Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan will on Tuesday hand over the keys to new houses to 250 families living along the coastline in Thiruvananthapuram as part of the Fisheries Department's Punargeham project to rehabilitate fishworker families. The function will be held at the Kumaranasan memorial ground at Kayikkara. Fisheries Minister Saji Cherian said that 689 individual houses would be handed over as part of the 100-day action programme of the Left Democratic Front (LDF) government.
Under the Punargeham project, which was launched in 2020, a total of 1,109 coastal families have got houses till now. Further, 1,126 more houses are in various stages of construction. A total of 2,235 persons have registered land in their name. In the current phase, houses have been provided to 128 families in Karode, 20 families in Beemapally, and 128 families in Ponnani. The construction of 114 flats in the QSS Colony in Kollam district will be completed this month.
Norms eased
In a press release issued here on Monday, Mr. Cherian said that the government had eased some of the norms so that more houses are constructed under the programme. As part of this, registration costs have been waived. The requirement that the families which are shifting from the coast to new houses have to give up their existing land has also been removed. He said that the government's policy is to shift all the families who have expressed their willingness to move, to safer places.
