Habitat Group Awards Declared

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM:
Sustainable building solutions provider Habitat Technology Group will present national Habitat awards for green architecture to W R Reddy, R Chandradutt, Kirtee Shah, V Sunil Kumar and the Uralungal Labour Contract Cooperative Society (ULCCS) as part of its 30th anniversary celebrations.
Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan will present the awards, comprising Rs 33,333 and a trophy, at the inaugural function of the anniversary celebrations at the Poojapura Ground on May 14.
The winners were chosen by a judging committee chaired by former Kerala Chief Town Planner Prof A Kasturi Rangan. Habitat Group Chairman Padma Shri G Shankar and Rajiv Gandhi Institute of Technology’s Architecture Professor Dr Binumol Tom.
Reddy, Kerala’s Additional Chief Secretary, is also Director General of the National Institute of Rural Development and Panchayati Raj. He was formerly Joint Secretary and then a Director in the Union Ministry of Agriculture.
Chandradutt joined hands with former Chief Minister C Achutha Menon, economist Dr K N Raj and internationally renowned British architect Laurie Baker who made Thiruvananthapuram his home, to establish low-cost architecture system Costford, the Community Polytechnic Scheme and the Centre for Development of Rural Technology.
Shah, who hails from Gujarat’s Mehsana district, has in the past four decades been involved in low cost housing for the poor, town planning and slum development. He was president of the India Habitat Forum, the Habitat International Coalition and director of HUDCO. He is also a consultant on various international organisations such as the World Bank, UNICEF and the UNDP.
Asset Homes Managing Director Sunil balances mega real estate projects with programmes aimed at the poor, such as Ashiyana, which provides homes for the poor, and Insight, a call centre run by the vision impaired.
Nine-decade-old ULCCS is one of the oldest labour contract societies in India, and it undertakes road and bridge construction work under the National Highway Department, the Kerala government’s Public Works Department, the Ministry of Panchayat Raj and the state government. The Society has completed over 6500 major projects and is currently implementing over 150 projects.