By The Hindu Bureau
Copyright thehindu
With only a month left for the State government’s campaign to declare Kerala free of extreme poverty, the Ernakulam district administration says it is close to achieving the goal.
As the government plans to make the Statewide declaration on November 1, officials involved in implementing the project in the district said they are on track to meet the deadline, with procedures to allot land to beneficiaries now being finalised. In its final phase, the Extreme Poverty Eradication Programme (EPEP) has focussed on providing housing for the needy, including landless people identified through the project.
In Ernakulam, the authorities had identified 217 beneficiaries who did not own any land on which they could build a house. “Of these, 149 have been allotted land, and procedures to issue title deeds to the remaining 68 are under way,” officials said.
Of the 68 beneficiaries still waiting for land, 38 are in Kanayannur taluk—the highest number among all taluks. The remaining beneficiaries include 12 families in Kochi taluk, 14 in Kunnathunad, and four in Aluva taluk. Of the beneficiaries in Kanayannur taluk, 29 live within the Kochi Corporation limits. Each beneficiary is eligible for up to five cents of land for house construction under the programme. Officials said the required land had been identified for most beneficiaries and that the procedures to issue title deeds were in progress.
The district panchayat has purchased land for some beneficiaries at a cost of ₹2 lakh per cent in available locations, while for the rest, the authorities have identified suitable ‘poramboke’ land, it is learnt. Funds have been allotted to 259 beneficiaries with land to build houses and to 360 for house maintenance works under the EPEP.
“The first phase of the programme focussed on ensuring basic needs such as food, health care, and livelihood support for the needy, and we have already achieved those targets. Now, efforts are on to complete the housing component of the programme before the deadline,” P. H. Shine, project director, EPEP, Ernakulam, said.
The EPEP was launched in 2021 as one of the first Cabinet decisions of the current Left Democratic Front government. After ground-level surveys, 64,006 families across the State were identified as extremely poor, and micro plans addressing their immediate and long-term needs were prepared for each family.
