Chief minister Jayalalithaa on Thursday announced construction of 36,000 houses for police, fire and rescue, and prison personnel by Tamil Nadu Policing Housing Corporation (TNPHC) under the ‘Own Your House’ scheme.
In a suo motu statement in the Assembly, she gave orders to construct the flats and 10 acres of land would be allocated in each district headquarters besides 100 acres in Melakottaiyur in Kancheepuram district.
Under the scheme, constables, head constables, firemen, senior firemen and assistant station officers will get 650 square feet houses, while sub inspectors, inspectors, station officers and assistant divisional officers would get 850 sq ft.
The sub inspectors and division fire officers would get 1,100 sq ft houses that would be built by TNPHC on profit basis.
The chief minister said the scheme would be implemented from this year on the basis of applications received from beneficiaries and choice of their locations. They could buy the flats either on outright purchase basis or through monthly instalment.
She said through this initiative the grievance of the police personnel that they could not own a house would be addressed and they would be able to continue their people’s service with full commitment.
While welcoming the CM’s announcement, members of various political parties asked the government to extend the scheme for prison police.
Immediately, CM made an announcement accepting their demand. She said prison police could also avail of the services from the duty free canteen following demand made by CPI (M) floor leader A. Soundararajan.