Chief Minister Chandrababu Naidu has instructed officials to complete the construction of houses for all eligible poor by 2029. He directed that a total of 9 lakh houses should be completed in the next 2 years. He conducted a review of the Housing Department at the Secretariat.
After the review, Housing Minister Kolusu Parthasarathy said that since the coalition government came to power, the construction of 2.81 lakh houses has been completed so far. He said that plans are being made to complete 3 lakh houses by September 15 and to inaugurate them at the hands of the Chief Minister.
The minister revealed that a survey has identified that about 6 lakh people still have housing needs. He alleged that the previous YSRCP government had diverted about Rs. 3,000 crores received from the center for housing needs. He said that the vigilance investigation into the irregularities of the previous government has been completed and action will be taken against those responsible based on the report.
Urban Development Minister Dr P. Narayana lamented that the YSRCP had destroyed the TIDCO houses built with great ambition during the previous Telugu Desam government. He expressed anger that the previous government had committed irregularities by changing the rules and regulations, causing serious damage to the urban poor.
He accused the YSRCP of painting the houses they built and also passing those bills to the contractors. They also claimed that they did not know what was done with the funds by creating bills in the name of the house beneficiaries. He said that they had resumed the construction of houses while bearing the sins of the previous government.
Dr Narayana expressed anger that about Rs. 3666 crores, including pending bills and other things, had been burdened with about Rs. 5 thousand crores. Minister Narayana said that as per the CM’s orders that people should not be inconvenienced, we are moving forward towards providing justice to all the beneficiaries.
“We are taking steps to provide 2 lakh houses by Sankranthi together with Housing and TIDCO. We are trying to complete the remaining 5 lakh houses under PMAY in the second year. The Housing Department has already conducted a survey across the state. We have identified that six lakh people across the state are in need of housing”, said Parthasarathy.
“We have brought the financial irregularities of the previous government to the attention of the CM. The previous government diverted Rs. 2900 crore of central funds. This government has borne the funds diverted by the previous government. The beneficiaries faced difficulties due to the previous government’s reduction in unit prices,” he added.
