Receding Shores, Reclaiming Homes

• Staff Reporter

 

Kerala’s coastal resettlement project shifts vulnerable familie s, ensuring safety from sea erosion with government-funded housing solutions.

Punargeham, one of the major housing projects under Kerala’s Fisheries Department has provided the muchneeded reassurance to more than 9000 families living in precarious conditions along the coastline. The project has been instrumental in moving people living within 50 metres of the high tide line to safer inland areas, protecting them from sea erosion and rising tides. The larger goal is to resettle 22,174 such families from the dangerous 50-metre coastal zone to safer inland areas.

As of now, 9,104 families have shown willingness to move. Out of these:

• 2,878 families have been fully resettled

• Housing has been confirmed for 5,361 individuals

• 4,421 families have found suitable land and received district-level approval

• 3,835 families have completed the land registration process

• 3,743 families are yet to find land and begin their resettlement process

• 568 families are about to start construction

• 779 houses are currently under different stages of building

Under Punargeham, families are offered different options for relocation. They can either:

• Build individual homes on land they find themselves

• Form groups to jointly buy land and build apartment complexes

• Move into flats built by the government on public or acquired land.

Each beneficiary can receive up to Rs. 10 lakh in financial aid to support their relocation and home construction. In a later update to the scheme, the government included 355 families who already own land more than 200 metres away from the tide line but are currently living within the danger zone. These families, listed in the official survey, are now eligible for 4 lakh each from the original project fund. This large-scale project has a total approved cost of Rs.2,450 crore. The main responsibility for running the scheme at the state level lies with the Project Implementation Unit (PIU). Of the total funds, Rs.1,398 crore comes from the Chief Minister’s Distress Relief Fund, while Rs.1,052 crore comes from the state department’s regular budget.

 

Completed housing projects have already been handed over in several areas:

• Karode (128 units) and Beemapally (20 units) in Thiruvananthapuram • QSS Colony (114 units) in Kollam • Ponnani (128 units) in Malappuram Other projects are ongoing, including: • 804 flats across Muttathara Phase II, Kadakampally, Valiyathura, Mannumparam, Ponnani, Niramruthur, West Hill and Koyippadi.