Revanth Reddy government has been locked up in dilemma over Indiramma houses as the Center rejected its list of 23 lakh beneficiaries stating that the survey was not conducted through the App it created and asked to resurvey as per guidelines prepared by the Center.
With this the standoff between the Center and the state governments has become tense over the implementation of the Indiramma scheme for houses for the poor in the state. The state government conducted a survey on about 30 lakh applications received for houses in rural areas and identified 23 lakh applicants as eligible, prepared a list and submitted it to the Central government.
However, the Center has decided that it will not take into account the survey conducted by the state government and that the survey should be conducted again based on the mobile application it created and submit the details. This has put the state government in a dilemma.
Re-surveying all lakhs of applications using the Central app is not feasible at this time. On the other hand, the government has already started construction of houses. If funds are received from the central government, the first installment of money will be given to the beneficiaries.
After almost a period of 12 years, the Congress government is ready to build houses for the poor in the name of Indiramma again in the state. In the past, during the rule of YS Rajasekhara Reddy, about 19 lakh Indiramma houses were built in Telangana. Now the state government has set a target of building about 20 lakh houses in the next four years.
It has decided to get as much funds as possible from the center for this. It has asked for sanction of 20 lakh houses under the Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana scheme. The center has not yet clarified how many houses it will sanction.
Moreover, it has made conditions that not a single house should go to the hands of the ineligible, that the rules finalized by the center should be strictly implemented, and that funds will not be given if it is found that houses have been sanctioned to the ineligible. The state government, which agreed to this, has alerted the officials to ensure that there is no room for irregularities. But now there is a problem in the survey itself.
The state government has requested that the survey be conducted considering the criteria determined by the center, and that there is no difference in the details, recognizing this and linking the list with the central government app. However, it is learned that the center is saying no.
It is reported that it has been clarified that there are no details like bank account, two-wheelers, tax payment in the applications, and that the list will not be taken without them. It is learned that these are not things that make a big difference, and the state government has again requested that those details will also be uploaded at the time of sanctioning the houses.
The center has finalized the unit cost for urban houses at Rs. 1.5 lakh. With this, the state government is trying to get as many houses as possible under the urban area account. However, the center has clarified that 4 percent of the urban houses sanctioned across the country will be given to Telangana. This is very low and the state has asked the center to increase the number further.
The unit cost for rural houses is Rs. 73,000. The state government has decided to provide financial assistance of Rs. 5 lakh per house. If assistance is not received from the center, the state will have to bear the entire funds. Official sources say that it will become a big burden.
