COIMBATORE: A 64-year-old woman was severely injured after the roof of a house in the government housing unit at Singanallur collapsed on Thursday morning.
According to police, Subbulakshmi (64) widow of Muthu Subbaiah, was residing with her daughter and grandchildren on the ground floor of the MIG block in the two-storey building at Tamil Nadu Housing Board (TNHB) Colony. Two of the twelve tenants,on the first and second, vacated their houses years ago as the building started to crumble.
Around 8.30 am, Subbulakshmi went to the terrace to check the water level in the tank and the rain-soaked floor gave away. She fell through the gaping hole and was trapped under the debris. Hearing her screams, others rescued her and took her to hospital. The falling debris damaged a shed in the ground floor. Singanallur MLA KR Jayaram, former MLA N Karthick, officials from Corporation and Tamil Nadu Housing Board visited the spot.
New project is in the pipeline
According to officials, the TNHB colony houses 960 apartments and most of them are in dilapidated condition. They were built in 1984. Around 460 houses are occupied, despite the city corporation issuing notices to occupants to vacate, as the units are unfit for living. The remaining 500 houses are vacant. We have submitted a new housing plan for the beneficiaries and it would get clearance as soon as possible, said an official from TNHB.
"There is 9.60-acre land allocated to TNHB. The government has planned to construct a new housing unit on 3.6 acres for the 960 beneficiaries through the private partnership project. Already the Minister for Housing and Urban Development S Muthusamy inspected the place and assured to announce the new project as soon as possible. We are expecting that the government will announce the project on April 20 during the debate on the demands for grants for the department. We hope that it is the only solution to avoid such mishaps," said M Gunaseelan, a beneficiary said.