In a rare gesture, the New Town Kolkata Development Authority (NKDA) has rescheduled the timing of construction of its new office building to give relief to the workers engaged in building the structure.
A high-level meeting was held in NKDA headed by its chairman Debashis Sen to reschedule the working hours of the construction workers in view of the excessive heat. The workers found it difficult to work in the afternoon hours as the steel roads had become so hot that they could not even touch them. Rescheduling the working hours of construction workers due to excessive heat is unheard of. In Andhara Pradesh, Rajasthan, Odisha where there is extreme climates, no relief is given to construction workers.
NKDA has decided that there will be morning and evening shifts. The evening hours will be extended. They will be given a break in the afternoon. NKDA officials said the rescheduling of timings would not slow down the pace of construction work and it will be completed within the stipulated time frame.
The new NKDA building is coming up near Rabindra Tirtha. At present it is housed in three buildings. But as workload on NKDA is going up after more areas have come under the jurisdiction of Housing Infrastructure Development Corporation (HIDCO), it was felt that the agency should have its own office.
As property tax will be imposed soon in New Town, NKDA needs a spacious area to set up offices to collect property tax.
The phase I will have a basement and a ground level parking lot. The building will have four floors. However, the foundation is capable of supporting 10 floors and the building can be expanded upwards in the future. The construction is being carried out by EIL, a Central PSU.