Residing under asbestos-roofed shelters in rehabilitation camps for over three decades, the Sri Lankan Tamils in Vellore, Ranipet, Tirupattur and Tiruvannamalai will move into concrete houses in nine months as work on their construction began a few days ago.
The initiative, being implemented by the District Rural Development Agency (DRDA), comes after Chief Minister M.K. Stalin inaugurated the free housing scheme for 19,046 Sri Lankan Tamils living in 106 relief camps at a function in Vellore in November 2021.
After a lot of paperwork in terms of identifying alternative sites and irreparable houses, the work has started with the demolition of the old shelters where Sri Lankan Tamils lived for years with meagre facilities. “It took nearly three years of fieldwork before launching the scheme. Now, the initiative will be executed in two phases, covering all beneficiaries,” R. Raja Rajeshwari, special tahsildar for rehabilitation camps (Tiruvannamalai), told The Hindu.
