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Poverty Alleviation

“Over 66,000 beneficiaries given surplus lands”

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The Hindu 22.04.2010

“Over 66,000 beneficiaries given surplus lands”

Special Correspondent

They all belong to Scheduled Caste/Scheduled Tribe, says Minister

CHENNAI: Over 66,000 beneficiaries, who have so far been assigned surplus lands under the Land Reforms Act, belong to Scheduled Caste/Scheduled Tribe, I. Periasamy, Revenue and Housing Minister, informed the Assembly on Wednesday.

Initiating a debate on the demand for grants to the Revenue Department, Mr. Periasamy said 71,298 acres had been assigned to 66,448 SCs and 320 acres to 236 STs. The remaining 1,18,455 acres were provided to others, numbering 83,807.

During 2009-2010, 70 acres had been assigned to 75 persons up to February 28, 2010. Forty-seven beneficiaries belonged to the SCs, covering 36 acres.

Giving an account of the implementation of the Land Reforms (Fixation of Ceiling on Land) Act enacted in 1961, he said lands held in excess of the ceiling limit as surplus under the law had been assigned to eligible landless persons.

The huge extent of lands was given to landless agricultural labourers only during 1970-1980.

Under the State government's special scheme of distributing wasteland to landless agricultural families, 2,12,164 acres had been distributed to 1,78,198 beneficiaries up to March 31. This scheme was launched in September 17, 2006. Of the beneficiaries, Backward Classes accounted for 66,492; Most BCs – 57,919; SCs – 41,826; STs – 3,275 and others – 8,686.

As part of another scheme of regularising encroachments on government poromboke lands and issuing house site pattas to those living on the lands, 2,22,692 pattas were issued between January 1, 2007 and March 31, 2010. The time limit of the scheme had been extended up to September 30, 2010. The eligibility period of regularisation of encroachment had been reduced from five years to three years, he said.

Census operations

Noting that Census operations would commence in the State from June 1, the Minister told the Assembly that 225 villages from 12 coastal districts had been taken up initially for creation of the National Population Register (NPR). National identity cards would be issued to residents of coastal villages in the beginning. Subsequently, coastal towns would be taken up, Mr. Periasamy said.

During the debate, K. Mahendran (Communist Party of India-Marxist) wanted the government to provide to the House the exact figure of waste land available. V. Sivapunniyam (CPI) said the government should take a re-look at the classification of some water bodies, which no longer remained so and wherein settlements had come up.

S. R. Raja (Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam) said that in his constituency Tambaram, virtually no land was available for taking up the government's development projects or creating public amenities.

RM. Subburam (Congress) urged Chief Minister M. Karunanidhi to construct a memorial for freedom fighter S. Satyamurti in Thirumayam.

O.K. Chinnaraj (All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam) criticised the ruling party for not fulfilling its electoral promise of providing two acres of waste land to the landless poor.

Last Updated on Thursday, 22 April 2010 06:06
 

Housing loan with interest subsidy to be given for urban poor

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The Hindu 22.02.2010

Housing loan with interest subsidy to be given for urban poor

Special Correspondent

Total area of the house will not be less than 25 sq. metres, says Collector

PUDUKOTTAI: Housing loan with interest subsidy will be given to poor people living in urban areas for construction of houses or buying of new houses in Pudukottai district, according to a communication from Collector A. Suganthi here on Sunday.

The Collector said that loan assistance of Rs. one lakh would be given to persons with monthly income up to Rs.3,300 and Rs.1.50 lakh for the middle income group people with monthly income from Rs.3,301 to Rs.7,300 and the loan amount to be repaid in a span of 15 to 20 years. The district administration will take steps to get the loan from the nationalised banks with five per cent interest subsidy.

Mrs. Suganthi said that the total area of the house should be not less than 25 sq. metres for economically poor and 40 sq. metre for middle income groups.

Those who have received free house site pattas or having own house sites are eligible to apply under the scheme.

Interested persons can contact the executive engineer-cum- administrative officer of the Tamil Nadu Housing Board in Khajamalai colony in Tiruchi for availing the loan facility, the Collector said.

Last Updated on Monday, 22 February 2010 04:18
 

Mayor promises basic amenities

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The Hindu 06.01.2010

Mayor promises basic amenities

Special Correspondent

COIMBATORE: The sanctioning of Rs.118 crore by the State Government on Monday was timely and this will help in providing basic amenities to the multi-storeyed tenements being constructed for people living in the slums on water bodies in the city, Mayor R. Venkatachalam said. Thanking the State Government for the sanction of the funds, the Mayor said the Government and the Coimbatore Corporation wanted the construction of the tenements under the Basic Services for Urban Poor scheme to be speeded up in view of the World Classical Tamil Conference in June.

The scheme aimed at turning Coimbatore into a slum-free city, he said.

Mr. Venkatachalam said 2,904 tenements of 297 sq ft each were being constructed at Rs. 68 crore at Ukkadam and 1608 tenements of 261 sq ft were being built at Rs. 50 crore at Ammankulam under the scheme.

To be made into housing colonies for the urban poor, these areas would have storm water drains, underground sewers, drinking water supply lines, street lights, tar roads and parks. The Government had sanctioned funds on Monday to provide these amenities, the Mayor said. Bio-metric survey of the beneficiaries had been done in a couple of wards to prepare a database of their details. On completion of the construction of the tenements, the beneficiaries would be asked to move out of the water bodies they had encroached.

The construction of these multi-storeyed tenements was to ensure that the encroachments were removed and the water bodies rejuvenated under another scheme.

The housing scheme was one of the nearly 10 infrastructure projects the Corporation would implement under the Jawaharlal Nehru National Urban Renewal Mission. It was being implemented at an outlay of Rs. 443 crore.

Last Updated on Wednesday, 06 January 2010 02:25
 


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