TIRUNELVELI: Assembly Speaker M Appavu inaugurated the bhoomi puja of an apartment complex, which will house 408 families from the slums, in Doctor Ambedkar Nagar in Palayamkottai, on Saturday. Works on the same will be carried out at an outlay of Rs 53.19 crore, by the Tamil Nadu Urban Habitat Development Board.
District Collector K P Karthikeyan, Tirunelveli MP S Gnanathiraviam, Palayamkottai MLA Abdul Wahab, and Tirunelveli Mayor P M Saravanan were present apart from Administrative Engineer of the Board Santhi and Assistant Engineers Madasamy, Rajagopal, and Joni. "In 1996, the state government constructed an apartment complex to house 366 families in the same area. Since the apartment was in disrepair, a new building will be constructed in the same place after the old structure is demolished," the Speaker said in a statement.
He added that each flat costs Rs 13.04 lakh. "Apart from the Centre's subsidy of Rs 1.5 lakh and the beneficiary's share of Rs 1 lakh, the Tamil Nadu government will bear the rest of the expenses. "Each house is spread across 400 sqft and comes with a bedroom, a kitchen, a bathroom, and a toilet. Amenities in the apartment building include a lift and car parking area. Residents will also get a drinking water supply, stormwater drains, a rainwater harvesting system, and street lights. The construction work will be completed in 18 months," said Appavu.