Care Home brings back smiles to people left homeless by floods

Suchitra still trembles with fear, describing the terrible day she lost her dear home two years ago. The 42-year-old widow watched from a distance as a huge hill came off, burying everything on its way. Tons of mud cascaded down the slope, bringing along with it, trees and houses, and blanketing the area with a thick layer of mud and stones.

The landslip completely turned a scenic village into a red lake of mud and stones. Today, as she stands outside her newly-built house, Suchitra is a relieved woman. The government might not have returned everything she had lost, but it has at least built a new home for her.

The Care Home project of the Department of Cooperation has come as a huge relief to thousands of people like Suchitra who were left homeless by the floods and landslides that took place two years ago. The government built 2,000 houses under the project across the state.

The cooperative societies joined hands with organisations like the Uralungal Labour Contract Cooperative Society and Cooperative Academy of Professional Education on a voluntary basis to provide technical guidance for the project. While the Department of Cooperation gave Rs 5 lakh towards building each house, the local cooperative societies provided their profit share for the project. For drawing out plans, the engineering students came up with the necessary inputs.

As these houses were built without any set of models, a beneficiary council was formed to work out a plan for each family. The council, which has representatives from cooperatives, panchayats, and the beneficiaries, sat together with the flood-hit people and asked about the plans they wanted for their houses. The plans were worked out according to their requirements and looking at the geography of the area, as much of it is flood-prone.

As the houses were built on pillars, the beneficiaries can now live in their houses without having to fear floods or landslides. The construction was completed with a proper foundation that can withstand a normal flood. In the second phase of the project, the government is mulling the construction of apartment complexes in each of the districts for homeless people.

Comments

Kerala launches India's 1st digital varsity, set to be global hub for e-learning

Over the past five years, Kerala has been a state of trend setters. So it should come as no surprise that the state, which has already launched a lot of first-in-the-country projects, came up with another in the form of a digital university. As is customary for Kerala in most of the previous projects, this one too is a pathbreaking venture in the country. It was Governor of Kerala Arif Mohammed Khan who inaugurated Kerala University of Digital Sciences Innovation and Technology based in Technocity at Mangalapuram, the first phase of which now completed with an academic and hostel block. The varsity is an outcome of the state's resolve to embrace new technologies and the continued efforts to use them for producing positive changes in people. It is expected to be a global hub for higher learning and technology. Setting international standards in digital education for higher studies, the varsity will provide a digital platform for those wanting to pursue postgraduate and r...

The reason behind hunger-free Kerala

When the country enforced a blanket lockdown to check the spread of Covid-19, a large section of people were pushed to the brink of hunger crisis. One of the worst hit were destitute, daily wage labourers, migrants and many who make the floating population. But a timely intervention by the Kerala Government made sure these vulnerable sections were not left starving. Rising to the occasion, the Kerala government set up 1,255 kitchens in 14 districts in the state and distributed food packets to the needy. Community kitchen, as the kind gesture was named, gave away up to 3 lakh food packets a day, saving hundreds of people who were in danger of starvation during lockdown. A first of its kind initiative, the scheme was aimed at keeping everyone in the state hunger-free and was implemented through the local bodies of Kerala, with Ernakulam, Malappuram, Palakkad, Thiruvananthapuram and Thrissur districts receiving the most number of kitchens. The free food packets were served lar...

Under this govt, owning a house no longer a dream

Owning a house is not an easy feat. For many, it takes a lifetime of savings to build one while for others, banks can help out with home loans. In any case, the bulk of people’s wages goes into constructing a house. But, what about those whose dreams of owning a house are beyond their financial capabilities? That is where governments can chip in with financial assistance, and that is exactly what the Kerala government has done through its LIFE Mission programme. The kind gesture from the state brought back smiles to the faces of people who once thought building a house was beyond their reach. The state has, so far, constructed 2.51 lakh houses for its citizens who did not have any fixed abode for long. Those who meet the eligibility for the government assistance can avail the service by applying online. Under the programme, the applicant will receive Rs 4 lakh for a house, to which the Centre makes a contribution of Rs 72,000 in Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana (PMAY) rural and Rs 1.5...

Kerala Forward

Search This Blog