Fix your pipes in the middle of the night

On August 10 22 yearold Sajjad Ahmad Mughal alias Sajjad Pathan a security guard at Himalayan Heights in Wadala east killed 25 yearold lawyer Pallavi Purkayastha in her 16th floor flat He deliberately tripped the power to her home and stole her house keys when he took an electrician with him to check on the situation earlier that dayu00a0 Saifuddin Kaka looks on as an electrician fixes a loose panel PicsShadab Khan If the heinous murder at Wadala has put the fear of death into you about letting the neighbourhood electrician or plumber into your home the next time you need help with your geyser or your pipes a new initiative by a few housing societies in the city may give you hope In a bid to ensure the safety of their residents housing societies are hiring one man full time mdash be it the electrician plumber or carpenter mdash thereby giving you the benefit of immediate service and cutting down on the number of undocumented workers entering the building All for residents One such residency is The Imperial a three yearold twintower at Tardeo by Shapoorji Dileep Thacker corporation which has a fullfledged Facility Management service in place which provides an army of workers to its residents Raj Gandhi general manager facility management Shapoorji Pallonji and Co Ltd along with 265 staff members is incharge of the welfare of the residents living in 165 out of its 228 flats ldquoWe have foreigners consulates professionals CEOs and MDs of companies residing here We employ inhouse electricians plumbers carpenters and AC mechanics on an eighthour shift round the clockrdquo says Gandhi A help desk is set up for residents to lodge their daytoday complaints and requestsldquoThe residents are not even required to communicate with the vendors directly We coordinate their requestrdquo adds Gandhiu00a0A 40 yearold lawyer who doesnot wish to be named came to live on the 30th floor of The Imperial in February 2011 He is quick to admit that this fancy setup works wonders for his home ldquoI have always lived in an old building and was reluctant to move to a big building which if left badly maintained without a system can turn into a glorified chawlrdquo he says But move he did with his wife threeyearold daughter and his boxer dog An electrician at work in an apartment at The Imperial in Tardeo ldquoThe facility management service works really well for us I donrsquot have to go hunting for an electrician or a plumber at odd hours All I have to do is call the help deskrdquo says he who doesnrsquot think twice before leaving his door ajar when he steps out to take his dog out for a quick stroll thanks to the security Being hired full time by a housing society is also a step up for essential service providers as they are exposed to a better work culture ldquoEach and every person working in The Imperial Towers has a police registration and ID card We follow government labour rules and provide the staff with ESI and PFrdquo adds Gandhi Onepoint contact For many building societies it was the hassle of chasing 10 different servicemen that encouraged them to sign a fulltime contract with an electrician and plumber Take the case of Infinity Towers in Mazgaon Keeping a tab on the workers entering the building premises was getting out of hand explains Saifuddin Kaka a resident of the twoandahalf yearold building Eight months ago they signed a contract with an electrician and a plumber to fix all their problems ldquoWe know whose neck to catch nowrdquo says the 51 yearold resident lightheartedly ldquoHe comes to the building twice a week and the rest of the days he is just a phone call away We donrsquot have to call 10 different peoplerdquo explains Kaka Sarfee Kanchwala the electrician knows the wiring lines of every flat on every floor and the main unit lines too He is paid Rs 2200 for the whole month ldquoWe pay him for any material he purchases toordquou00a0Having one electrician is safer too says Kaka ldquoItrsquos a great way to cut down on the number of workers entering the premisesrdquo he adds Late night shifts Rajesh Dalal the 52 yearold interior designer and building treasurer of Amarnath Towers Seven Bungalows Andheri west says ldquoThere should be a system in place to keep the society safe and up to date With so many families in the building the electrician and plumber get enough work though we allow them to do jobs outside We pay them around Rs 2500 per month Residents pay him for the jobs they get done in their house but he charges a nominal amountrdquo For the past eight years electrician Mahinder Yadav used to stay back in the 10 yearold buildingrsquos premises even at night in case of an emergency ldquoThis month after we didn39t renew his contract we realised how much we missed his services We are thinking of going back to the night shift Our building is a long way off from the main road and no electrician will come so far at night This electrician has been a part of the building work even before the residents came to stay He is very reliable and safety is not any issuerdquo u00a0says Dalal The help desk at The Imperial in Tardeo Forty yearold Yadav says he knows all the people in the building and they know him ldquoSo it is easy to get work done I am allowed to take other work on as well which works in my favour I earn around Rs 15000 per monthrdquo says Yadav Prakash Shetty incharge of the society office at Sterling Apartments at Peddar Road that has an inhouse facility management in place for the past 40 years says the known devil is better than an unknown one ldquoWe know that the plumbers carpenters and electrician of the building have their families living in Mumbai and have their identity proofs as well says Shetty Safe or not Some residents including Chitra Wadhwani a 48 yearold resident of Nutan Nagar in Bandra who got an inhouse electrician three years ago believe that having one electrician or plumber is safer ldquoThe electricianrsquos identity documents and police registration are with the building authorities All our urgent work is attended to efficiently and it saves a lot of time toordquo says Wadhwani Valerian Saldanha chairman of Quarter Deck building in Borivli whose building does not have this facility says they are likely to work for larger buildings ldquoWe have 16 flats and everyone calls their own service man But having one person will actually make life easier for residents as they have to keep an eye on just one person It is always safe to keep a watch on one person rdquo says the 55 yearold resident Meanwhile Nishita Seth 52 yearold resident of Ashoka Garden society in Sewri feels uncomfortable with the idea of having inhouse essential services staff in the building ldquoIn our building we have plumbers carpenters and electricians and they have been hired from wellknown agencies We also keep rotating the staff so that one person does not get too familiar The security keeps a close watch on themrdquo Clearly the cityrsquos housing societies have woken up to the convenience and safety of having dedicated inhouse repairmen The figures tell the same story ldquoIn the past three yearsrdquo says Babulal Vishwakarma who runs a contract agency in Malad ldquoThere has been a substantial rise in the demand for contractbased electricians among housing societies We have supplied electricians to around 20 buildings in the past three yearsrdquo The contracts range from twohour daily shifts where the electrician will visit the building at a particular time every day to a 247 service where the electrician will go to the building when called at any given time If you hire an electrician on a morning to night shift it would cost around Rs 35000rdquo says Vishwakarma What is a facility management unit CEO of Ashok Tower Shailendra Nath says the focus of Facility Management is to maintain the longterm value of the asset quotIf you look at a few of the old buildings which were once in good shape their property has depreciated over the years This is because they try to cut down on shortterm costs Today many residential and commercial structures are similar mdash they have the same infrastructure such as water distribution systems and highend elevators So the facility management system works to maintain and enhance the life of the complex However at Ashoka Towers Parel East we provide an emergency support for the residents For example if the electricity of a particular flat goes off the staff will check the situation and identify the problem If it is an internal wiring fault the resident will have to get it repaired one her his ownquotu00a0