Deputy Chief Minister M.K. Stalin, accompanied by Higher Education Minister K. Ponmudy and District Collector R. Palanisamy, visited the site selected for the construction of a memorial for the former Chief Minister P. Ramasamy Reddiyar at Omandur, located on the Puducherry—Tindivanam Road near here, on Friday.
Mr. Stalin told the reporters that when Chief Minister M. Karunanidhi visited Villupuram in March last to inaugurate the government medical college hospital he made an announcement about the erection of the memorial.
Now the government had passed an order and allocated a sum of Rs.40 lakh for the purpose. The Public Works Department would float tenders and the works on the memorial would commence soon, he said.
Collector Palanisamy introduced Badrinarayanan, a descendant of Omandur Ramasamy Reddiyar, to the Deputy Chief Minister. Mr. Badrinarayanan said that the family was happy when the government estate in Chennai was named after his grandfather in 1998. The government's proposal to build a memorial too had brought cheers to the family.
Housing scheme
Later, Mr. Stalin inaugurated the construction of concrete houses under the Kalaignar Housing Scheme at Ongur by handing over the bricks to the mason. He said that to start with 50 huts belonging to the Most Backward Classes, Backward Classes and the Adi Dravidars would be converted into concrete houses. If the first phase were ready by January 2011 the Chief Minister would come and inaugurate them.
The Deputy Chief Minister directed the Collector to complete the construction works by March 2011.
Mr. Stalin further said that Villupuram district had the highest number of huts -2,89,011 of which 1,72,032 were eligible for the scheme. While conditional approval was given to 32,200 tenements, 84,779 huts were found ineligible. Each house would be built on 207 sq.ft of land with toilets. The government had increased the allocation from Rs.60,000 to Rs.75,000 per unit, he added.
Those who were present on the occasion included Deputy Inspector General of Police (Villupuram range) E.Ma. Masanamuthu, Superintendent of Police P. Pakalavan, and Member of Parliament Adhi Sankar.
