It has been two years since 1,660 houses have been constructed for
poor Adi Dravida families in the rural areas of Puducherry, but the
beneficiaries are yet to be allotted the houses.
The houses were
constructed in 17 scheduled Caste-dominated localities at an estimated
cost of `83 crore by availing of loans from HUDCO to provide houses to
Adi Dravida families, living below the poverty line, with concrete
houses.
In fact, the government had spent `5 lakh to construct
each house. But as on date only cows can be seen resting on the verandah
of the newly constructed houses.
Officials state that the houses
could not be allocated due to lack of infrastructure. The electricity
and water connections are yet to be provided in many houses, while in
some other places approach roads have to be constructed.
Around Rs 17 crore has been sanctioned to complete the work, said the Director of Adi Dravida Welfare department Panneerselvam.
However,
it is believed that the infrastructural issues have not been addressed
due to fund crunch faced by Puducherry government.
Citing another
reason for the delay, Lenin from the Agricultural Labourers Association
attached to CPI-ML said the AINRC government is not taking any
initiative to hand over the houses owing to political reasons.
As
the houses had been constructed during the Congress rule under V
Vaithilingam, the present government does not have any interest in
providing the funds for completion of the project and handing it over to
the beneficiaries. This has led to delay, he said.
While AINRC
government had announced a housing subsidy of `4 lakh per beneficiary
from Adi Dravida BPL families to construct houses by raising it from `2
lakh at present, the Congress government had constructed the houses by
spending a high amount of `5 lakh each.
However, the department assures to begin the process of handing over the houses by month end.
Verification of beneficiary list is going on and it would be ready by month end, says Director of Adi Dravida Welfare Scheme.
Thereafter the houses would be allotted in a phased manner, he said.
As
per the housing scheme, 80 per cent of the houses would be allotted to
familes belonging to Scheduled Caste and 20 percent of the remaining
houses would be allotted to backward class people.
