First 12 houses in Ernakulam under Punargeham programme to be handed over on Thursday

A total of 303 houses built across Kerala under the 100-day programme of the State government

Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan will hand over the first 12 houses built under the Punargeham programme in Ernakulam district to beneficiaries at a virtual conference on Thursday. The meet is organised under the aegis of the Fisheries Department. The Punargeham programme, which aims at rehabilitating people living in highly vulnerable coastal areas, is backed by ₹1,398 crore from the Chief Minister’s Distress Relief Fund and ₹1,052 crore from the State government, making it a corpus of ₹2,450 crore. Each house owner is provided with ₹10 lakh (₹6 lakh for land purchase and ₹4 lakh for constructing house). The twelve houses in Kochi and Vypeen constituencies are single homes, Fisheries Department sources said on Monday. The rehabilitation programme, aimed at those living within 50 metres of the high tide area, was launched in January 2020. A total of 303 houses were built across the State under the 100-day programme, said K.N. Unnikrishnan, MLA, and Fisheries Deputy Director Nousher Khan at a press conference here on Monday.