The City Corporation will start implementing the third phase projects under the Centrally funded Basic Services to the Urban Poor (BSUP) scheme at Karimadom colony this month.
Alleged discrepancies in the preparation of the beneficiary list, which covers 560 families, had delayed the implementation by two years.
Though many court cases are pending, the Corporation is expected to start work fearing fund lapse in 2014.
The BSUP officials had visited the colony recently. They took photographs of the 180 beneficiaries who would be accommodated in the nine new buildings to be constructed under phase III. Identity cards would be issued to them in an attempt to avoid trouble later, Deputy Mayor G. Happykumar said. The biometric access control might not be implemented immediately as an external agency would have to be roped in, he said.
“We cannot afford the time and cost involved in inviting a third party for the purpose. It cannot be put off for long as cost escalation will be a burden on the civic body and the Centre will not provide extra funds,” Mr. Happykumar said.
Corporation Welfare standing committee chairperson Palayam Rajan said surveys had already been conducted and it was impractical to ground the work citing incongruities. The State government had asked the Kudumbasree Mission to conduct an investigation into discrepancies in preparation of beneficiary list.
Both the government and the civic body would work together to ascertain the actual number of those who had not been named and at the same time were in desperate need of dwelling places and other support. It appeared that poor planning failed to align the allotment norm with the entitlement norm, said J. Devika, Professor, Centre for Development Studies here. It should have been decided to allot the first flats to the elderly, single mothers, and small families, in that order, she said.
“My mother was on the list but she passed away. My two sisters and I have families and we are supposed to get a flat each but the list does not have our names,” Athira, a resident, said.
There should be some provision for rehabilitation during the construction phase, Mohanan, her husband, said. The BSUP officials in the Corporation said there were no funds earmarked for such purposes.
Those worst off would be accommodated in the community hall as done during the previous phases and others would have to make own arrangements, they said.
Mr. Rajan said many families had submitted a self-declaration form which included the agreement to move out of the place for an estimated 10 months, the time required for construction.
