DUCK DESIGN FOUNTAIN - AND 10 LACS Down the DRAIN ?

Sun, 5 Sep 2010 21:46:38 +0530

OR HOW TO SPEND MONEY LIKE WATER – IN A COLONY WHERE RESIDENTS ARE CLAMOURING FOR A BIT OF WATER, AND ITS DRAINAGE, LEAVE ALONE SEWERAGE!

HONESTLY, ONE’S BLOOD BOILS WHEN ONE SEES THE WAY & MANNER THE CORPORATION IS SCREWING THE DAYLIGHTS OUT OF THE CIVIC FUNDS!
Let’s start with the INNOCUOUS looking FOUNTAINS coming up like chicken pox – one in each ward! With costs varying from a million & a half rupees to six million plus!
Lets start with a proposal for a geometrical water feature (corporation-speak for a fountain!) with DUCK design for a labour colony where the life is miserable for its residents because of overcrowding, lack of services, and road space, and security, and connectivity, and a host of other things which the city resident takes for granted!

And somehow the local Councillor deems it more important, as do others of her like, that a fountain is the right panacea for all their problems!
So the Councillors have fountains proposed or coming up in Sectors 15, 21, 35, 40, and a host of others – as if they were going out of fashion tomorrow!
Or maybe before someone puts a stop to this wonderful way of wasting precious public funds and some people making a killing out of these fountains!
And the reasons are not far to see – if one knows where to look!

In Daddu Majra colony – if you know where that is, and what its problems are!

A water feature with a duck design is the last thing the residents want – they’d rather have employment, food, water, shelter, garbage removal, muck and removal of stagnant rain water, security – from eve-teasing, goons and thieves – besides a very long list of daily wants to make their lives worth living!
But not a geometrical water feature with a DUCK DESIGN!

For starters – let’s pick up the proposed Rs. 14.82 lakh fountain! Passed in the Water supply & Drainage Committee meeting held yesterday!
So what’s it all about?

Let’s start with a g/level tank 8’x 48’ filled with water – about 18,000 liters of it. A truck mounted tanker holds 9,000 liters – so maybe 2 tankers per quarter, considering evaporation and other losses!
With 5 nos. fountains from down the road in Sarangpur!

So, what are the details?

An RCC slab on the ground (with nominal steel @ 0.47 kg/sft) of dimension 8’ x 48’ = 384 sft with a 2’0 high parapet (add another 224 sft) of nominal/max thickness 0-6”.
The total volume of concrete works out to 608 sft x 0.5 = 304 cft.
At todays rate of approx Rs. 100/- per cft that would be Rs. 30,000/- worth of M 25 concrete!
Add for steel rebars - 285 kg or say, 300 kg @ Rs. 50/- per kg = Rs. 15,000/-.
Now add ceramic tiles – or Kotah stone, both available @ Rs. 30/- per sft. Add carriage, taxes, etc., and even the cost of mortar @ Rs. 6/- sft.
The max. cost of stone/tiles should be Rs. 50/- per sft! Including the labour cost!
For approx 608 sft of tiling/stone finish the cost should be Rs. 30400/-!
Add the cost of a sump – say a PVC tank of 300 liters @ Rs. 5/- per liter, encased in a brick chamber, and we get a sum of Rs. 3000/-!
Adding the above, we get a sum of Rs. 78,000/-!
Add for peripherals, and other unknown factors, @ say 100% extra, and we get Rs. 1.56 lakhs!
Add labour and the cost cannot go beyond Rs. 2 lakhs!

That leaves us with Rs. 12.82 lakhs for:
1.    The plumbing
2.    The pump and its DOL switch.
3.    The water fountain with duck design!

WOW!

LET’S EXAMINE EACH OF THE ITEMS NOW.

1.                THE FOUNTAINS WITH DUCK DESIGN.
These are sets of stone bowls made of marble or sandstone, starting with a max. dia. of 4’0 & going down to afoot or so! These are available at the Sarangpur marble bazaar, and the rates vary from 32 thousand down to 22 and 15 thousand for the smaller ones.
Total up for 5 and one gets 1.41 lakhs!

The rates suggested by the corporation are 50 x 2, 33 x 2 and 24 thousand in contrast totaling Rs. 2.18 lakhs – ONLY 55% EXTRA!

2.      THE PLUMBING
We need a pipe to feed these 5 nos. fountains, spaced 10 ‘ apart, which has a 19mm dia. pipe embedded in the centre of each one.
A 25 mm dia pipe should be adequate, but let’s make that a 40mm GI pipe main with branches to supply water to each of these five fountains. This 40 mm pipe would be 40’ long, or 2 lengths! Cost should be roughly Rs. 1600/- per length, or Rs. 3200/- for two!
Add 4 lengths of 19 mm, or even better, 1 length of 32mm, 3 lengths of 25mm or 19mm to bring water to the top of each of these fountains!
The cost should be under Rs. 900/- + 3 x Rs. 700/- = Rs. 3000/-.
Add for reducers, elbows, and other specials @ LS = Rs. 2000/-.
That’s a total of Rs. 10,000/- , including taxes, FOR THE PLUMBING MATERIAL!

3.      THE ELECTRICALS – i.e. THE PUMP, AND IT’S SWITCH
Any 3 HP pump – say a submersible, gives a discharge of 17.5 lps or 1000 liter plus per minute at a height of 20’ – which should be more than adequate for all the five fountains! And the cost – only Rs. 16600/- for a Kirloskar or Crompton Greaves!
And the DOL switch for this pump – starter for Rs. 1100/- with a contactor for Rs. 640/- and Rs. 800/- for a relay. House all the three in a standard box, and the cost should be under Rs. 5000/-!
Add for peripherals, and unknowns, and we can tot it up to Rs. 35000/-

Now we have a total adding up to less than Rs. 4,00,000/- ( 2.00 + 1.41 + 0.10 + 0.35 = 3.86 lakhs).
Add any amount of labour for this fountain – say, Rs. 1 lakh!
So we can get this fountain made for under Rs. 5 lakhs, no matter which way one looks at it!

SO WHERE DOES THE REMAINING MILLION BUCKS GO TO?

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DUCK DESIGN FOUNTAIN - AND 10 LACS Down the DRAIN ?