Tamil Nadu government promises to ready 1 lakh houses for homeless in 6 months

Replying to the debate on demand for grants for Tamil Nadu Slum Clearance Board (TNSCB), Rural Industries Minister TM Anbarasan told the Assembly on Wednesday that the government would construct one lakh houses and accommodate the homeless in the next six months. Around 20,000 houses are ready and the rest are under construction, the Minister added.

Claiming that 20,056 TNSCB houses constructed since 2017 by the AIADMK have remained vacant as on date, the Minister said that not one person has entered the houses till date as they were constructed 10 to 15kms away from the usual localities. Citing a case in Madurai where nearly 2,000 houses were constructed 17kms away from the existing locations of people living on the bank of Vaigai, Anbarasan said the houses remained unoccupied since 2012. Another 1,800 houses in Coimbatore, 312 houses in Theni, 2,112 houses in Kancheepuram, 212 in Tirupur and 1,904 houses in Pudukkottai also remained unoccupied due to distance problems.

Proposing to demolish and reconstruct 30,393 dilapidated and uninhabitable TNSCB houses, the Minister also told the House that another 17,500 existing houses would be renovated. Stating that IIT experts have been asked to oversee quality control and table reports every three months on the construction of TNSCB, Anbarasan also proposed to scrap the “turn key” method of project execution.