Reconstruction of earthquake damaged houses begins in Temi-Namphing

GANGTOK, 23 May: Temi Namphing MLA, BS Pant laid the foundation stone of Reconstruction of Earthquake Damaged Rural Houses [REDRH] at Namphing and Aifaltaar in a programme held on Tuesday. The constituency has become the first in the state to begin this scheme after the MLA laid the foundation stone for these two houses.
These houses are the first to be constructed in the state. The Chief Minister Pawan Chamling had earlier announced construction of pucca houses for the earthquake victims. A total of 14,000 houses will be constructed in the state under the Chief Minsiter Rural Housing Mission [CMRHM], Mukhya Mantri Awas Yojana [MMAY] and REDRH of which 911 houses will be constructed in South under the REDRH scheme, informed District Development Officer, Namchi.
The beneficiaries and stakeholders were later provided orientation at the conference hall of the Block Administration Centre [BAC], Temi Tarku. Mr. Pant, the areal MLA, chaired the programme who in his address expressed his gratitude to the Chief Minister for providing the highest number of benefits to his constituency. He urged the beneficiaries for their involvement in the construction process. “It is the Chief Minister’s dream to provide these houses to earthquake victims”, he said and informed that the construction will take place under the supervision of the department.
The DDO urged for quality based construction stating that every construction will be later audited by a Chartered Accountant and Social Audit. The construction will be checked from time to time by the district committee, he informed.
The Block Development Officer [BDO], Temi Tarku, SK Pradhan informed that in the first phase, 156 houses will be constructed in the constituency. “We have considered those houses which are fully damaged by the quake. Altogether, a total of 446 houses were fully damaged in Temi-Namphing”, he informed adding that every house will be constructed using retro fitting technique.
These houses will be earthquake proof and with the use of good technology and new design is being initiated in the state with central funding, it was added.
“As the damaged houses in the area are totally collapsed, we recommended REDRH to all for which Rs. 4,89,000 for each house has been allotted.  The selection of beneficiary was made through the Gram Sabha”, informed Mr Pradhan.
AE, Akash Gurung appealed to NGOs and social organizations for a helping hand and urged the use of quality materials in the construction of these houses.