New houses for Sri Lankan Tamils in Tirupattur almost ready

Living under asbestos-roof shelters in rehabilitation camps for over three decades, the Sri Lankan Tamils in Tirupattur will move into concrete houses soon as more than 90% of the work has been completed.

Living under asbestos-roof shelters in rehabilitation camps for over three decades, the Sri Lankan Tamils in Tirupattur will move into concrete houses soon as more than 90% of the work has been completed. Work in Tiruvannamalai is progressing well and land identification has been completed in Ranipet.

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.

Accompanied by S. Uma Maheshwari, project director, DRDA (Tirupattur), Tirupattur Collector K. Tharpagaraj, inspected the last leg of work in Minnur village near Vaniyambadi town that comes under Madhanur panchayat union.

Of total 263 houses in Tirupattur, 76 houses have been completed under the first phase of the scheme while work on the remaining 160 houses that are being built under the second phase will be completed in the first week of July. “A few plumbing work and painting are some of the works that are being done,” S. Magesh Kumar, Assistant Executive Engineer (AEE), DRDA (Tirupattur), told The Hindu.

Together, these four districts have a total of 2,239 families in 18 relief camps. Tiruvannamalai has the highest, having 12 camps housing 1,111 families. Vellore, Tirupattur and Ranipet have two camps each. Some major towns in the districts which have relief camps include Gudiyatham (55 families), Walajah (289 families), Sholinghur (160 families), Ambur (310 families), Cheyyar (112 families), Arani (94 families) and Chengam (111 families). 

Each house under the project covers 300 sq.ft. with a living room, a bedroom with an attached washroom and a kitchen. All these years, officials said, the relief camps only had a few common public toilets for the Sri Lankan Tamils. The new houses would also have free water connection and power supply. In addition, overhead tanks (OHTs), which have a capacity of 60,000 litres, are also being built in the camps. Each house will cost ₹5.85 lakh for the State Exchequer.

G. Lokanayaki, project director, DRDA (Ranipet), said that as Sri Lankan Tamils objected to alternative land identified for the purpose due to their stay in the camp area for years, reclassification of camp area had been made to enable the construction of houses in the camp area itself. Of 228 beneficiaries, houses for 96 would be built in Banavaram near Walajah town in the first phase.