Government to construct 25 lakh houses in next 4 years

Amaravati: The beneficiaries under the housing scheme have to reveal their religion along with caste and sub-caste in Andhra Pradesh.

The village and ward volunteers in the State have been asking the people to reveal their religion. AP government has been collecting the religion data of each family in the State in the ongoing YSR Navasakam.

The volunteers, who have been knocking at the doors of each house in the State since November 20, have been asking the public to reveal their religion. Even the beneficiaries are asking the government what is the need to collect religion information to provide house sites or houses to the poor.

They have been observing that knowing the eligibility of a poor on the basis of poverty index would be enough to provide the financial support or for implementing the welfare schemes. But, this is altogether a new trend in the State set by the government, they said.

On the other hand, the officials have been revealing that the religion data is required for three purposes - To include the beneficiaries in the religious minority category and to maintain the data of the beneficiaries of under the same head and for providing information to the minority welfare departments and other Constitutional bodies and committees.

Speaking to The Hans India, Ajay Jain, Principal Secretary, Housing Department, informed that to provide financial assistance for construction of a house, the government has to know the religion of the beneficiaries.

He explained that there are certain welfare schemes for the religious minorities and under these schemes the government will provide financial support.

Further he informed that so far they have identified more than 22.5 lakh beneficiaries under the housing scheme. By the end of the survey, the demand for construction of houses may cross 25 lakh, Ajay Jain opined. Within these 25 lakh beneficiaries, around 3 lakh beneficiaries are already living on illegally occupied lands.

The government will authorise them on the sites and will provide pattas. For the remaining roughly 22 lakh poor families, the State government will provide housing sites free of cost, which would be mortgaged for construction of their houses on the same land.

He said that construction of 25 lakh houses will be completed in the next four years and every year roughly 6 lakh to 7 lakh houses will be constructed. It is estimated that the government has to spend at least Rs 50,000 crore on this massive scheme.

Out of which, the State government is expecting financial support from the Central government to the tune of roughly Rs 30,000 crore and the remaining Rs 20,000 crore has to be spent from the State purse. Government has been searching for loans from different sources for funding the housing scheme, apart from allocations in the Budget.