2BHK beneficiaries rue delay in allotment

Secunderabad: few beneficiaries of 2BHK houses at Old Marredpally on Thursday staged a silent protest against the State government for not handing over the houses to them. They alleged that even though the Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation had completed the construction of 470 houses recently, it failed to hand over the houses to them.

The protesters said five years ago, the Corporation and the local leaders had convinced them to vacate the slum on the promise of providing double bedroom houses. Though houses were built, they were not handed over to them, they complained. "On officials' assurance, we vacated the houses five years ago. But after the completion of construction works, the 2BHKs were not handed over to us. Even officials are not responding to our pleas. Many a time, we have approached Secunderabad Cantonment MLA G Sayanna as these houses fall under Cantonment limits, but failed to receive any response. Vexed with the issue, we started the protest and this will continue till houses are handed over to us," said Ramani, a beneficiary.

Sujatha, another beneficiary lamented, "Though the GHMC completed construction of houses, it is yet to hand over them to us. For the last five years, I am forced to stay in a rented house. When the houses are ready, why the officials are delaying to hand them over? They keep on extending the dates whenever we press them for allotment. We will not stop this protest until the houses are allotted to us as promised."

On the condition of anonymity, a local leader, said that around 500 beneficiaries were identified for the 2BHK houses during a survey taken up during two phases and a list was prepared. But suddenly, officials concerned added more 226 beneficiaries to the list. "Once we get a clarification from Mandal Revenue Officer on the matter, houses will be hand over to the beneficiaries," he said.