Chief Minister J Jayalalithaa on Wednesday allocated Rs 1,260 crore for constructing 60,000 green houses with solar powered lights for the poor in rural areas during the current financial year. She hiked the unit cost for each house from Rs 1.80 lakh to Rs 2.10 lakh, considering the increase in price of construction material.
During the year 2011-12, 60,000 green houses were constructed at a cost of Rs 1,080 crore and the target of constructing another 60,000 for the year 2012-13 will be achieved soon.
The CM has fixed a target of constructing three lakh such houses in five years. Each house is constructed on 300 square feet and the State bears the entire cost. The Green House Scheme is the first initiative of its kind in the country.
The Solar Powered Green House Scheme enables rural people to have an environment-friendly and dignified shelter with a reasonably large living space and all the necessary amenities with additional solar power for lighting. It sets the tone for harvesting clean and green energy in the rural areas.
All people living below poverty line in rural areas are eligible for these houses. Each house consists of a living room, bedroom, kitchen, toilet and verandah apart from a rain water harvesting provision. Each house is provided with five solar powered compact fluorescent lamps (CFL), one each in the bedroom, living room, kitchen, toilet and verandah. Each beneficiary is given the option to have an electric connection powered by the TNEB, which will be metered.
The houses are constructed either in situ (replacing his/her existing dwelling structure) or on land owned by the beneficiary elsewhere in the village panchayat. No land acquisition is envisaged under this scheme. Only people with patta for their sites are eligible.