The Hindu 07.08.2009
Construction of houses for tsunami-hit to resume
Staff Reporter
| Collector hopeful of handing over tsunami houses well before monsoon |
NOT STUCK ANYMORE: One of the houses at Kattumavadi village, about 80 km from Pudukottai, where work remains suspended for the last few months.
PUDUKOTTAI: Work on the construction of houses for the tsunami-hit coastal residents in Pudukottai district, which remained suspended for the past few months, following the bogus bank guarantee given by the contractors, is to resume following corrective measures taken by the district administration.
The execution of the programme under the Asia Development Bank-funded Rajiv Gandhi Rehabilitation Package (RGRP) commenced in January 2008 and Pudukottai ranked last among all the tsunami-hit districts in the state to construct 2,308 houses at an outlay of Rs.61.28 crore, originally designed in 19 packages.
Each house was constructed at an expenditure of Rs.2.38 lakh with a plinth area of 325 square feet. Only 165 houses had so far been handed over to the beneficiaries.
Residents of Kattumavadi, Jegadapattinam, Ponnagaram, R. Pudupattinam and Meemisal said that they had demolished their old houses to hand over the sites for the expeditious construction of houses about two years ago. Although the work ensured quality, the inordinate delay was a matter of concern.
Even when the work was being carried out, officials had to brave several odds including the scattered nature of the house sites.
Except in a few places such as Gopalapattinam near Meemisal, the houses were not constructed in arrays. For instance, in Kattumavadi, the ‘Tsunami houses’ under construction were located amid non-fishermen habitation. Inaccessible sites and the clay soil were other factors which contributed to the tardy execution of the work.
The bogus bank guarantees by a couple of contractors hindered the work in eight packages. The district administration had initiated special steps for ensuring expeditious execution of the work, Collector, A. Suganthi, who is also the Chairperson of the Tsunami District Implementation Unit, told ‘The Hindu’ here on Tuesday.
The measures, among things, included direct involvement of the beneficiaries to complete the construction in three packages. Beneficiaries’ response was overwhelming for resumption of the work on their own at three packages in R. Pudupattinam (North) and R. Pudupattinam (South) where 258 houses would be constructed.
Re-tenders had been called for another three packages which would be finalised within a week. Work had been resumed in three packages, she said, explaining the priority being attached by the district administration to the RGRP. The Collector hoped that a majority of houses where work was nearing completion, would be handed over to the beneficiaries well before monsoon.