Kerala - Kochi   

Minister seeks increase in sale of lottery tickets

KOCHI: Intensifying the sale of tickets of the special Vishu bumper lottery launched exclusively for promoting the M.N. One Lakh Housing Renovation Scheme is one way of mobilising resources for the cash-strapped scheme, Minister for Forest and Housing Benoy Viswom has said.

Addressing a meeting held at the Collectorate conference hall here on Friday to discuss the scheme, Mr. Viswom said that 60,000 houses would be renovated in the first phase of the scheme.

He said that the government had fixed Rs.50,000 for the renovation of each house. The State government would give half the amount as subsidy and the local self-government body concerned would have to contribute the rest.

The Minister said that under the prevailing conditions, there was no chance for enhancing the subsidy component.

Local self-government bodies could utilise their Plan funds or enlist support from other quarters for mobilising their share. The government would have to raise Rs.150 crore for providing the subsidy; but, it had only Rs.22 crore — Rs.5 crore allocated in the current budget and the unspent amount of Rs.17 crore from last year. The amount was just enough to assist those panchayats which took an early initiative on the scheme.

Conventional ways of selling the lottery tickets would generate only Rs.2 to 3 crore, which was far short of the requirement. The Minister said that local self-government bodies should propagate lottery by making sure that one ticket, priced at Rs.50, reached every household within their limits as part of ‘Vishu kaineettam.’

The Minister said that Ernakulam district was “miserably lagging behind in the planning and implementation” of the lottery scheme. He asked the district administration to intensify the activities and directed Collector A.P.M. Mohammed Hanish to convene a meeting of departmental heads on Tuesday.

The district was given a target of generating Rs.3 crore through the sale of 6 lakh tickets. Responding to a suggestion for building flats to maximise utilisation of available land, Mr. Viswom said that it was for the local bodies to decide after consulting the beneficiaries.

He allayed the fears of local body members regarding commission and assured a commission of 20 per cent for selling the tickets.

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