Tamil Nadu - Tuticorin   

202 houses handed over to tsunami victims

Staff Reporter

They were built on an outlay of Rs. 4.64 crore

TUTICORIN: A total of 202 permanent houses, constructed by Development Promotion Group (DPG), a Chennai-based non-governmental organisation, on an outlay of Rs. 4.64 crore at Ceylon Colony and Azhagapuri near here, were handed over to tsunami victims of Terespuram and Madhavan Nair Colony on Saturday.

The Minister for Animal Husbandry, Geetha Jeevan, handed over the keys of the houses to the beneficiaries in the presence of the District Collector, R. Palaniyandi.

Each house, with a plinth area of 416 sq.ft., has been constructed at a cost of Rs. 2.30 lakh with a hall, a bedroom, a kitchen, a toilet, a sit-out and a staircase. While Diakonie Emergency Aid, Germany financed the construction of 134 houses, Church Development Services, Germany, funded for 58 houses. The Association of Confederation of Credit Unions, Bangkok, assisted the construction of remaining 10 houses.

Besides providing land for the project, the district administration has constructed an overhead tank with a capacity of 30,000 litres and erected 10 public taps.

According to the Chief Executive Officer, DPG, R. Bhakther Solomon, his organisation, which established 14 self-help groups among the 202 beneficiary families and disbursed Rs. 1.50 lakh as micro-finance, had distributed fishnets worth Rs. 5 lakh. Besides, the DPG was running a childcare centre with 25 children and a tailoring training unit with 20 girl trainees.

"Construction of a small community hall, strengthening of SHGs with additional training and micro-credit, establishment of a garment production unit will be taken up in the new residential colony in the coming months," Mr. Solomon said.

Bus service

After receiving the keys of their new homes, the beneficiaries appealed to the Collector to operate buses from their colony in the small hours so that they could reach the seashore and subsequently for fishing without any trouble.

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202 houses handed over to tsunami victims

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