Tuesday, December 20 2005 15:52 Hrs (IST) - World Time -

Nagapattnam (TN): A large chunk of re-housing is yet to be done and rains have slowed down rehabilitation but despite the dampeners Tamil Nadu is looking towards slowly but steadily using post-tsunami reconstruction opportunity to 'revamp' its infrastructure.

In the worst-affected district of Nagapattinum, where over 6,000 people lost their lives a year ago, only 80 of the 17,460 destroyed houses have so far been restored and handed over to their inmates.

With the available funds the district administration is planning to bolster the rehousing process with 'more viable and better than before' technologies, Nagapattinum District Collector J Radhakrishnan told sources over phone.

"When we are rebuilding everything, we are keeping in mind the need to make all reconstruction better than before, more resistant to the vagaries of nature and more state-of-the-art," he said.

"As a result, all new hut clusters in affected villages will be earthquake resistant, with storm water drains and adequate sanitation facilities," he said, adding that the fishing infrastructure will also get a boost with construction of a new harbour before December end and a new 'fish landing centre' to replace the primitive one.

Meanwhile, Devanampattinum, a village in Cuddalore district will have the area's first sewage treatment plant, District Collector G S Bedi said.

"All new houses have a drawing, a bedroom, kitchen and a bath. Based on a mandatory Government directive, the houses are made earthquake resistant with either a brick and cement base or columns to support the structure," Bedi said, adding, "His district is taking advantage of the funds to even rejuvenate the existing infrastructure."

The Cuddalore district administration is also rebuilding some of the homes of the 'poorest of poor' Dalit and tribal fishing communities who have mostly a 'hand-to-mouth' existence in the state, Bedi said.

"The fishing community in Killai Mangrove forest areas had come with demands that some of their thatched huts that had been washed away needs to be rebuilt," he said adding that the Government is building almost 500 extra houses for the Irula community, the first such effort in the state, he claimed.

"After the tsunami it was believed that it would take almost two years for the fishing community to go back to sea. But we started fishing in the middle of April," Radhakrishnan said.

Echoing him, Bedi said, "Infact Cuddalore had a record turnover of catch in the month of July - August, almost five tonnes more than the pre-tsunami catch."

However, rains have definitely slowed down the rehousing as well as the fishing turnover of the state, they said.

"We were the first district to hand over the first batch of houses to the beneficiaries in Devanampattinam," Bedi said.

However, despite having handed over 400 houses in seven villages so far, the target of completing and shifting people to the rest 1500 homes would be over by Pongal festival in January, he said.

In Nagapattinum over 1800 houses are to be handed over by the end of the month and another 14,000 in various states of reconstruction would be over by late April, Radhakrishnan said.