3000 quake damaged houses reconstructed under REDRH

EOI, Gangtok, 24 September: The reconstruction of 7,972 houses under the Reconstruction of Earthquake Damaged Rural Houses (REDRH) Project is sanctioned under the PM’s Special Package. Owning a home of our own is a dream often not easy to achieve but for 3,000 rural households of Sikkim, this dream has turned into a reality as they have moved into their brand new homes.

The philosophy of Build Back Better has been the guiding strategy for both these projects. The homeowner-driven implementation model has been adopted and it has helped to establish a sense of ownership and identity with the beneficiaries. An efficient and transparent mechanism of beneficiary selection, stock material management, physical progress monitoring and simplification of the technical elements has been established. The core house design, building standards, construction material (cement and steel), technical supervision and capital has been provided by the project. While the home-owner undertook the actual construction, procured local construction material (stone, sand, timber etc), arranged for mason and labour and also added their own finances. Skills upgradation trainings for the masons and engineers were specially organized in partnership with IIT-Delhi.

In terms of physical progress, a total of 3000 houses have been completed, 2000 houses have crossed roof level, 2500 houses have crossed plinth level and for the remaining 472 houses work is underway. Out of the total sanctioned cost of Rs 389.83 crore Rs 227.03 crore was received from the Government of India so far. Inspite of this, the physical progress achieved is far more than the financial support received so far.