The Hindu Business Line : Strike hits construction activity in Kochi

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Kochi March 5 Construction activities in Kochi and suburban areas came to a grinding halt on Monday on account of the one-day strike called by the joint action council of the Builders Association seeking to resolve the problems faced by the building construction sector.

The members of the Kerala Builders Association and Kerala Builders Forum, as well as a large number of construction workers took out a rally and held a dharna here. Inaugurating the dharna, Mr T. Nazaruddin, President of the Kerala Vyapari Vyavasayee Ekopana Samithy, said that the building construction sector was providing employment equivalent to the State Government's total employment of nearly 3.5 lakh and ignoring its interests would only harm the state's economy as whole.

Appealing to the Government to take immediate steps to resolve the problems in the sector, he said that the State's trade and construction activity had to go hand-in-hand.

Effective steps

Addressing the striking building construction workers, the KBA President, Mr M. D. Jairaj, demanded declaration of the building construction sector as an industry. He also sought effective steps to prevent the frequent rise in prices of construction raw materials and scaling down of sales tax on building materials to 12.5 per cent from the existing 20 per cent.

The association also demanded the Government withdraw the notification with regard to the proposed new structural plan bringing down the floor area ratio (FAR) as low as 1.25. If the notification comes into effect, they pointed out that the cost of the built-up space would go up substantially, and will match almost all the metros, making Kochi an unattractive place for business and investment.

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