After 30 years, Sri Lankan Tamils at Dindigul rehabilitation camp get concrete houses

Seventy families were living in thatched-roof houses since 1990 after fleeing their homeland

Tamil Nadu Chief Minister M.K. Stalin inaugurated the Sri Lankan Tamils Rehabilitation Camp at Thottanuthu village in Dindigul via video conferencing from Chennai on Wednesday.

Minister for Cooperation I. Periyasamy, Minister for Food and Civil Supplies R. Sakkarapani and Minister for Minorities Welfare and Non-Resident Tamils Welfare Gingee K.S. Masthan handed over the keys of the houses to the beneficiaries at Dindigul.

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The rehabilitation camp, spread over 7 acres, has 321 houses constructed at a total cost of ₹17.84 crore. Each house under the project covers an area of 300 sq.ft. with a living room, kitchen, a bedroom and a toilet built at a cost of ₹4.95 lakh.

The camp has an overhead water tank with a capacity of 60,000 litre, cement and tar roads lined with streetlights and public toilet facilities etc. The project was completed within nine months since the foundation stone was laid in December last year.

Speaking at the event, Collector S. Visakan said the 70 families living in the camps were finally going to live in concrete houses after more than 30 years. The inmates of camps in Thottanuthu, Adiyanuthu and Gopalpatti villages will be accommodated here at the integrated camp.

A. Kalanayagi, one of the beneficiaries said former Chief Minister Karunanidhi was gracious enough to allocate thatched-roof houses in Adiyanoothu village when they (inmates of the three camps) sought refuge in Tamil Nadu after they fled their homeland in 1990.