Mani, a visually challenged man from Aruvikkara who used to be a headload worker, had availed himself of funds under a housing scheme a few years ago, to build a dream home for his family.
But, the house remained incomplete as the funds proved insufficient. When the State government announced the Livelihood, Inclusion, Financial Empowerment (LIFE) housing scheme, one of the top priorities was to complete incomplete houses from previous housing schemes.
The government had asked local bodies to identify such houses and get them completed with the help of voluntary organisations. In Mani’s case, it was the Kerala Gazetted Officers Association (KGOA) that came forward to help him complete his house. The association raised ₹2 lakh for this purpose.
A committee was formed at the local level, with youth, headload workers and other volunteers as members and headed by the Aruvikkara gramapanchayat president I. Mini. They pitched in for free, with the transportation and the construction work. The keys to the house were handed over to Mani last week. This was also the first house to be completed in the panchayat under the LIFE housing project.
The KGOA has also completed another house, belonging to Murugan and family, in Kuriyathi ward of the Thiruvananthapuram Corporation. Murugan, a differently abled lottery seller, passed away last year, leaving behind his wife and two daughters. An amount of ₹1.15 lakh was raised by the KGOA to complete the house. Finance Minister T.M. Thomas Isaac will hand over the keys to the house on Tuesday.
According to officials handling housing projects in the city Corporation, there are quite a considerable number of beneficiaries of previous housing schemes, who were unable to complete the construction of their houses. This has been the case with houses under schemes like the Valmiki Ambedkar Awas Yojana (VAMBAY) under the Integrated Housing and Slum Development Programmes (IHSDP).
According to an order issued by the government to the local bodies last year, those who entered into contract with local self government bodies as part of various housing projects before March 31, 2016, and have failed to complete their houses, could be considered for the scheme.
In such cases, the government could provide more funds for the completion of the house under the LIFE project, if the beneficiary has not availed himself of all the instalments in the previous housing scheme. But, if all the instalments have been taken and the house still remains incomplete due to insufficiency of funds, the local bodies have to use the help of voluntary organisations to get these completed.
The city Corporation as well as the other local bodies are now on the look out for such organisations willing to pitch in with funds to complete the houses in various wards.
