Amaravati: Sajjala slams Naidu for obstructing housing project

Amaravati: Government Advisor (Public Affairs) Sajjala Ramakrishna Reddy criticised Opposition leader Chandrababu Naidu for hampering the prestigious housing project and stated that government shall approach a divisional bench for further proceedings.

Speaking to the media here on Monday, he said that the TDP leaders were making cheap politics and were obstructing the housing scheme with sheer jealousy and unrest. He lamented that some political forces were committing atrocities and even using the courts for their own selfish interests. Asserting that justice would prevail, he said that 31 lakh poor families in the State were homeless and the construction of houses was aimed at providing a shelter as an asset to the poor.

He clarified that the government was not violating any rules and stated that the entire housing project meets the norms of National Building Code (NBC). Drawing comparison with previous governments, he said that the plinth area of Indiramma houses was 215 sq ft, while during TDP rule they were of only 224 sq ft, but the current government has been constructing houses in 340 sq ft. As per NBC, the minimum plinth area required to take up construction is 221.9 sq ft, however the State government was constructing houses in more than the minimum plinth area.

As per the house sites are concerned, Sajjala said that the government was providing house sites of 31.72 sq mt, where in other States like Arunachal Pradesh is providing house sites of only 25 sq mt, in Uttar Pradesh it is 27.1 sqmt, in Odisha it is 28.07 sq mt, Tamil Nadu 28.05 sq mt, Jharkhand 28.42 sq mt and Jammu Kashmir 29.5 sq mt as house sites for the poor. He said that Chief Minister Y S Jagan Mohan Reddy has taken this initiative as a mission to fulfill the dream of poor in owning a house and started the construction of 15.6 lakh houses duly meeting all the required standards.

He said that the previous TDP government had mooted construction of houses in just 220-300 sqft under TIDCO project which is a three-storey building. Although the State government is constructing independent houses in 340 sq ft, the opposition has been stalling the project citing environmental impact. He questioned Chandrababu Naidu why he didn't speak on environmental impact during his term while he has been constructing houses in much lower plinth areas and slammed him for making cheap politics by using courts. He said that Naidu was hatching such conspiracies against the government as he couldn't win in open elections.