2BHK housing scheme goes through the roof

​Hyderabad: The enormity of the project of constructing 2.62 lakh 2BHK houses in the state for SCs, STs and BCs is weighing heavily on the government, said Housing Minister A Indrakaran Reddy on Thursday. He said that building all the houses at one go was not possible and that the target would be completed in a phased manner.

Of the one lakh houses that the state government has to construct for beneficiaries in Hyderabad, only 572 had been completed, which is woefully short of the target, argued BJP member Dr K Laxman during question hour in the Assembly

Indrakaran Reddy, replying to the debate, said that at present work was in process in respect to 10,000 houses. “We have allocated Rs 345 crore,” he said but did not specify when they would be completed and was silent on the fate of houses promised for 1.62 lakh beneficiaries in rural areas in the state.

“We never said we will build all the houses – 1 lakh in Hyderabad and 1.62 lakh in rural areas in the state – before the completion of the present term.  They would be completed in a phased manner,” he said, admitting that it would not be possible for providing the houses to all the beneficiaries before the end of the TRS government’s term.

The BJP members said that wherever they were going, the people were asking for double bedroom houses, but the government was not taking steps to redeem its promise to the people. 

The minister, citing the reasons for the delay in the construction, said that because of the ongoing works related to irrigation projects in the state, contractors did not show interest in double bedroom houses. 

Later, the contractors were given free sand and cement at Rs 230 per bag. The cement price per tonne was Rs 50,000 but the government has brought it down to Rs 10,000 per tonne, he added. 

Regarding the Rajeev Swagruha houses, the minister said that the beneficiaries needs to pay 30 per cent of the cost of the houses and because of non-payment of the prescribed money, these were not handed over to them. 

He said that the government was proposing to take the burden of 30 per cent and allot them to the beneficiaries.  Regarding corruption in Indiramma housing scheme the minister said that the CID inquiry report was yet to submitted. The district Collectors have been asked to inquire and handover the houses to eligible beneficiaries. 

Regarding the houses of government employees at Bandlaguda and Pocharam, the minister said that the employees have stated that they would take possession only after the houses are constructed completely in all respects. Kishan Reddy said that the government was not making the CID report public because the Congress leaders who were involved in corruption in Indiramma scheme had joined TRS. The BJP leaders staged walkout from the House alleging inaction by the government on the irregularities.