105 houses in Karimadom Colony to be demolished  for Life Mission project

Around 20 families, whose temporary homes are being demolished, don’t have documents or ID cards.
A view of Karimadom Colony ,  Vincent Pulickal
A view of Karimadom Colony ,  Vincent Pulickal

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: As many as 105 temporary homes in Karimadom Colony will be demolished to facilitate the construction of a new apartment complex under the state government’s Life Mission. The rehabilitation of several families in the colony, under Basic Services for Urban Poor (BSUP), has been pending for several years and all of them have been included in the beneficiary list of the upcoming complex. Authorities are planning to provide all 105 families with a flat each. Presently, around 25 families will be relocated to the community hall in the colony and another 80 families will be given `2,000 every month as rent from the corporation’s own fund until the project is completed.

20 families have no documents, ID proof
Around 20 families, whose temporary homes are being demolished, don’t have documents or ID cards. “Some beneficiaries are no more and their families don’t have the necessary documents. We cannot demolish these homes if they don’t hand over the documents. This is the only roadblock hindering the project from taking off. Now, the mayor has decided to issue temporary IDs for these families to ensure the timely completion of the project,” said an official with the civic body. The project has to be completed within this financial year and it is going to be a challenge for the civic body, added the official.

Councillor Simi Jyothish said she was unaware of the decision. “The community hall in the colony is in a very bad shape and I was told that the hall would be renovated before moving the families in. Also, I am not satisfied with the beneficiary list of the corporation. There are more deserving families who are not in the list,” said Simi.

She said the housing project in the colony was getting delayed due to the apathy from the part of the civic body. “They should have completed the project by 2015 but couldn’t and the funds lapsed. Now they are trying to revive the same project by re-launching it as a new one,” she alleged. According to her, in the initial list, there were around 900 beneficiaries. After filtering, only 454 remained.

Around 359 families are from Karimadom Colony, she added. An official of Life Mission said they allotted `4.62 crore for constructing 44 housing units in the apartment complex coming up in the colony and the remaining fund would be chipped in by the civic body. “In all other districts, we are implementing pilot Life Mission projects. In Thiruvananthapuram, the civic body will implement the project. They have other housing schemes which will be clubbed with ours,” added the official.

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