State Highways Dept. constructs 41 new homes for Irular community near Arakkonam

Ranipet Collector S. Valarmathi inspects the construction site in Melpakkam village near Arakkonam town. 
| Photo Credit: Special Arrangement

Displaced Irular families near Arakkonam in Ranipet will soon get new homes as the State Highways Department is constructing 41 new houses in Melpakkam village near Arakkonam town. This comes after their free patta land, given by the State government, was acquired for the widening of Kancheepuram – Arakkonam – Tiruttani Road (SH 58).

The widening of the stretch is part of the Chennai – Kanyakumari Industries Corridor project under the East Coast Economic Corridor (ECEC) that aims to connect key coastal cities like Kolkata, Visakhapatnam, Chennai and Kanyakumari by the Central government. Ranipet Collector S. Valarmathi inspected the under-construction houses for Irulars in the village under the project.

“All these years, we lived under thatched roof. New concrete houses for us will end our ordeal,” said K. Durai, who belongs to the Irular community.

Stretch to be widened

Funded under the Asian Development Bank (ADB), the stretch is getting widened to a distance of 41.77 km between Kanchipuram and Tirutani at a cost of ₹359.06 crore since mid-2021. The existing lane will be converted into a 10-metre- wide two lane stretch with storm water drains, footpath, 18 small bridges and 124 culverts.

“It’s a special case as affected families are tribals. We are constructing houses for them on the alternative patta land identified by the district administration in the same village,” K. Mukundan, Assistant Divisional Engineer (ADE), State Highways (Arakkonam division), told The Hindu.

Of the total 41.77 km, 24 km of the stretch has been widened so far. Currently, widening work on Arakkonam Outer Ring road is being done where patta land of 41 Irular families was acquired a few months ago. Subsequently, work on new houses on the alternative sites was started.

Each house, built at a cost of ₹12.75 lakh, measures 355 sq.ft with a living room, bedroom, kitchen and attached toilets. A community hall with a seating capacity of at least 100 people and an anganwadi centre are also being built. To ensure safe drinking water for the families, an overhead tank (OHT) that has a capacity of 30,000 litres also forms part of the basic amenities for the displaced families. The pathways in the village are also being re-laid with bitumen for easy access to the village by ambulances during emergencies. The new houses will be ready by the end of December.