Tamil Nadu - Nagapattinam   

434 houses to be constructed in Nagai

Staff Reporter

For the benefit of tsunami-hit people in Serudur village Each house will be built on 324 sq. ft at a cost of Rs.1.50 lakh to Rs.1.70 lakh

NAGAPATTINAM: The People's Development Association (PDA), a Madurai-based NGO, has acquired 30 acres of land in the tsunami-hit coastal village of Serudur near Velankanni in Nagapattinam district after a long process of negotiations and legal procedure for construction of 434 permanent houses to be given to the tsunami victims free with the efforts of the Collector, J.Radhakrishnan.

Joe Velu, Director, PDA, said on Thursday that the land was acquired and provided to the PDA by the district administration recently.

He said that the `Bhoomi Puja' for construction of permanent houses was performed on Wednesday and the foundation stone was laid by G.Abdul Salam, Village Administrative Officer, Prathabaramapuram, in the presence of R.V.Swaminathan, panchayat president and the local people.

Mr.Velu said that the PDA would construct the houses adhering to the Government norms and regulations.

He said that each house would be built in 324 sq. ft area at a cost Rs.1.50 lakh to Rs.1.70 lakh.

Jacintha Joseph, Field Executive, PDA, said that the PDA had been spending huge amount of money and had carried out a number of tsunami relief and rehabilitation works including construction of temporary shelters, supply of free fibreglass boats, nets, etc to fishermen and essential commodities to affected people in a number of tsunami-hit villages in the district.

V.Sebastian, Additional Director, PDA and Panneerselvam, Director, PAL Promoters, Madurai, also participated. S.Kuppuraj, welcomed the gathering and S.Subramanian, proposed a vote of thanks.

Construction in full swing

Meanwhile, official sources said that the construction of permanent houses in the tsunami-affected areas in Nagapattinam district was in full swing.

They pointed out that in all 17,461 permanent houses would be built in 79 locations in the district.

Nearly 3,000 houses had already been handed over to the tsunami-affected families.

The sources said that a total of 303 hectares of land was required for construction of houses and the required land except in a few places had been acquired by the Government and handed over to more than 40 NGOs.

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434 houses to be constructed in Nagai

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