THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: A project to build houses for the homeless who own at least one cent of land, in nine municipalities of the state, has received the approval from the government.
With the housing project receiving approval, all people owing land within the nine municipal areas will get a roof over their heads. The houses will be built under the Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojna(PMAY), being implemented jointly by the State and the Central governments and urban civic bodies.
The project will be implemented in 93 urban civic bodies. Nine municipalities have submitted project report for providing houses to all the homeless owing land. The municipalities are: Guruvayur, Kunnamkulam, Ottappalam, Pala, Perumbavoor, Chavakkad, Koothuparamba and Valancherry.
The municipalities of Varkala and Tiruvalla have included 99 per cent of the beneficiaries under the project. Before the end of this year, a project report for beneficiaries under 93 municipalities will be submitted to the Union government. The PMAY project is being implemented in the state by Kudumbashree.
Under the project, Rs 3 lakh will be provided to the homeless who own land for construction of houses.
While the Centre would foot Rs 1.5 lakh for each beneficiary, the remaining amount will be contributed by the State government and the civic body concerned. Already the State government has given sanction for construction of 35,050 houses under the project. The total project cost is Rs 1,050 crore.
While construction for 11,073 houses has begun, 178 houses have been completed. The government intends to build at least 30,000 houses this year under the project, a release from Kudumbashree said.