THIRUVANANTHAPURAM : LIFE project is about government bringing dreams to their reality, said Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan. A total of 2,14,144 houses have been built for needy families, the members of which have a sense of self-esteem now; it is a joiy for the multitude, he said.
The allottees are not exclusively people without a home, rather the govt considered other factors to determine who the deserving might be. As part of this, its was decided to provide means of living to at least one from such select families. The disabled, mentally unstable and similarly vulnerable individuals were chosen for this category to be included in the scheme.
The first phase of LIFE will comprise 54,237 houses of which, construction of 96.58 percent homes have been completed. Govt spent Rs 670 crore for the purpose. A few houses have their construction tangled in disputes, being the only ones not completed in the batch. 1,61,732 houses were turned up in the second phase for which Rs 5,851 crore was spent.
A record feat has been achieved in building houses on such mammoth scale. The govt spent Rs 4 lakh in construction costs per house. Construction of 1,60,925 houses are ongoing, the completion of which will not be difficult; they are flat complexes, said Chief Minister. The project will complete its phases in time, he added.
Public cooperation is great in terms of securing land for construction. Several individuals are coming forth to donate properties. A housing complex is not meant for persons of a certain class or community. It is not a typical colony. Rather, these premises bring a whole new culture into being. Many from the scheduled tribe lived in the forests so far. There were no basic facilities including roads to access. This is why government spent extra for rehabilitating them.
Free housing projects took off years back but dragged without direction or signs of progress. Construction and completion of homes for its beneficiaries has happened only now.
The previous govt left construction of 54,000 houses mid-way. Of these, 52,000 houses were taken up and brought to their completion by current govt. Opposition leader Ramesh Chennithala is misleading people and he does that by quoting wrong figures, said CM.
