3 lakh houses built under EMS scheme

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: As many as 3 lakh houses have been constructed under the EMS Housing Scheme and the remaining 2 lakh houses will be completed in a time-bound manner, Minister for Local Self-government Paloli Mohammed Kutty has said.

Mr. Kutty said in a release here on Monday that the scheme covered 999 grama panchayats and 58 municipalities. As many as 992 grama panchayats had prepared the final list of beneficiaries. This was the most arduous task.

As per the statistics compiled by the local self-government institutions, around 3,50,160 people did not have houses and 1,34,097 people had no land or houses. As many as 880 grama panchayats had submitted the applications for availing themselves of the loan for building houses to the District Planning Committees for approval. The government had given clearance for taking loans to 810 panchayats. Of them, 263 grama panchayats had availed themselves of the loan and 485 panchayats had distributed the first instalment to the beneficiaries