After some hiccups, the construction of apartment complex for coastal residents at Mannumpuram, near Purakkad, has entered the final phase.
Officials said 228 fisher families would be shifted to the housing complex once it was ready. The complex is constructed under the Punargeham project of the State government, which aims to rehabilitate fisher families living within 50 metres of the coastline.
Fisheries Minister Saji Cherian recently visited Mannumpuram and reviewed the progress of the project. The facility being constructed by the Kerala State Coastal Area Development Corporation on 3.48 acres of land will have 19 blocks each having 12 flat units. Officials said structural work of 204 units had been completed. “The plastering work is nearing completion, while electrification and plumbing works are progressing at a good pace,” said an official.
Each 491 sq.ft. flat unit will have two bedrooms, living/dining area, kitchen and toilet. Besides, roads, drinking water, electricity, waste management systems, compound wall among other facilities are being readied. The structure is built on the lines of the fisherfolk apartment complex at Muttathara in Thiruvananthapuram. While the construction of 17 blocks is nearing completion, work on two blocks is expected to begin soon.
The entire project was scheduled to be completed much earlier, but got delayed due to various accounts.
The government launched Punargeham to provide housing for all fisher families residing in areas vulnerable to coastal erosion in nine coastal districts of the State. As per a survey conducted by the Fisheries department in 2018-19, as many as 4,660 families in Alappuzha were living within 50 metres of the coastline.
Apart from constructing the housing complex, the government is providing eligible families an amount of ₹10 lakh each including ₹6 lakh for buying land and ₹4 lakh for constructing houses. The amount is disbursed in instalments. While a district-level committee has drawn up a beneficiary list of 1,804 families, 1,204 families have informed their willingness to move from the coastline to safer places.
As many as 813 beneficiaries in the district have identified land for building individual houses. Of these, 716 families have completed land registration procedures. A total of 504 beneficiaries have received the financial aid in full and 310 have completed house construction. As many as 235 families have shifted to their new homes.
