The move comes at a time when the ED and the CBI are investigating the alleged irregularities in the project.
Housing complex constructed as part of Life Mission in Kerala. (twitter)
The LDF government in Kerala on Saturday, 8 April, handed over house keys to homeless people in four districts under its flagship “LIFE Mission” project.
“Project LIFE” (Livelihood, Inclusion, and Financial Empowerment) envisages making Kerala a “zero-homeless” state by providing a home to homeless and landless people.
As many as 174 financially backward families in Kannur, Kollam, Kottayam and Idukki districts are the beneficiaries, official sources said.
Each flat in the four housing complexes comprises a hall, two bedrooms, a kitchen, bathroom and balcony, they said.
“The LDF Govt in Kerala is ensuring #HousingForAll! Today, inaugurated 4 housing complexes, fulfilling the dream of 174 families. Through the #LifeMission over 3,40,040 beneficiaries have already received houses. 1,06,000 more houses will be completed this year,” Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan said in a tweet.
While Vijayan handed over house keys to 44 families in Kadambur near Kannur, Ministers KN Balagopal and J Chinchurani gave away the keys to beneficiaries at Punalur in the southern Kollam district.
Ministers VN Vasavan and Roshi Augustine distributed the house keys in Vijayapuram in Kottayam and Karimannoor in Idukki districts, respectively.
The LDF Govt in Kerala is ensuring #HousingForAll! Today, inaugurated 4 housing complexes, fulfilling the dream of 174 families. Through the #LifeMission over 3,40,040 beneficiaries have already received houses. 1,06,000 more houses will be completed this year. pic.twitter.com/fdzDwQ3bq4
— Pinarayi Vijayan (@pinarayivijayan) April 8, 2023
During the function, the chief minister said the Life Mission project has received widespread acceptance from all walks of life in the society. Over 3.40 lakh families have so far received houses through the project, and the construction of over 50,000 houses has been completed in the last financial year alone.
“At present, the construction of as many as 64,585 houses is progressing in various stages across the state under the LIFE Mission project. In the present financial year, as many as 71,861 will be constructed under the initiative,” the chief minister detailed.
The four housing complexes inaugurated on Saturday, were completed as part of the 100-day programme commemorating the second anniversary of the Vijayan government.
The CBI had in 2020 filed an FIR in a Kochi court under Section 120B of the Indian Penal Code and Section 35 of FCRA related to the LIFE Mission on a complaint by the then Wadakkanchery Congress MLA, Anil Akkara, listing Santosh Eappen, managing director of Unitac Builders & Developers, Kochi, as the first accused and Sane Ventures as the second accused.
The two companies had undertaken construction of houses based on an agreement entered with them by Red Crescent, an international humanitarian movement, which had agreed to provide ₹20 crore towards the LIFE Mission project.
Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan’s additional private secretary CM Raveendran appeared before the Enforcement Directorate (ED) on 7 March, which has been probing an alleged violation of the Foreign Contribution (Regulations) Act in LIFE Mission.
The agency had earlier asked Raveendran to appear before it on 27 February, but he cited official duties for not appearing on that day.
Earlier, a few media houses had released the suspected chat between Raveendran and the prime accused in the controversial gold smuggling through the UAE consulate case, Swapna Suresh.
The agency has earlier arrested the former principal secretary to the chief minister, M Sivasankar, over his alleged involvement in the case.
The central agency had, on 18 February, interrogated UV Jose — the former CEO of the LIFE Mission project — in connection with its probe.
Congress has been alleging that there was corruption involved in the selection of the contractor by Red Crescent.
The alleged FCRA violation and corruption in the project had snowballed into a major political issue at the time with Opposition parties charging that Swapna Suresh — the prime accused in the gold smuggling through diplomatic baggage case — had admitted before an NIA court that she had received ₹1 crore as commission from the project. She had reportedly claimed that the money was meant for Sivasankar.
However, the LIFE Mission CEO had submitted before the court that Unitac and Sane Ventures had undertaken the construction based on the agreement entered into with them by Red Crescent and had directly accepted foreign contributions from Red Crescent, which is a foreign agency.
The CEO has also contended that the companies which signed an agreement with the Red Crescent do not come under the categories of persons prohibited from receiving any foreign contribution as per Section 3 of FCRA.
The development began soon after the massive Kerala floods of 2018 when the UAE Red Crescent came forward, offering to sponsor a project to build 140 housing units for the flood-affected people of Wadakkanchery.
There were hardly six flood-affected families in Wadakkanchery. And choosing the constituency that the CPI(M) won in the 2021 state election to implement the project, as well as the preparation of the list of beneficiaries based on their affiliation to the ruling party, had generated much controversy in the beginning.
Anil Akkara, the Congress leader who lost the 2021 election, then approached CBI, alleging a violation of FCRA norms in implementing the project with bogus beneficiaries.
“Wadakkanchery was not affected badly by the floods. All six families who lost their homes and livelihood have been rehabilitated using other funds. I approached the CBI knowing very well that the project was a scam to benefit some CPI(M) leaders,” Anil Akkara told South First.
Now, with the ED contending that a commission of ₹4.5 crore was given to politicians and government officials out of the ₹20 crore awarded by the UAE Red Crescent, Akkara feels vindicated.
While investigating the earlier, sensational gold smuggling case involving Swapna Suresh, Sivasankar, and others, the central agencies had detected ₹1 crore in a bank locker jointly held by Swapna and a chartered accountant said to be close to the IAS officer.
Investigations revealed that the money was transferred from the account of one Santosh Eapen, the contractor of the flats project at Wadakkanchery.
The ED says the total amount of kickbacks in the project was almost ₹5 crore, and that ₹4 crore of this had already been converted into dollars and smuggled out of the country.
ED believes the ₹1 crore found in Swapna’s locker was the amount the contractor gave to Sivasankar, who was the principal secretary to the chief minister, other than heading the LIFE Mission project.
Sivasankar had also received an expensive mobile phone from Eapen, according to the ED, and awarded the project to Eapen’s Unitac Builders & Developers to facilitate the scam.
On her part, Swapna Suresh has said the remaining ₹4 crore was smuggled out of the country by the chief minister’s family for investments abroad.
(With PTI inputs)
