Amaravati: Minister Buggana Rajendranath Reddy denies graft in land acquisition

Amaravati: The State government targeted to complete construction of 30 lakh houses for the poor across the State in five years.

Finance Minister Buggana Rajendranath Reddy came down heavily on the Opposition for making false allegations over the acquisition of land.

Addressing a press conference at the Secretariat on Friday, the Minister said that the State government was going ahead with land acquisition for housing in a transparent manner as per the Land Acquisition Act.

"The market value of the land is Rs 7 lakh per acre and as per the guidelines of the Act, we are subjected to pay around Rs 43 lakh. Since we need a large piece of land at a single identified space for building colonies, we offered to pay Rs 45 lakh. But Opposition leader Chandrababu Naidu is stating that we can get land within Rs 10 lakh and we are ready to accept it for that price if he can provide."

The Minister further said that the TDP members were making false allegations of corruption against the government stating that attempts were being made to sell houses.

"There is no scope for us to sell the houses as only 29 lakh people have applied for houses, while the State government is on a mission to provide 30 lakh houses to the poor. During the TDP rule in all five years, only 7.5 lakh houses including those with Union government grants have been constructed and handed over to the beneficiaries and it has also failed to clear dues of Rs 4,300 crore to the Housing Corporation and TIDCO," he said.

During YS Rajasekara Reddy regime, almost over 24 lakh houses have been constructed. But Naidu was making false claims that he had completed construction of over 9.1 lakh houses and issued pattas to the people.

Chief Minister Jagan Mohan Reddy clearly told officials that every eligible person should be benefited from the government initiative and not leave any single person.

Meanwhile, refuting the allegations made by senior TDP leader Yanamala Ramakrishnudu on the State government taking Rs 80,000 crore loan, the Minister said that the State government is only allowed to take the loan as per the FRBM limits and Rs 80,000 crore loan was highly impossible.

"We advise the Opposition leaders not to go on making false allegations and confuse the people. As per the FRBM limits, during 2018-19 financial year, a loan of Rs 38,251.05 crore has been taken while in the current year, as the revenue of the State increased the loan was also increased to Rs 45,552 crore. Everything is being done as per the stipulated guidelines but the Opposition members were making unnecessary controversies over every issue," he said.