Collector C. Samayamoorthy has informed that selection of beneficiaries for getting free concrete houses under the Rs. 500-crore special package programme meant for development of villages around Kudankulam Nuclear Power Project (KKNPP) would begin shortly.
Since it has been proposed to execute development programmes in the villages around the nuclear plant on an outlay of Rs. 500 crore, a meeting was conducted to discuss the welfare schemes to be implemented in the beneficiary villages.
Chairing the meeting held at the Collectorate on Friday to discuss the progress made in executing development schemes in the hamlets around KKNPP, Mr. Samayamoorthy said the village panchayats of Kuttam, Uvari, Koodankulam, Levinjipuram, Irukkanthurai, Chettikulam, Udhayaththur, Thiruvambalapuram, Parmeshwarapuram, Karaisuttru Uvari, Kooththankuzhi, Navvaladi and Vijayapathi would get 10,000 concrete houses, each worth about Rs. 3 lakh.
While 5,000 houses would be built during the current fiscal, construction of 3,000 houses would be completed during in the next financial year (2014 – 2015). In the last phase of the programme, the remaining 2,000 houses would be built.
The prospective beneficiaries, living in any of these village panchayats, should belong to the below poverty line (BPL) category and own a minimum of 400 square feet of land in the name of the head of the family or any one of the family members. Names of the applicants, who have only a ‘joint patta’ and living in some other place, would also be considered for selection.
Priority would be given for differently abled, destitute women, widows, families with women as its breadwinner, transgender, HIV / AIDS patients, people affected by natural disasters such as flood and fire accident and families having mentally retarded persons as its member. If a beneficiary was found to be eligible but not included in the below poverty line category, he or she will be included in the BPL list first and selected as beneficiary.
“We’ve formed selection teams comprising Block Development Officer, Deputy Block Development Officer and panchayat president to select the beneficiaries,” Mr. Samayamoorthy said.
