Housing for the Poor (Amrita Kuteeram) and Slum improvement program
AMRITAKUTEERAM PROJECT - Free homes for the thousands
of poor and needy.
As an expression of her infinite compassion, Amma has been providing
homes to the homeless and the destitute in Kerala since 1987. Moved
by the plight of the homeless all over the country, Amma, later,
launched the unique, and massive Amritakuteeram project in 1996
for building 25,000 houses for the homeless. Putting the project
in place and identifying the beneficiaries, took almost 18 months.
The Prime Minister of India, Shri. Atal Behari Vajpayee, handed
over the keys for the first 5000 houses in 1998. Since then, 30,000
houses have been built all over India. This was possible only with
the support of various State Governments, active and selfless participation
of the disciples, devotees, students of Amrita Institutions, and
well wishers. The contribution from the International community,
particularly the students from Japan has been significant.
 Talking
about the first phase of the Amritakuteeram project, Jayashankar,
a project co-odinator reports, "The local people didn't have
faith in Amma. But the devotees there were very enthusiastic. They
were mostly local ladies. Imagine 30-40 women labouring hard to
lay bricks! They wanted to prove sceptics wrong. Their actions seemed
to proclaim 'This is our Amma. This is what she does.' Many elderly
women also wanted to help, so we asked them to come and chop vegetables
and make kanji (rice gruel), and serve food to the people who were
working."
In 2002, after successfully reaching the goal of building 25,000
homes, Amma announced the expansion of this outreach program. She
announced the new goal to build 100,000 homes within the next 10
years.
As of January 2007, the M.A.Math has successfully
completed 30,000 homes and has further expanded the new goal to
125,000 homes.
The Amritakuteeram project has expanded and encompassed cities
not only in Kerala but several other Indian states. Residents from
Hyderdabad, Chennai, Bangalore, Mysore, Panagudi, Rameswaram, Ghaziabad
are just some amongst the many that have been benefited from Amma's
free housing project..
To get a glimpse of Amma's Amritakuteeram project:
International Volunteers
Brief report from the Amritakuteeram projects in:
Ajanta Nagar, Pune
Chennai
Hyderabad
Mysore
Panagudi
Vanchiyoor
Ghaziabad
Gujarat
SLUM IMPROVEMENT PROGRAM:
Thousands of slum dwellers who live below poverty line, without
proper shelter and sanitation have been given a life and home through
this program of the M.A.Math
So far, this program has successfully provided
newly built apartments to 1600 slum dwellers.
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