The Hindu : Tamil Nadu News : “Tsunami projects will be completed by December”

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Thursday, Jul 03, 2008
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Tamil Nadu

Tamil Nadu

“Tsunami projects will be completed by December”

Special Correspondent

Thereafter focus will be on setting up industrial clusters of SHGs

VILLUPURAM: The tsunami rehabilitation projects being implemented in select coastal town panchayats in Tamil Nadu will be completed by December 2008 and thereafter the focus will be on setting up of industrial clusters of self-help groups, said K.Gopal, Commissioner of Town Panchayats.

In the aftermath of the tsunami that struck the coastal areas on December 26, 2004 and left a trail of devastation, the government had charted out special projects such as the Asian Development Bank-aided Rs 65-crore Tsunamai Emergency Assistance Project (TEAP) and the World Bank-aided Rs 20-crore Emergency Rehabilitation Tsunami Project (ERTP) to be implemented through the Commissionerate of Town Panchayats.

While the TEAP was meant for providing livelihood measures the ERTP was intended to provide the infrastructure facilities at the permanent habitations constructed for the sake of the affected people, Mr. Gopal said.

Mr. Gopal, who inspected the saltpans run by the women SHGs at Marakkanam near here on Wednesday, told The Hindu that the works taken up in 2006 under these projects would be completed by year-end.

Of the 50 coastal town panchayats affected by the tidal waves 19 in five districts had been classified as worst-hit.

These were Mamallapuram, Edalkazhinadu and Sholinganallur in Kancheepuram district, Marakkanam and Kottakuppam in Villupuram district, Killai and Parangipettai in Cuddalore district, and, Kanyakumari, Reethapuram, Manavalakurichi, Kallukottam, Ganapathipuram, Mandicadu, Palapallam, Puthalam, Anjugramam and Kollancodu in Kanyakumari district.

Cluster approach

Mr. Gopal said under the TEAP over 3,380 SHGs with a total membership of 75,000 had been formed and they were trained in various trades. Even the National Institute of Fashion Technology had been roped in to impart training to them on product design, marketing, preparing logos and packaging in trades such as sanitary napkins, korai craft and rexine products.

In the past three years the SHGs had acquired certain skills that would stand them in good stead to carry on their avocations even after the projects were wound up.

The manual biometrics of these groups such as identity cards and folders had been prepared, and random checks had been conducted to put them on course, he said.

As a next step it had been planned to create product-specific clusters endowed with common facilities and to evolve a brand for each product.

For promoting the cluster approach aid from the Japanese Funds for Poverty Reduction may be sought, mainly for upgrading the skill level and churning out value-added products, Mr. Gopal added.

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