THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: The Life Mission, among the state government’s major initiatives is planning big to address the grave issue of providing housing for all marginalised sections of society with the government and general public support.
According to the final list prepared by the Life Mission, there are 66,115 incomplete houses to be completed in the first phase of the project by March 31.
In the district-wise statistics, Wayanad is on top with the highest number of incomplete houses- 9,459 followed by Palakkad -9,281, Kozhikode -8,207, Thiruvananthapuram-6,662, Idukki-5,324, Thrissur-4,881, Kollam-4,918, Alappuzha-3,475, Kannur-3,242, Malappuram-3,150, Kasargod-2,945, Kottayam-1,636, Pathanamthitta-1,627 and Ernakulam- 1,310 houses.
We have prepared a final list of incomplete houses and we want to complete it on a war footing before March 31. But completing the houses of beneficiaries belonging to the Scheduled Caste and Scheduled Tribes requires support from the general public, government and non-government agencies and local bodies” CEO, Life Mission, Adila Abdulla told Express.
She said the assistance in the form of money, materials, labour and resources would be required to complete these houses.
Without such assistance, it will be impossible to complete these houses before the deadline, she said.
Though sanctioned years ago they were finding it difficult to complete these houses for want of sufficient funding.
She also said there were 5,127 houses lying incomplete in Idukki district as the delay in distribution of title deeds also hampered the construction. She also pointed out that acute shortage of land was a major problem in constructing houses in Alappuzha. In Thiruvananthapuram there was a large number of bogus applicants, she said.
Adila said they had arrived at a figure of 5.18 lakh more homeless families in the state. Houses for them will be constructed in the second phase. It will take at least three years to achieve the target, she said.
The Mission’s ambitious project is aimed at the rehabilitation of the over two lakh families who have neither land nor housing. Besides giving thrust on financial empowerment and providing means of livelihood, all landless and homeless will be rehabilitated in the next five years, according to the project roadmap.
Social security schemes will be initiated in the housing complexes, as well as skill training for adults.
According to the Life Mission sub committee report, the unit cost of the individual houses excluding those of Scheduled Tribes, the construction of which started in 2016-17, has been fixed at R4 lakh. This unit cost will be applicable to the general and SC categories, plantation and fisheries sector.
The sub-committee has approved the decision to entrust the accredited agencies Habitat, ULCCS, Housing Board, Bhavanam Foundation Kerala and KITCO for prearranging DPR for the construction of the housing complexes.
Among the seven districts where construction has to be started on a war footing, Habitat will construct the housing complexes in Kollam. ULCCS will be entrusted with the construction in Wayanad, Malappuram and Kozhikode. Housing Board will construct the complex for Kasargod while Bhavanam Foundation Kerala will be entrusted with the construction in Idukki.
During the second phase of construction of housing projects, more contractors and agencies will be empaneled. It has also been decided not to press for ration cards as criteria for selecting beneficiaries from the SC and ST communities.
Those beneficiaries included in other department’s beneficiary list also will be included in the list of Life Mission to provide assistance from the 2017-18 period. The government also sanctioned housing project worth R18.54 crore in the Punalur Municipality and Adimali and Chemmanad grama panchayats. Formalities have been completed for construction of 14 Housing complexes (Flats) at Adimali, Kasargod, Palakkad and Kozhikode.