Odisha govt to provide pucca houses to 13,000 Titli cyclone affected families

Bhubaneswar: The Odisha government will provide pucca houses to 13000 families in 11 districts, whose houses were damaged in the cyclone Titli. These houses will be constructed under the State’s Biju Pucca Ghar Yojana.

The State government will spend around Rs 176 crore to build these houses, official sources said.

Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik announced this after taking a review meeting over rehabilitation issues of cyclone affected people.

The unit cost under the scheme for construction of a new pucca house is Rs 1.2 lakh for non-IAP districts and Rs 1.3 lakh for IAP districts. IAP stands for Integrated Action Plan to develop tribal and backward areas of left wing extremism affected states.

The Chief Minister also directed to issue all the work orders on a specific date in all the blocks to the beneficiaries in order to maintain transparency.

It was also decided that local businessmen and self-help groups (SHGs) will be engaged to carry out the house construction work in an expeditious manner, said an official.

It was decided that the concerned SHGs will be provided extra financial assistance.

According to sources, the State government will urge the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) to provide livelihood facility to the cyclone-affected people and give training to the masons for making of the constructional materials.

It may be recalled here that as many as 65 people had died and thousands of houses were damaged due the cyclone and subsequent flood in 11 eleven districts in the southern Odisha.