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Tsunami housing hits roadblock

Staff Reporter

Villagers object to the proposed house design; contractor stops work

Karaikal: The process of rehabilitating the tsunami-affected fishermen at Pattinacherry, where the maximum damage in terms of human and property loss was reported, had been put on hold due to a standoff between villagers and a foreign-based Indian industrial group, which agreed to construct the houses.

Mittal Steel, the industrial group, had entered into a Memorandum of Understanding to construct around 450 houses and started the preliminary work after the Government acquired 23 acres, some three months ago.

While the land filling was going on, villagers objected to the design of the houses. The contractor and his team from Hyderabad abandoned the project after that. That happened two months ago. Till now, there is no breakthrough in the standoff.

Officials in the Karaikal Regional Administration said the villagers were consulted before preparing the design. However, the fishermen refute the claim.

The design of the houses is such that four houses would be built in a circle and four families will share a courtyard.

``This is not acceptable to us. We want independent houses as in other villages. It cannot be in blocks,'' Vadivelu, a panchayat member said.

When contacted Relief Commissioner B. V Selvaraj said: "There is a problem in continuing the work. We have told the industrial group not to be rigid. ''

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