Silchar fast catching up with ‘flat culture’

SILCHAR, Dec 10: Silchar, along with the rest of the country, has fast caught up with the trend of flat-culture. During the last decade, there has been mushrooming of complexes in almost all the residential areas of this town whose population has now crossed more than 3 lakh within the municipal area. The burgeoning population in and along the peripheral areas has resulted in shrinkage of land and its abnormal price-escalation, beyond the reach of middle class people.

The craze is now for accommodation with affordable prices and within one’s resources. Promoters and builders  with their brand names are vying with one another to offer flats of choice. If flat owners look happy, their architects are no less happy. They have their own reasons to smile as revealed by them while interacting with this scribe. That does not mean there are no discordant notes.

In identical manner, flat owners spoke of their busy schedule of life and financial crunch to prefer new mode of accommodation. They cannot have a plot of land and sustain the time-consuming and labourious process in constructing a house. “You have ready-made living accommodation with necessary amenities plus security” said Mandira Dutta Choudhury, home maker, of Karunamoyee apartment. One can go out with peace of mind, she added.

College lecturer Alpana Nath Mazumder, however, said though she is comfortable in her flat at Prerona complex, she misses the charm of living in her house, spacious and open with enough liberty. She at the same time admits to maintain a big house is too much telling on today’s hard-pressed and tension-ridden people. A house wife, Suma Bhattacharjee, too agrees there are both merits and demerits of living in a flat which she says has become a part of modern civilization. She opines ever changing life style and compulsive circumstances do not spare other options than to own a flat.

Bijit Nath Choudhury, a State government employee, thinks flat owners are relieved much of their mental worries over essential services like water, electricity, cleanliness and hygienic environment which are taken care of by the association. “You can also have a garage for your vehicle with security,” he pointed out. Moreover, lift facility makes your movement easy. Load-shedding is offset with stand-by generator.

Although Sushanta Das was not at all appreciative. He is pinched by the lack of “spirit of living together.” Every family prefers to remain indoors. “This is very irritating,” he said. One feels like living in isolation and cocooned. Krishna Deb Roy, mother of two children, regrets having no space for kids to play or for a little nursery. Drying clothes is also a big problem, she added.

Reputed builders and architects Ranadhir Bose and Shankar Sen of Chandrila and Creations who has till date constructed 30 and seven complexes respectively in this town attribute this ever growing public patronage for this “flat-culture.” With their long experience and professionalism, their priority is on good and strong construction with maximum facilities. Both are happy and busy with their new plans. THE SENTINEL