Trivandrum Corporation's housing project starts on a promising note

1,200 applications received for housing scheme for all

The city Corporation’s Sampoorna Parpida Paddhathi (‘housing for all’ project), with an aim to give houses to 650 Below the Poverty Line (BPL)-beneficiaries in the initial phase, has started off on a promising note with 130 agreements being signed since the process began two months ago. The number of applications has touched 1,200, and the stringent screening process is still on.

But project officials and beneficiaries say that the allocation of Rs.2 lakh is hardly enough to construct a house, considering the huge cost of materials and construction.

“No house can be constructed at that cost and all of them will end up spending more. Getting loans to make up for the extra cost is also tough for them,” says Project Officer Rajasekharan Nair.

In the case of the EMS housing project, there was a Government Order that enabled beneficiaries to avail loans keeping the land on which the house was constructed as collateral. But a similar order is yet to be issued for this project. Similarly, the beneficiaries in the EMS project did not have to pay the registration fee, while here they have to pay the fee that comes to around Rs.5,000.

From panchayats

The maximum number of applicants has been from those panchayats that were recently added to the Corporation.

The coastal areas have not been considered as there is a separate housing scheme for those areas.

The beneficiaries should be from a family having an annual income of less than Rs.25,000.

They should be residing in the area for a minimum period of three years to be eligible for the scheme.

Only landed beneficiaries are considered for the project. The applicant should possess a minimum land area of 1.5 cents, but slight relaxation is given for this condition as there is a huge number of people who possess lesser areas.

The maximum limit is specified as five cents within the city, 10 cents in the outer areas, and 15 cents in the recently added panchayats.

Ownership

Another major problem for the beneficiaries is in proving the ownership of the land, as many do not have the proper documents for the same. The amount of Rs.2 lakh is given in five instalments, after ensuring progress of construction in each stage. The last instalment of Rs.20,000 is provided only after construction and the allocation of TC numbers.