India said this week that Sri Lanka had not yet made available the list of beneficiaries for the first stage of 1,000 houses, in its 50,000-unit housing programme in the north.
The Indian High Commission said that the government of India has appointed M/s Hindustan Prefab Ltd and M/s RPP Infra Projects Ltd as Project Management Consultants and Contractors respectively, to execute and implement the Pilot Project for 1,000 houses, which will be spread over all five districts of the Northern Province.
“The contracted agencies have already mobilised necessary resources to undertake the project. Barring unforeseen circumstances, the project will be completed as per schedule, and the housing units handed over to the beneficiaries during the latter half of the year,” the Indian High Commission said.
“We await a list of beneficiaries for the Pilot Project, from the Government of Sri Lanka, drawn up on the basis of norm-based and transparent selection criteria. Early availability of the list of beneficiaries will enable completion of critical project activities in a timely manner”, the High Commission added.
However, the would-be beneficiaries have already settled in temporary sheds around the location in Ariyalai, Jaffna, where the pilot project expects the early construction of the houses.
Nagamma Kanapathy who returned to Ariyalai a year ago, told the Sunday Times that officials visit the area with assurances of starting the pilot project as early as possible, but there were no signs of it.
There are at least 106 families living in the area amidst hardships, some of whom were in cadjan huts.
“We were issued with 10 roofing sheets and Rs 5,000 to put up temporary houses.
But with the frequent rains and floods, these sheds were collapsing, making it difficult for us to live here”, a settler said.
He said that, despite assurances, there seems to be no houses coming up. “We understand there is a dispute over the project. But we were promised houses under the pilot project. That was the reason we returned to our original land”.
Earlier, Jaffna Government Agent Emelda Sukumar said that they had already identified 7,000 families as beneficiaries, and sent the list to the Presidential Task Force.
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| The site where the pilot project would come up |
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| Affected families in the north who don’t have a proper home. Pix by N. Parameswaran |
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