Beneficiaries elated over CM’s word on paying bills

Anantapur: TDP government has embarked on rendering justice to the NTR housing beneficiaries of 2014-19. The new government had already declared that it would clear the overdues of the beneficiaries who built houses under the scheme during 2014-19.

The bills of hundreds of beneficiaries were not paid by the subsequent YSRCP government which ignored the commitment of TDP government to clear the bills. The fact is YSRCP government failed to clear bills of its housing beneficiaries during its own tenure due to precarious financial position of the state.

Recently, Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu held a meeting with housing officials and advised them to pay backlog payments to beneficiaries of 2014-19 housing scheme.

The Chief Minister also announced that the poor would get 2 cents of land for urban areas and 3 cents of land in rural areas. Contrary to YSRCP paying a mere Rs 1.70 lakh for Jagananna housing, Naidu announced that Rs 4 lakh will be paid for the new houses undertaken after the onset of new NDA government in the state.

The announcements made by the new government has been greeted by one and all. Clearing of dues for beneficiaries of erstwhile TDP government as well as doubling the payment for new houses has been hailed people irrespective of apolitical affiliations.

Sunitha, who could not get bills for her house built in 2015, is very happy at the Chief Minister’s announcement that all old housing bills would be cleared. Roughly the uncleared bills amount to Rs 37 crores in the district.

However, there is no assurance on unpaid housing bills of 2019-24 belonging to the tenure of Y S Jagan Mohan Reddy.

A housing beneficiary of a Jagananna housing colony Venkata Reddy commenting on Naidu clearing only TDP government’s pending bills, observed that it means the pending bills will not be cleared now. “It means only Jagan has to clear the housing bills when he returned as Chief Minister,” he sighed with disappointment.