In Sri Lanka, foundation stone was laid for building 4 thousand houses under the third phase of the Indian Housing project in the Central province today. The foundation stone was jointly laid by Indian High Commissioner YK Sinha, and Sri Lanka's Minister of Hill Country New Villages, P Thigambaram, at Dunsinane Estate in the hill district of Nuwara Eliya.<br/><br/>The houses will be constructed by India for the families of Indian-origin plantation workers of hill districts of Sri Lanka. The houses are part of the 50 thousand houses that India has committed to build in the country under the fully-funded Indian development cooperation project.<br/><br/>According to the Indian High Commission, the houses will be constructed through the Estate Workers Housing Cooperative Societies in consultation with the beneficiaries. The beneficiaries will be selected through a transparent and norm-based process on the basis of clearly defined and objective criteria.<br/><br/>Minister of National Co-existence, Dialogue and Official Languages, Mano Ganesan and State Minister of Education, V.S. Radhakrishnan were also present on the occasion.