A total of 2,51,046 houses have been completed under the State government's Livelihood, Inclusion, Financial Empowerment (LIFE) housing project.
Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan is expected to make the official declaration regarding the 2.5 lakh milestone later this month. The latest milestone comes less than a year after 2 lakh houses were completed under the project.
According to officials of the LIFE mission, work on 36 flat complexes is progressing in various parts of the State, out of which 10 will be completed by May. The rest of them will be completed before the end of the year.
“This year, we hope to add around 40,000 more houses to our tally. We have also received more than 8 lakh applications after the latest call. For processing these applications, field inspections will have to be carried out. At least, 3 to 4 lakh eligible beneficiaries can be found from this list,” U.V. Jose, CEO, LIFE Mission told The Hindu .
As per the data on completed houses till January 18, the maximum number of 37,828 houses have been completed in Thiruvananthapuram district, while Palakkad district has 28,853 completed houses. The least number is from Pathanamthitta district, which has 6,601 houses under the project. The figures include houses constructed under the three phases of the LIFE project, the houses under the Pradhan Mantri Awaas Yojana (PMAY)-LIFE project as well as those being executed through the Fisheries and the SC/ST Departments.
In addition to the 36 flat complexes under construction, 14 other complexes are being constructed under the Care Home project of the Co-operative Department and six others by various agencies and local bodies. The initial plan was to complete the 36 flat complexes by the end of last year, but the COVID-19 outbreak came as a roadblock.
Most of the workers, of which a majority are from outside the State, become unavailable following the pandemic outbreak. The work was restarted only a few months back. The controversies over the flat project at Wadakkanchery being executed by the UAE-based Red Crescent, the only flat project being constructed through sponsorship and being implemented by another agency, also acted as a dampener.
With pre-fabricated technology being used to construct the flat complexes, work has been progressing faster, compared to the usual construction methods. Attached to each of the flat complexes are training facilities to ensure livelihood for the residents, as well as primary health centres and anganwadis.
