In an initiative to provide home for the homeless under a tsunami relief scheme, Grand Lodge of India has constructed 74 houses and a community centre at a cost of Rs. 1.37 crore at Anna Nagar (East Pallam), coastal hamlet near Kanyakumari.
Free masons came to the immediate help of villagers post-tsunami by providing boats and fishing implements, said its past deputy regional grandmaster and project in-charge V. Ramachandran Nair
He told The Hindu that the community centre with built-up area of 9,000 square feet was constructed at a cost of Rs. 55 lakh and had been handed over to the villagers. Later Rs. 59 lakh was spent for construction of the 59 houses, with the beneficiaries bearing 50 percent of the cost of each dwelling. Again the Grand Lodge of India granted financial support for constructing 15 houses for poor people.
Balram Biswa Kumar, Grand Master of Free and Accepted Masons of India, will inaugurate these facilities on Saturday, in the presence of Regional Grand Master of Southern India R. Sushil Raj. Many prominent people of Kanyakumari district and free masons from different places were expected to participate in the function, said Mr. Ramachandran said.
