How Puducherry offers housing sites to homeless and underprivileged communities

Homeless SC families and other economically backward class people who meet the eligibility criteria are provided free housing sites to enable them to construct their own houses.

Homelessness continues to affect many economically weaker families across Puducherry, particularly those from scheduled caste and other backward class communities who lack the means to own even a piece of land to build a home on.

To address this, the Union Territory administration has, over the decades, run welfare schemes aimed at helping such families secure a site of their own. One such scheme is the Distribution of Free House Sites to Scheduled Caste/Other Economically Backward Classes, launched in 1981 by the Adi Dravidar Welfare Department, government of Puducherry.Under the scheme, homeless poor scheduled caste people and other economically backward class people who meet the eligibility criteria are provided free housing sites to enable them to construct their own houses.

Eligibility and documents required

The applicant must be a citizen of India and a native or permanent resident of the Union Territory of Pondicherry. The annual family income should not exceed Rs 24,000, and the applicant must be at least 18 years old. The applicant should be homeless, with no family member owning a house or house site, and must have a bonafide intention to construct a house within two years.Documents required include proof of identity, residence-cum-nativity certificate, income certificate, caste certificate, ration card for address proof, and certification from the revenue department stating the applicant's non-ownership of a house.

Application process

Interested applicants must visit, during office hours, the office or sub-office of the adi dravidar eelfare and scheduled tribes welfare department, and request a hard copy of the prescribed application form from the director, adi dravidar welfare department, Thattanchavady, Puducherry.The applicant should fill in all mandatory fields, paste a passport-size photograph (signed across, if required), and attach copies of all mandatory documents (self-attested, if required). The duly filled and signed form, along with the documents, should be submitted to the concerned authority, and a receipt or acknowledgment should be requested, containing essential details such as the date and time of submission and a unique identification number, if applicable.