Pucca houses for poor remain distant dream: Congress

Vijayawada: The State government did not complete even 10 per cent of the proposed housing for the poor in the last two years, said Andhra Pradesh Congress Committee president Dr Sake Sailajanath.

In a statement released from Andhra Ratna Bhavan here on Friday, the PCC chief said that the State government boasted that the house-warming function would be celebrated during Dasara. However, the construction remained at the foundation level, he said.

Recalling that it was during the Congress regime the Indiramma houses were built, he alleged that successive governments did not care to build houses for the poor.

Dr Sailajanath deplored that the YSRCP government was giving only Rs 30,000 for the construction of houses and that amount was also linked to the NREGA works. "In essence, the government was giving nothing for the housing."

The Centre provides funding for the housing in three phases—Rs 60,000 in the first phase, Rs 60,000 in the second phase and Rs 30,000 in the third phase—Rs 1.5 lakh. After the YSRCP government was formed in the State, the Centre released Rs 3,700 crore to the State government. However, the State government utilised only Rs 1,700 crore for housing and diverted Rs 2,000 crore to other schemes, he pointed out.

The PCC chief said that the State government has allocated funds in the budget and distributed house sites worth Rs 25,535 crore to 30.76 lakh people. The government has allocated Rs 5,661.57 crore in the budget and granted permission to build 10,11,006 houses. About 8.74 lakh houses remained at the foundation level and 81,467 houses completed the foundation stone level. Not even 10 per cent of the houses were completed, he said.

The government had made an empty promise that the TIDCO houses would be handed over to the beneficiaries with 15 days during Sravana Masam. He ridiculed the government that it was not in a position even to hand over the completed houses to the beneficiaries. He demanded immediate handing over of the completed houses if the government was committed.