Corporates to reduce rebuilding burden for govt

The state's reconstruction bill for the housing sector alone would be around a whopping Rs 818 crore, but the state government is not worried, as many corporate houses have extended a helping hand.

During the floods of the July month, roads, houses, schools and primary health care centres were completely destroyed in many districts of southern Maharashtra and the Kokan area. So, the government machinery is gearing up to the task of rehabilitation.

Speaking to Business Standard, chief secretary Prem Kumar said, "According to our estimates 17,000 houses have been destroyed completely and it will cost around Rs 40,000 to reconstruct each housing unit. Beside this, around 5 lakh houses have been partially damaged and cost for repairing is estimated at Rs 15,000 per unit."

But luckily, many corporate houses such as L&T, HDFC, the Reliance Industries, the Mahindras, the Essar Group and the Tatas have shown willingness to share this burden. They have shown keen interest in reconstructing houses, schools, primary health care centres and roads, he added.

He further added, "We are in the process of finalising the blueprint, for revamping the rural infrastructure, which will soon be presented to the corporates. After that, they will pick up the project of their choice".

When replying to a query, Kumar said, "I would not like to guess at the amount of money that the corporates will actually pour into the reconstruction of rural Maharashtra, but from their initial reaction, I am confident that they will reduce the burden of the state government considerably".