Kochi : The controversy surrounding the Mundamveli Life Mission flat complex took a sharp turn on Tuesday after the contractor, Thrissur district labour contract cooperative society (TDLCCS), blamed Greater Cochin Development Authority (GCDA) for the building’s severe structural flaws.
Vice-chairperson of the society, the project’s original financial estimate was slashed from Rs 20 crore to Rs 14 crore at the instance of former GCDA chairperson K Chandran Pillai, according to M R Raveendran. We suffered a loss of around Rs 5.5 crore in the project. Even now a sum of Rs 1.35 crore is pending to be paid,” Raveendran told TOI. TDLCCS, which served as the primary contractor for the Rs 14.6-crore housing project, was not initially interested in taking up the project. It was after Pillai’s repeated insistence that the agreement was signed on Oct 10, 2020, he claimed.
An evaluation by IIT Madras confirmed major design and construction flaws. You Can Also Check: Gold Rate in Kochi | Silver Rate in Kochi | Bank Holidays in Kochi | Public Holidays in Kochi Stay updated with the latest Kochi news. “The initial flat complex plan was changed at the instance of Pillai. Despite multiple attempts by local authorities to fix the leaks using waterproof solutions and patch repairs, the efforts failed to resolve the core structural issues. With repairs deemed financially unviable, govt faces growing pressure to safely relocate the affected families and fix responsibility on the officials and contractors behind the faulty construction. The beneficiary families have been staging protests for months. Download the TOI App.
Built under the previous state govt’s flagship Life Mission scheme to rehabilitate 78 low-income families from the flood-prone P&T Colony in Kadavanthra, the flat complex has seen constant hardship since residents moved in early 2024.
“They approached us after no agency responded despite the tenders being floated six to seven times,” he said. They directed us to execute as was being told,” he claimed. TDLCCS maintained that it executed the work strictly according to the revised plans and budgets handed down by GCDA.
Raveendran rejected charges of poor construction quality behind the ‘leaking’ of the flat complex. “The initial plan was altered. There was no provision for sunshade or laying roof sheets or setting up a sewage treatment plant. Raveendran asserted that the society is being unfairly made a scapegoat for systemic administrative errors, cost-cutting measures, and design oversights enforced by higher authorities. Despite repeated attempts, Pillai couldn’t be reached for comments. They have faced constant miseries, including leaking ceilings, damp walls, overflowing drainage systems and structural cracks.