited results while it harmed, to some
extent, our credibility as organisers. Secondly, in spite of rendering such
17

18. unique achievement, incidences of malpractices of contractors, though
happened in very limited areas, definitely distracted us from reputation and
commendation which were due to us.
At that time, members’ active participation was considered as very
important support in fighting corruption or malpractice. But, the gross
recommendation from the majority of the members was to “stick only to
vital goal of attainment of the progress of the project any way and to keep
entire motivation and energy focusing only on the trouble-free completion
of the construction work any how”. This stand also created weaknesses in
the application of harder weapons of legal or extra-legal means against
corruption or malpractice.
Finally, we learned from experience that in any immature and weak
democratic forum, fighting against corruptions and malpractices becomes
very hard to carry on.
In spite of that, democratic forum with voluntary participation is the
best module for doing welfare work. Because of that, I would like to say
again that helping others while helping ourselves was the best option for us
in solving our housing problem.
Thanks to the visionary - the most ambitious schemer who
ultimately succeeded:
In the year 2000, I met one of the best ambitious schemers, who
practically dreamed about this housing complex at this premises. He
dragged me here for volunteering this project. In due course, myself along
with a few others, ultimately assembled here mainly for his encouragement
for making our “own shelter” here at Baghbazar. Afterwards, his dream
became a vision for us – a vision that created this housing complex. After
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19. successful completion of the project, I convey my thanks to that “over-
ambitious schemer” who dared to dream about this housing complex. Out
of all the important jobs marked as “most vital” for the smooth starting of
the project- work, he was the fore-runner and pioneer contributor in solving
the initial hurdles of our project.
Thanks to my partner – the vital volunteer who kept company with
me from the very beginning to the end of the project:
In the same year, perhaps at the same time, I also met one self-
declared ‘dark horse’ who made an unwritten partnership on ‘long way to
go’ with me for fulfilling this mission of building our housing project. After
successful completion of the project, I convey my thanks to that “vital
volunteer” who not only walked with me but also cleared several huddles
for the smooth progress of the project.
It is known to me that the deepest principle in human nature is the
craving to be appreciated. If anybody played extraordinarily important
contribution towards the progress of any project, he must be appreciated
exceptionally. In our project, there were other major contributors who also
had done praiseworthy works for this project but the above noted persons
need ‘special mention’ without showing disrespect to other honorable team
members.
Thanks to the Co-owners – who dared to take risk for the “sweet
fruit”:
I am the one who subscribes to the saying “no venture, no gain”. Only
when we take the risks, we do realise our full potential. So, if we want to
achieve something, we have to take risks.
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20. There would have been no Baghbazar Housing Complex today if
nobody had dared to venture out and thus constructed the new universe at
2, Ananda Chatterjee Lane, Kolkata – 700 003. There would not have been
sixty numbers of unique apartments if everybody had played it safe on the
ground. We would not have any co-owner members and so friendly
neighbourhood if we had not taken the risks of investing here for our
shelters. That is why; we should also thank all the co-owners.
Various risk factors and our preparations:
What shall be the ‘critical risk’ associated with the construction of our
housing? This was the prime question amongst us throughout the days of
the project. Management risk, project completion risk, risks involving our
ability to deliver as per specified terms, quality parameters, transparency
and standardisation – all those risk factors were there and we had to fight
out all those risks in our own style and capabilities.
In addition to that we had to develop a gross understanding of the
legal aspects that encompass the activities from our ability to plan the entire
scheme upto the completion of the construction of our housing as well as
handing over the same to its respective owner-members. We were
compelled to learn almost a clear concept of related ethics and to apply
those ethics in the practice of this real estate activity. Also, we had to
maintain a code of ethics in understanding the conflict of interests of
different agencies and other vested persons or bodies for the just success of
this project.
Everybody dreams, but not equally:
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21. We made our housing complex that was an impossibility to be
materialised, but we ignored all the obstacles and that is why we were able
to do it.
To pursue our dream, at first we challenged the norm – the current
practice of depending on the vendors viz. Promoter – Developer. We decided
to step outside our comfort zone and thus we took vital risks for saving the
cost of the project. Our motto was to build our shelters by self-made
scheme and voluntary supervision and labour that would be most
economical with maximum durability.
At the beginning, interested persons (afterwards most of them
became our co-owners) enquired about our genealogy, solvency and even
about our reputation or scandal, if any. In order to get success, we, the
organisers, utilised our acquaintances and contacts for creating a solid
support-base or peer-group for advancement of our proposal and project.
Primarily, our dreams were personal until we found interested people
to share it. These people became 'Partners or Co-owners' who also shared
and implemented our vision. Some goals require support from others for
rapid success and our Co-owners extended plenty of support in reaching
that goal of building this unique housing complex.
Nothing is more exciting than witnessing or being instrumental, in the
transition of energy - from the abstract to the tangible, from dream to real
housing complex. I am very happy for being instrumental in building this
housing complex.
Naturally, we still believe that the challenges of sharing any dream
with others have less to do with that dream and more to do with the people
who share it with us. Once they can see it, they will support with funds,
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22. time, effort, counsel and more. We got all these valuable backings from our
Co-owners throughout the crucial period from 2001 to 2007. This legacy is
still continuing.
Matter of commemorations:
(a) Finding the suitable venue for arranging regular meeting is a key
element in perfectly planning the construction of our housing. At that time,
we wanted a venue for our regular meetings that would convey the right
message and compliment the project’s purpose. With highmindness and
generosity, Sri Amrita Kumar Sen and Sri Subrata Sen, our co-owners,
residing at that time at the renowned ‘Sen Bari’, 44, Ramkanta Bose Street,
Kolkata – 700 003, offered their Drawing Room for holding the meetings for
the preparatory work for making of our housing complex.
We considered the offer as a blessing for us. We accepted the offer
forthwith and on different occasions, ultimately utilised almost entire area
of the ground floor for our office cum meeting purpose. We stayed there at
least for three and half years without any rent or any other charges.
As ‘Sen Bari’ is associated with eminent personality, the selection of
this venue as our meeting place created a tremendous impact for building
confidence amongst our members as well as a secured atmosphere amongst
them.
Moreover, it was a convenient venue for easy arrival and created a
positive impression on our credibility as well as a trustworthy place for our
office cum meeting room.
We owe our obligations to the residents of ‘Sen Bari’ for
accommodating us for more than three and half years. Truly speaking, our
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23. ‘meeting room’ also facilitated to a great extent the successful completion
of the construction of our housing complex.
(b) Many dreams are achieved without such sensational stories or
favour but the essential formula remains the same. One cannot lose if one is
ready to lose everything for making a dream come true. We truly followed
this golden rule of success. Persons who are fully aware of various problems,
burdens and compulsions of real estate management, shall understand the
state of affairs we faced at that period.
(c) Proper planning and ability to implement are always perceived to
be the most important items contributing to success. However, there are
many definitions of success. The traditional approach to success in the
construction industry is to focus on the ability to plan and execute projects.
Now, we can say with firm conviction that we, as the organisers, followed
the above said success-parameters honorably and thus met the dominant
success in building our housing complex in the year 2007.
(d) Hence, any attempt to despise or belittle the background of
making this housing complex will be suicidal and any mistake in
remembering the basic character of these ‘voluntarily self-made’ shelters
shall be fatal for future dwelling in this housing complex.
Disclaimer:
History is a mental enterprise; it is the study of human experience in
time. “No reconstruction can ever be the final word, though there is always
room for new evidence and new interpretations to emerge”. I am at one
with this statement and believe that there is always scope for perceiving the
past with different viewpoint.
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24. I, therefore, neither attempt to write the history of building our
shelters nor try to assess the past activities of Baghbazar Housing
Association. The findings, interpretations, and conclusions expressed herein
are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of the
Governing Body of BHA. Based on my personal experience, observation and
noting, I have merely tried herein to narrate the past for engraving the
identity of the birth of this ‘voluntarily self-made housing complex’.
APPENDIX - 1
(A) The Governing Body of the Baghbazar Housing Association, formed on 19.09.2001
1. Dr. Nihar Kanti Rakshit – President,
2. Sri Subrata Banerjee – Vice –President,
3. Sri Raja Roy Choudhury – Secretary,
4. Sri Shyamal Ash – Treasurer,
5. Sri Balai Charan Bera (Sri Biswajit Bera) – Member,
6. Sri Prasanta De, - Member,
7. Sri Bhim Charan Sasmal – Member & Accountant,
8. Sri Haripada De – Member.
(B) Power of Attorney, Power transferred on 26.09.2001
1. Sri Raja Roy Choudhury, 2. Sri Prasanta De.
(C) Permanent Invitees to Governing Body, included in the month of July, 2003
1. Sri Amrita Kumar Sen, 2. Sri Ashok Kumar Dey, 3. Sri Biswajit Saha,
4. Sri Tapan Kumar Ghosh, 5. Sri Nilkantha Mukherjee.
Above noted persons were the volunteers, officially responsible for taking all necessary
steps to have the proposed housing complex materialised at 2, Ananda Chatterjee Lane,
Kolkata – 700 003.
They eventually acquired the functioning-ability to (1) articulate project objectives to co-
owner-members, (2) manage the project, (3) plan and effectively deploy the available
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25. resources, (4) communicate effectively with co-owner members, contractors, architects
and various local bodies etc., (5) control the finances of the project, including
expenditure monitoring and reporting, (6) supervise and ensure quality of work, (7)
maintain a high level of integrity and create a sense of trust among all stakeholders,
associated with the project, (8) understand the legal issues associated with the
construction of housing and real estate, (9) understand contracts and agreements and
even procedures for dealing with delinquencies/ defaults/ misconducts/ misdemeanours
of contractors, (10) manage conflicts and stress for smooth completion of the project and
handing over. In addition to those proficiencies, they learned the ‘price variation
adjustment method’ for dealing with the price escalations that had taken place on the
contracted price.
You are aware that joint-ownership of property is a double edged sword. It can lead to
legal and financial complications if the co-owners decide to split or give trouble.
Considering the various limitations of joint ownership of a property, kindly imagine the
degree of tensions and anxieties that we suffered as the organisers for the success of this
project. We can only recall the events where programmes were either halted or made
slow due to the compulsions of joint ownership rights. In the event of any disagreement
with any co-owner (if occurred), only moral appeal and prevailing of good sense could
save the rest. Amidst these realities and limitations, BHA performed wonderfully from
2001 to 2007.
From inception to commissioning, the project had gone through various distinct stages
leading to progressive achievement of project objectives wherein each stage demanded
specific inputs, processes and participations concerning mainly the technical and
managerial arrangements. We had to prepare ourselves for the above situations and
provided support as needed. In the matter of various negotiations and meetings with
different contractors, we successfully ensured our project objective: ‘show must go on’.
Experts define project management as "the application of knowledge, skills, tools and
techniques to a broad range of activities in order to meet the requirements of a
particular project." We always tried to update ourselves for the application of the just
process of directing and controlling our project from start to finish.
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26. APPENDIX - 2
Our Lawyers:
In the matter of purchasing the land, we have taken legal help of Sri Bijoy Krisna Dutta,
Advocate,3/2D, Taltala Lane, Kolkata – 700014, who have helped much in determining
the factors related to pre-purchase decision-making process for verifying the legal status
of the land and the legal work related to purchase of land and registration.
Afterward, starting from the preparation of various legal documents viz. ‘Co-owners
Agreement’ and deed of ‘Power of Attorney’, Sri Subhasis Chakraborty, Advocate, 7B,
Kiran Sankar Roy Road, 1st
Floor, Kolkata – 700001, had done all the legal formalities, till
completion and handing over of the apartments to its co-owner/s. On various occasions,
he allowed us to discuss legal queries without professional fees. Practically, he played a
role of organiser like us for making success of this project. Even today also he guides us.
We convey our obligations to him.
Our Consulting Architect:
In order to make the whole process of our construction of housing complex easier, we
have decided on our priorities and preferences at each step. In this regard, we have
discussed with our co-owner members step by step. We have discussed in details on
rooms, bathrooms, store-lofts, verandah, and fittings, lift etc. and any other facility
including its size, purpose, type of finish, cost etc. flooring, electrical and sanitary fittings,
paints, timber etc.
We have also discussed on fund generation, instalment patterns etc. In the matter of
starting planning for the construction, we thus collected primary information on liking-
disliking and budget provision from our co-owner members and asked our Consulting
Architect to design our apartments and housing complex as far as possible to our choices
and budget.
We have deployed Sri Debasis Choudhury, M/s. Akriti Architectural Consultants, 42A,
Harish Mukherjee Road (1st Floor), Kolkata – 700 025 as our consulting architect.
He was the professional who analysed our requirements, prepared first sketches, then
the plan of our apartments and the entire housing complex. He was responsible for
getting the plan sanctioned from KMC. He designed our apartments and the elevation of
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27. our housing to make it look beautiful. He prepared specifications and schedule of
quantities both for civil, plumbing, sanitation and electrical works and prepared bid
documents for submitting tender for selection of civil and electrical contractors. He
guided us through the entire process and periodically supervised the entire project up to
its successful completion. His technical skills and experiences had helped us in cutting
costs of the project as well as successfully completing the project. As a matter of fact, he
worked with us from start to finish as a most vital organiser and without his guidance
perhaps we would not have succeeded. We are indebted to him right from the outset.
Our Site Engineers:
We have deployed two Site Engineers (Building Supervisor) at our site to oversee
construction work, the quality of materials, measurements, checking of bills and
workmanship of contractors mainly the civil contractor. Their inputs were always good
for the safety and durability of our housing complex.
Our Civil Contractor:
After the completion of the tender and bidding process, selection of civil contractor was
made. M/s. Development Engineers’ & Consultants Private Limited, Kolkata -700 033 was
awarded the contract of civil, sanitary and plumbing work of the entire project on 16th
April 2004. They took up the contract for building our housing complex by organising
labour, building materials and equipment for getting the construction work done. They
also laid the water pipes and set up the sanitary fittings, plumbing work and sewerage
lines for our project. At the finishing stage their performances were blameworthy and we
had to do ourselves a small portion of the balance work before handing over to our
members.
Amidst this undesirable situation, one mentionable point that brought favourable impact
on the progress of the construction was the effective role of the then project manager Sri
Debasish Basak.
It is known to us that the project manager is one of the key stakeholders in a
construction site and his competence is a critical factor affecting project planning,
scheduling, execution and communication. The traits of a Project Manager of Civil
Construction include effective communication, self-confidence, willingness to adopt
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28. collaborative leadership styles, forward looking, sociable and adaptability, honesty and
integrity; and ability to solve problems.
Since very beginning of our construction at site, we found Sri Debasish Basak as the
Project Manager of M/s. DECPL. He gradually proved his capability to assimilate all those
traits, as mentioned above, for the better management of civil construction work
particularly at our site.
Although he had left our site before completion of construction, yet we have no
hesitation to convey our heartfelt thanks to him, particularly for his valuable help
extended to us in determining rationally the remaining work-value of the project and
arranging a new agreement structure on the basis of assessing lump-sum items avoiding
the recording of measurements for various items and work. Due to this change, we
overcame the stalemate situation and the remaining work of the construction started
again at our site. We would like to express our appreciation again for the remarkable
services rendered by him to save our housing project.
Electrical Contractor:
Ideally a licensed electrical contractor should be used to lay the electric lines for any
housing complex. Accordingly, we had appointed M/s. Electric Equipment & Engineering
Co. Kolkata – 700 001 on 13th September, 2004 as our licensed electrical contractor for
internal and external electrical work of our housing complex as per the schedule of items,
quantities and accepted rates. At the finishing stage, their performance was not at par
with the schedule of work already entrusted to them. However, we had to complete
some left over work even after commissioning.
Happy Ending & Dwelling Happily
It is said that an event that has a good ending is good even if some things went wrong
along the way. In our effort to solve our housing-problem along with other co-owners, it
was an ending that finds everyone happy. The joy of such inimitable success had
encouraged all the residents to live here with paramount peace and happiness. A sort of
bondage is already developed amongst the residents of apartments and all are now living
here in good harmony and friendship.
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29. It is said that ‘eaten bread is soon forgotten’. Still I feel that an assessment on making of
our housing complex is necessary for remembering the extent of preparedness required
and the magnitude of work done at that period by an amateur-team. This writing is my
humble attempt in that direction.
(I have taken plenty of guidance from Sri H. L. Chatterjee and Sri Asim Kumar Chatterjee,
the senior residents of our housing complex.
I owe my obligations to them. )
Subrata Banerjee
2nd
October, 2014
Revised Edition: 1st
May, 2015
E-mail : bukambabu@gmail.com
Mob: 9433153153
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