Kutch quake-hit to get temporary homes in their towns

Kutch quake-hit to get temporary homes in their towns
EXPRESS NEWS SERVICE

GANDHINAGAR, MARCH 3: With most of the 30,000 quake-hit families of the worst-affected four towns of Kutch rejecting the offer to relocate them, the state has announced a package to erect temporary shelters for them in their towns.

Temporary shelters will also be given to about 170,000 families in the rural areas of Kutch. Under the package, approved at the Cabinet meeting here on Friday, each of the families will be provided with two bags of cement, galvanised iron sheets and Rs 12,000 cash to construct shelters in the four Kutch towns of Bhuj, Anjar, Bhachau and Rapar. Besides, the state will also provide amenities such as electricity, drinking water and common toilet.

Announcing the much-awaited package at the post-Cabinet press conference, Chief Minister Keshubhai Patel said the exercise of constructing the temporary shelters in the four towns would be completed by March-end and Rs 48 crore would be spent on the exercise.

The state would allocate the vacant land opposite the railway station in Bhuj to 15,000 families to build the shelters. In Anjar, Bhachau and Rapar, as many as 7,000, 5,000 and 3,000 families would be covered under the temporary housing scheme. In Bhachau, the state roads and building department will erect shelters at four different sites.

When asked to comment on providing permanent houses, Patel said the state government was busy working out a long-term package. He asserted the state's decision to build 800,000 one-room pucca (permanent) houses in over 7,000 affected villages by June 30 would be implemented according to schedule.

Revenue Minister Vajubhai Vala, also present at the conference, conceded that most quake survivors in the worst-hit towns of Kutch were reluctant to be shifted to new sites. Almost all the victims in Rapar insisted on in-situ rehabilitation, seeking assistance under the temporary housing scheme and later to construct one-room permanent houses in the town itself. ``We have agreed to this,'' Vala said.

He added that those who were willing to move out of their respective towns and villages would be helped to do so by the state and NGOs.