When a majority of landowners would think of myriad ways to monetise it or of acquiring more cents, Panniyode Sukumaran Vaidyar thinks of making it useful for others.
Now, he has donated 2.67 acres of land to the State government’s ambitious Livelihood, Inclusion, Financial Empowerment (LIFE) housing project, which has been facing a shortage of land in many areas for construction of flats.
Hailing from Poovachal in the capital district, the traditional healer who runs a clinic in the region has been known to offer his treatment for free or at a nominal cost.
The Poovachal grama panchayat authorities were on the lookout for land for the construction of the next phase of houses under the LIFE project when they got the surprising offer from Vaidyar.
“Under the project, we had identified 116 families in the panchayat who were homeless and landless. We had completed houses for 36 of these families in the first phase. But we were struggling to find land for the second phase when we heard that he was intending to build houses for the poor. A team from the panchayat visited his house and told him about the LIFE project. After reading the circular about the project, he said he was willing to donate 2.67 acres of land for the purpose. Now, we would be able to accommodate all the remaining 80 families in flats to be built here,” says K.Ramachandran, Poovachal panchayat president.
The land registration in the panchayat secretary’s name was done last Friday. The work on the flats is expected to begin soon.
“He runs the Janaki memorial trust, in his mother’s name, which has been funding education for several students over the past many years,” says Mr.Ramachandran.
