The Rural Development and Panchayat Raj Department has constituted teams at district level to expedite construction of solar-powered houses sanctioned in last fiscal under the State Government's ‘green house' scheme.
Under this scheme, Rs.1.80 lakh will be allotted for each beneficiary, of which Rs.30,000 is for purchasing solar-powered home lighting system.
District Rural Development Agency (DRDA) Project Director M. Prabakar told The Hindu here on Wednesday that five teams have been formed in Madurai district to speed up the completion of houses.
The implementation of the scheme was delayed due to the conduct of local body elections and other factors. Hence, work on this scheme began only in February-March. Collector Anshul Mishra was supervising the project and has directed the officials to speed up the completion.
The target for Madurai district under the scheme was 1,897 in 2011-12, of which 748 houses were the focus for teams. Of these, 151 were at the lintel level stage and 597 were having reached the roof construction stage.
The remaining houses have already had their roofs constructed and were nearing 100 per cent completion, he said.
The teams have been told to ensure that all the 748 houses have their roofs constructed by June 15 and ensure that completion of all works by June 30.
To coordinate with the officials at the ground level, Micro Nodal Officers have been appointed and told to stay at the Panchayats to assist their Presidents in selection of construction material.
Mr. Prabakar, who is also heading one of the teams, said that the teams will comprise Block Development Officers, Assistant Engineers and other officials.
Once all the houses were completed, the RD and PR Department would hand over all the houses to the Tamil Nadu Energy Development Agency (TEDA), which would install the solar systems.
The installation of solar equipment was expected to be completed in 10 to 15 days.
