The government will launch a campaign to provide houses and jobs to all as part of the second phase of the People’s Plan Programme on Wednesday.
To be implemented by the local self governments, the campaign envisages building of about three lakh houses under the EMS Housing Scheme over the next two years, Minister for Local Self Government Paloli Mohamedkutty said here on Tuesday. Chief Minister V.S. Achuthanandan will inaugurate the campaign.
The Minister told the media that the Scheme envisaged an investment of about Rs. 4000 crore in housing by the government, local self governments and voluntary agencies. The local self governments could avail loans from the cooperatives and repay the principal from their plan funds over the next ten years. The government would provide the interest.
Mr. Mohamedkutty said the State now had about 3.5 lakh families without houses of which one lakh had no land to build houses. About two lakh houses had been constructed during the first half of the Eleventh Plan.
The Minister announced that the government proposed to enlarge the schemes under the National Rural Employment Guarantee Project (NREGP) in a manner that would cater to the development of agriculture and food security in the State. The target was the creation of work days worth Rs. 1000 crore. The State had fallen behind in the creation of employment opportunities under the Project compared to the national average because of shortage of public land and high wage-structure in the State.
In addition to schemes, the government planned the implementation of projects costing Rs. 100 crore under the Kudumbasree Scheme during this financial year for creation of employment. Production under the Kudumbasree Scheme had shown considerable improvement in recent years. Now, the move was to improve and expand marketing.
