Puducherry Lieutenant Governor K. Kailashnathan and Chief Minister N. Rangasamy on Tuesday jointly inaugurated the disbursement of ₹1 lakh as first instalment of the integrated housing scheme to around 1,300 beneficiaries.
The AINRC-BJP government had decided to merge its housing scheme named after former Tamil Nadu Chief Minister K. Kamarajar with Centre’s Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana for providing enhanced financial assistance to beneficiaries from general and Scheduled Caste categories in the Union Territory.
As a sequel to the decision, the government decided to provide ₹5 lakh with Centre’s contribution of ₹2.25 lakh and the remaining ₹2.75 lakh given by the territorial administration to beneficiaries belonging to the general category. The first instalment of ₹1 lakh of the total ₹5 lakh was given to around 1,327 people residing in the four regions of Puducherry at a function held in Kamban Kalaiarangam.
The Chief Minister said the beneficiaries would receive the money .credited into their bank accounts on Wednesday. Recalling the launch of the Kamarajar Housing Scheme during his regime in 2003, Mr. Rangasamy said the programme was launched with a modest amount of ₹40,000 as government assistance for housing needs.
“In my subsequent tenures, the amount was raised to ₹50,000, then to ₹1 lakh, again to ₹2 lakh and now ₹2. 75 lakh. The government has decided to further enhance the allocation to general and SC categories. The Prime Minister’s scheme has further increased the assistance,” he said.
Around 2,000 people who had availed the scheme in 2003 had pledged their property documents to obtain the sum of ₹40,000. As some of them could not complete the construction work, the documents were still with the Housing Board. So, the government has decided to release the documents without collecting interest or penal charges from them, he said.
Referring to the Congress padayatra, the Chief Minister said, “they couldn’t do anything while in power and now they are walking on the streets levelling false charges. People know about who worked for them.”
The Lieutenant Governor urged the government to consider further improvement of the housing scheme. He suggested release of 10% of the total ₹5 lakh to the beneficiary before laying the foundation. Speaker R. Selvam and Minister for Public Works K. Lakshminarayanan participated.
Published – January 28, 2026 12:39 am IST
