By IANS
Mumbai : Maharashtra Chief Minister Vilasrao Deshmukh will Saturday hand over around 500 new houses in Puducherry built for victims of the 2004 Tsunami.
The project for constructing 1,668 houses in 12 districts of Puducherry will cost a little over Rs.650 million.
In the first phase, Deshmukh will hand over keys of 500 homes to beneficiaries in Virampattinam, Karikalmandu and Kilinjalmedu villages, according to Pravin Shirivastava, joint secretary, relief and rehabilitation of Maharashtra government.
He told IANS Friday that the colonies have been named after well-known heroes of Maharashtra like Chhatrapati Shivaji, Mahatma Phule and B.R. Ambedkar. Each home is built on an average 400 sq ft area.
Work is also progressing in eight other districts and another 1,000 plus homes will be ready by March. The construction contract has been undertaken by M/s Naadmuni Reddy & Sons while the project consultant is M/s Mahindra Consultancy.