The city Corporation has requested the State government to make certain relaxations in building rules and sanction building permits to potential beneficiaries of the coastal BSUP (Basic Services to Urban Poor) project to enable families having possession certificates to benefit from the scheme.
Lack of valid land ownership records among potential beneficiaries had emerged as a major impediment to successful implementation of the BSUP project in the coastal wards of the city.
The project would benefit 5,500 families in 14 coastal wards in the district who will be provided financial assistance up to Rs 1.15 lakh to construct houses. However, according to the project guidelines, only beneficiaries who possessed land of their own could be provided financial assistance under the scheme.
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Although the civic body has received around 4,300 applications for the project, during scrutiny it was found that most applicants did not have valid land ownership records or title deeds. Only around 750 applicants have signed agreement for financial assistance under the scheme so far.
Mayor C. Jayan Babu held a meeting with Kudumbasree Mission director here recently to discuss the possibility of making exemption in building rules and giving building permits to applicants of the scheme who do not have valid land ownership records.
“The State government has a general policy decision to relax building rules for beneficiaries of housing schemes in order to enable maximum number of poor people to benefit from such schemes. However, for beneficiaries from the coastal area, other than building rules there are also issues of coastal zone regulation. So we will require a specific order from the government for beneficiaries of the BSUP scheme,” Mr. Jayan Babu said.
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The Corporation had also conducted an adalat last month to reach out to potential beneficiaries and verify land documents of applicants who have been enlisted for financial assistance under the scheme.
“The government has earlier made a similar concession for beneficiaries of the Valmiki Ambedkar Awas Yojana (VAMBAY) project who did not possess title deeds but only possession certificates.