Tamil Nadu   

37,000 permanent houses are yet to be built

Ramya Kannan

TWOYEARSAFTER Repairs to about 11,000 houses damaged during the tsunami have been completed "If the land was available, sometimes the community was not happy with the location, so we had to keep searching."

AWAITING PERMANENT SHELTERS: Tsunami affected persons at the temporary shelters in Nagapattinam. — Photo: S.R. Raghunathan

CHENNAI: With over 66,400 houses damaged or destroyed during the tsunami in Tamil Nadu, building back could easily be billed the toughest task during the last two years.

While significant progress was made in the last 24 months in Tamil Nadu, the fact is only 35.3 per cent of the total houses to be constructed have been completed, according to a recently released United Nations/Asian Development Bank/World Bank report.

The State Government figures come to about the same. While repairs to about 11,000 damaged houses have been completed, about 37,000 permanent houses are yet to be constructed in the State. And as many families are still living in temporary shelters alternatively hot and wet in cramped surroundings where hygiene has become a serious issue. While in Cuddalore and Kanyakumari work on permanent shelters is completely over, houses remain to be constructed in the other districts affected by the tsunami, the bulk in Nagapattinam. A total of 16,826 houses are in various stages of being built in the district, Nagapattinam Collector Tenkasi S.Jawahar says. Until this week, 6,325 houses had been completed out of a total requirement of 18,000 shelters. Of this, only a third have been handed over to the community.

A combination of factors is being attributed to the delay, C.V. Shankar, Officer on Special Duty, Tsunami relief and rehabilitation explains, with acquisition of land being the major hindrance. The district has had to acquire at least 627 acres of land, close to the shore and in locations that the community would be happy with. "Negotiations with landowners took time. Though the Government had authorised us to offer two times the guideline/market value, the land was still difficult to acquire," Mr. Jawahar explains.

"If the land was available, sometimes the community was not happy with the location, so we had to keep searching," he adds. Currently, except for land to build about 200 houses, the Government has purchased all other areas. "We are committed to finishing all the houses by March next year." That, he admits, will be the solution to the problem that residents face in temporary shelters.

However, those who have occupied the permanent shelters in the districts seem to be happy with their allotment. In Devanampattinam in Cuddalore, Revathy is busy drawing a `kolam' on the fresh concrete of her permanent shelter number 47. "We're much better off than before," she gushes and her neighbour Bagyam is equally ecstatic, "I never imagined I'd be living in a brick house with a solid roof overhead." Cuddalore has also built more houses than were required for post-tsunami rehabilitation.

While 2,323 houses were on the list, over 5000 houses were built, these extra houses being allotted to other underprivileged communities including Dalits and tribals. Even in Nagapattinam, where hectic construction activity can be seen in one of the projects-the Tata Relief Committee housing scheme in Rolling Mill, Keechankuppam - and the allotees cannot wait to take possession.

Mini township

A mini township, in the making, will even include a sewage treatment plant when complete.

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