The housing problems of people, especially those who commute on a daily basis to the city from faraway places, could now relax with the State Housing Board’s (KSHB) innovative rental housing scheme named as ‘ Athani ,’ now ready for launch at Kovoor in the city.
K.M. Mani, Minister for Finance, Law and Housing, will inaugurate the 40 flats constructed under the Athani scheme at the Irangadanpalli Road near Kovoor in the city on Tuesday.
The Minister will also hand over the keys to the new tenants of the apartments each comprising a bedroom, a visitors’ room, kitchen, and a bathroom (a total 31.87 square metre) on the occasion.
For the BPLThe project is chiefly meant to make low-cost housing facility on rent available to the people in the below the poverty line (BPL) category, especially those who are forced to travel long distances to the city from their homes and back on a daily basis in the absence of a proper accommodation facility for them here.
Eligible occupants were selected after scrutinising their merits. Initially the flats will be given for a period of 11 months, which can be extended to a maximum of 33 months later.
Besides service charge and service tax, an amount of Rs.1,000 will be charged from each tenant for one month. The occupants would also have to pay an initial amount of Rs.6,600 as security to avail themselves of the facility, said a release from the executive engineer of the project. An allotment committee comprising the District Collector, representatives of the Housing Board, Social Justice Department and the Labour Ministry, besides the ward councillor, has prepared a list of eligible occupants from which as many as 40 tenants were selected by draw of lots.
The inaugural ceremony at 10 a.m. will be presided over by MLA A. Pradeep Kumar. Mayor A.K. Premajam, M.K. Raghavan MP among others will attend the function.