Karunanidhi launches "Kalaignar Housing Scheme" to provide concrete houses to 21 lakhs hut dwellers in the state

Tamil Nadu Chief Minister M Karunanidhi on Wednesday evening launched the ''Kalaignar Housing Scheme'' aimed at providing free concrete houses to poor hut dwellers and make the state hut-free.

The Chief Minister launched the much ambitious scheme against the backdrop of a set of a typical village panchayat assembly under a banyan tree, created at Anna Stadium in Tiruchi.

When Mr Karunanidhi, seated under the tree, pressed a button, a life-size hut turned around to show a concrete house, from which, a family of husband, wife and a girl child emerged and thanked the Chief Minister with folded hands.

This gave a touch of realism to the project, which envisaged converting all the 21 lakh huts in the state into concrete houses in a span of six years.

Deputy Chief Minister M K Stalin, Transport Minister K N Nehru, Forest Minister Selvaraj and leaders of various Legislative parties, except AIADMK were present at the function.

The project is a mammoth effort to provide concrete houses to over 21 lakh rural hut dwellers by 2016 and make Tamil Nadu, the first state in the country to become hut-free.

Governor Surjit Singh Barnala had announced the scheme, while delivering his customary address to the state assembly on the opening day of the assembly session in January.

The state government decided to implement the mega project on its own as it felt it would take 30 years to convert the huts into permanent houses under the Centrally-assisted Indira Awaz Yojana scheme.

In the first phase during the current fiscal, three lakh permanent houses would be constructed at a cost of Rs 1,800 crore, the Governor had said in his address.

- Asian Tribune -