The Thiruvananthapuram Corporation has become the first local body in the State to complete the construction of 1,000 houses under the LIFE-Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana (PMAY) scheme.

Local Self Government Minister A.C. Moideen made the declaration while handing over the keys of the completed houses and distributing job cards under the Ayyankali urban employment guarantee scheme here on Thursday. The State government had availed itself of ₹4,000 crore as loan from HUDCO for assisting local bodies to build the houses, the Minister said.

Three-stage strategy

Mayor V.K. Prasanth, in his presidential address, said that the Corporation had devised a three-stage strategy to construct houses. In Phase I, it selected 3,651 houses whose construction could not be completed. Of this, 3,526 houses had been completed, he said. In Phase II, the corporation had selected 9,027 homeless beneficiaries who owned land.

Of this, 1,050 houses had been completed, earning the Corporation the distinction of being the first civic body to cross the 1,000-mark.

Under the State government’s LIFE Mission, the Corporation organised a survey and identified 18,108 homeless persons who did not own land. It had now undertaken activities to construct houses for them, the Mayor said. Steps were also on to construct flats on Corporation land at Poonkulam, Mannamoola, and Karimadom, he said.