THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: LIFE - Livelihood, Inclusion, Financial and Empowerment - an ambitious mission of the state government was one of the many issues that saw heated debate during the corporation council meeting held here on Wednesday. The project announced by Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan, aims to provide homes to 2 lakh homeless families in the state within the next 5 years through a comprehensive housing scheme.
BJP and UDF councillors had raised allegations asserting that no progress has been made in their wards under this scheme.“The Mayor and his party are giving priority to their party members by overlooking the deprived beneficiaries. The revised lists have excluded many names in comparison to previous lists. This is creating an issue for ward councillors as we are not aware on what basis this revision is taking place,” said Anil Kumar, BJP councillor. Denying the charges, Mayor V K Prasanth presented statistics on the scheme in the council. “Around 18,707 individuals have registered under the scheme. As it is a big number to handle, the corporation has asked village officers in the respective wards to revise the list by identifying genuine beneficiaries.”
Houses are allotted to beneficiaries under the LIFE Mission based on three preferences, said Prasanth.
As many as 3,644 houses are included in a scheme for completing construction of houses left mid-way. These houses have been given priority. Of these, the construction of 2,637 houses has been completed.
The second priority are beneficiaries who already own land. Out of the 3,957 applicants, 95 houses have been completed in the category. The third priority is given to landless and homeless individuals in which 7,777 families are included in (Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana) scheme, he said.
Under the scheme, according to the state government, priority should be given to families run by women, single women, households which have ill or old people, girl students below 15 years of age, and victims of riots, natural calamities and domestic violence.