The village sprawled on the foothills of Kerandimal. The people had come and settled in an organized pattern. The dwellings were laid out in a series of rows with common streets between each row. These streets were directly connected to the main approach road to the village. Being tribal, they believed in a strong sense of community as against individuality and hence all the houses were constructed to almost look the same.
Gram Vikas began intervention in the field of housing in the early 80's. The village has 102 households, with a population of 425. The land did not originally belong to the people. A person form the neighboring Ramaguda village owned a large portion of the land. However, he contributed the land as donation for development by way of issuing a community ‘ patta' or ownership title. Which meant that the land now belonged to the community as a whole.
Finance
A contract was signed with the village committee, which ensured 100% participation and helped define the roles of Gram Vikas and the Villagers.
A lot of preparatory work had to be done before the actual construction began. Since all the families were below the poverty line, finance for the whole activity had to be mobilized. This was done by arranging a loan form the Housing and Development Finance Corporation. Each household took a loan of 20 to 25 thousand rupees. This meant that each family was paying for their house on their own. Additional funding was also arranged form the DOEN Foundation. T o enable the people to repay the loans, Gram Vikas made many livelihood and income generating options available to them.
Planning
A standard Household Survey Format was formulated that helped record and understand the existing scenario. Gram Vikas believes that the houses should be so planned that they respect the dignity of the individuals occupying them.
They analysed that for a joint family structure each house should be atleast a minimum of 450 square feet, with a living room, a bedroom, a kitchen, a toilet and bathroom with a common access, a front verandah and a back yard for outdoor cooking and cleaning.
This was originally how the people were living, except that they did not have a toilet. And hence it was felt best to retain the existing planning and only upgrading the building technology and structural stability of the houses. The planning policy of Gram Vikas has been to disrupt as little as possible of the existing lifestyle of the community by simply retaining the layout and only converting the existing buildings for a temporary structure to a permanent one.
Cost effectiveness
To reduce considerably the cost of construction, the people contributed labour and locally available material such as stone and rubble from the mountains. Bricks from the Gram Vikas VSBK were used, which were much cheaper than the bricks available in the market, mainly due to the transportation cost involved. Since, the trained engineers and supervisors were employed to carry out the construction, the need of a contractor as a middleman was eliminated.
The villagers took upon themselves the task of monitoring and management of the construction. Equal wages were paid to the men and women workers. I n the due course of the construction activity, 22 people from the village got trained as masons and are now earning between 70 to 110 rupees daily. All these factors helped Gram Vikas achieve a construction cost as low as a hundred rupees per square feet of construction.
Technology
Actual construction began in 1985 and went on up to 1989. The construction began in a phase wise manner and till date Gram Vikas has only been able to complete the first phase with about 20 to 25 houses. The rest of the village is still in its original state and the difference in the new and the old building can be easily seen.
Most of the houses were in wattle and with thatched roof. Some houses had brick walls but they were mostly cracking with due to the poor construction and age. Most of the roofs in corrugated GI sheets were blown away in the Super cyclone in 1999. The new houses were however constructed in structurally stable techniques. The foundation and plinth were filled with the rubble collected by the people form the mountains. The walls and piers were made in 9 inches thick load bearing brick masonry. The roof was made with a flat filler slab, using Mangalore roofing tiles as the infill material. Common walls between the dwelling units helped reduce cost of construction too. However, most of the brickwork is plastered as the villagers insisted that they wanted a house that complimented their idea of a complete and well-finished house.
Also, since the bricks of those times from the VSBK were not very uniform and even that many masons under training were employed, the people felt it necessary to cover up and finish the uneven brickwork. Even in the case of the filler slabs, the people were not comfortable with the Mangalore tiles being exposed form below and feared that the tiles would pry loose and fall on their heads. Hence, it was decided to plaster the slab from below too for the satisfaction of the inhabitants of the house.
Gram Vikas has always faced the problem of finding an architect who would work with them for a long time. Since, the building are mainly constructed by engineers, the style of construction is very simple and minimalistic, to allow ease in the construction process. However in many cases the people have personalized their houses to reflect their taste and lifestyle.
Habitat development
The need for a multipurpose disaster proof community building for the village became critical after the cyclone. Gram Vikas recently finished the construction of a Community Center cum Cyclone shelter of about 2200 square feet. This was done entirely by Gram Vikas funds reserved for constructing Cyclone Shelter in all their ITDP villages. It was inaugurated on 23rd Jan 2003 by the State Minister of Energy and Environment. Occasions like this brings a sense of pride to the people and help bridge the gap between the people and the government. This building serves multiple functions such as a pre-school, a day school, as store and workspace for women, a training center, a hall for conducting village meetings and a place to gather on festive events. There is a separate room for storing grain, which acts as a grain bank as a provision for food security.
Since the village has an irregular electric supply, it was felt best to employ the gravity flow system of water collection and supply to ensure a regular water supply in the houses. The water tank too was constructed largely by using the labour and materials available locally.
Generally, the Gram Vikas water tank and Cyclone shelter become landmarks and a symbol for the village's development.
Maintenance
Maintenance is the responsibility of the village committee. Maintenance funds are collected regularly to ensure the proper use and up keep of the facilities provided. Inspection teams are organised who check if the services are functioning in a satisfactory manner.
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