THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: Following TNIE report on social worker M S Sunil’s struggle to complete 20 houses for Malampandaram tribal families in Manjathode, Pathanamthitta, Chief Minister V D Satheesan has directed immediate action to provide electricity and water connections to the houses. The chief minister on Monday forwarded Sunil’s request, along with the TNIE report, to SC/ST Minister K A Thulasi with instructions to take urgent steps, according to the chief minister’s media secretary.
Sunil said the chief minister assured her that the departments concerned would be directed to expedite the arrangements needed to make the houses habitable.
TNIE had on Monday highlighted how the housing project was stalled despite adequate funding and ongoing construction because of the lack of basic infrastructure. While four houses are nearing completion and the remaining are under construction, the remote forest settlement has no dependable water supply and lacks electricity connections required for families to move in.
The houses are being built for Malampandaram tribal families on government-allotted land under a project sanctioned by the District Legal Services Authority.
Sunil, who has built 380 houses for underprivileged families, has been leading the initiative through a sponsor-driven model without contractors or intermediaries. She had said that without water and electricity connections, the completed houses could not become homes for the beneficiary families living in the remote settlement.