PULPPALLI: This financial year the Wayanad district is getting the highest financial assistance since its inception, said T M Thomas Isaac, Minister for Finance and Public Works.
He was inaugurating the stone-laying ceremony for a bridge across the River Kabani at Chekadi, a jungle village, about 15 km from here.
The PWD and NABARD (National Bank for Rural Development), through various projects, have pumped in a huge amount of around `300 crore in the district for infrastructure development alone, he pointed out.
It is not unique to the district alone, but the entire state is witnessing such a massive development drive worth around ` 8,000 crore in total, he added. The LDF Government dreams of a state sans homeless families. “That is why we planned the EMS Housing Project which would help three-tier panchayats to spend an amount many fold higher than their annual allocation for housing schemes.
Earlier, the panchayats usually complete about 10 to 15 houses in a year which has increased to 500 to 1000 houses now," he pointed out.
Hitting hard at the anti-poor policies of the Centre, Thomas Isaac said that the wrong policies of the Central Government were instrumental in the sharp decrease in the number of BPL cards in the state.
Due to this, about 20 lakh families from poor sections including 20 percent tribals, 40 per cent fishermen and 50 percent farm labourers in the state now belong to the APL category, he said.
K C Kunhiraman MLA presided over the function. District panchayat president M Devaki, district panchayat members Valsa Chacko, K L Poulose and K J Paul, president, Pulppalli village panchayat among others were present.