The Hindu 16.07.2009
Funds given to housing project beneficiaries in city
Special Correspondent
| Land provided by Government to construct houses |
If people need more money to build the houses, they can approach banks for loans
FOR THEIR UPLIFT: Coimbatore Corporation South Zone Chairman P. Pynthamil handing over sanction letters to beneficiaries of the Basic Services for Urban Poor housing project at Highways Colony in the city on Wednesday.
COIMBATORE: More than 10 families of Highways Colony off Tiruchi Road in the city were on Wednesday given Rs.1.12 lakh as Government grant to construct houses on lands provided to them by the Government, according to Coimbatore Corporation South Zone Chairman P. Pynthamil Pari.
The colony comes under Ward 25 of the Corporation. Mr. Pynthamil is the ward’s councillor.
234 families
The Government had approved the cases of 234 families for the grant of pattas to them, meeting a decades-old demand of these people, he said.
The total area was Rs.2.61 acres, costing around Rs.36 crore. Of these, 136 pattas were distributed last year and each family got a house site worth Rs.25 lakh to Rs.35 lakh.
The Government granted only non-transferable pattas so that the beneficiaries could not sell the sites, Mr. Pynthamil said. By granting the pattas, the Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam had fulfilled the promise it made to these people during the 2006 Assembly elections, he said.
Of these 136 families, 94 had been identified as poor families that could not build houses.
Scheme
They had been brought under the Basic Services for Urban Poor scheme. Mr. Pynthamil handed over cheques for the grant to 11 of them. “The aim is to complete the houses in six months. If the people want to build houses that cost more than Rs.1.12 lakh, they can take loans from banks. Getting the loans may not be a problem as thecost of the land is high enough to serve as a viable security,” he said.