No takers for YSR Nagar

Nellore: The substandard quality of construction of YSR Nagar is proving to be a big headache for the district administration. To date, more than 40 contractors have worked on the project which was initiated in 2008 at a cost of Rs 78 crore and ironically, some of the houses are yet to be completed.

Today, when the district administration is asking people who have encroached on the irrigation canals in the city to shift to YSR Nagar, they are refusing to do so as they are skeptical of the quality of the houses there.

Authorities started constructing 6,400 units at YSR Nagar at a cost of Rs 78 cr in 2008, but a majority of these houses were unoccupied by the selected beneficiaries due to second-rate quality of the units. The houses at YSR Nagar were constructed at a cost of Rs. 1.08 lakh per unit with the overall project housed in an extent of around 170 acres.

Recently, when a worker tried to fix a door in a house, the total wall of the house collapsed. In order to allay the fears of the people, officials are planning to carry out repair works at a cost of around Rs 60-70 lakhs in order to strengthen the weak portions of the houses.
People though are still skeptical as to whether even the refurbished structures can withstand heavy rains or any other disaster during the north-east monsoon and therefore unwilling to take a risk.

The Municipal Administration department had conducted a survey in the city after torrential rains last November that had resulted in flashfloods in slum areas of the city and found 4,800 families residing on irrigation canals in illegally constructed houses.

Municipal Administration Minister P Narayana had recently announced that the canal encroachers would temporarily be shifted to YSR Nagar and later, they would be permanently relocated to NJR colony where the State government had proposed to construct sharing-apartments at a cost of around Rs 6 lakhs per unit.

Nellore city MLA Dr Anil Kumar had also submitted a memorandum to the District Collector criticising the low quality houses in YSR Nagar with weak walls and fragile foundations and had appealed for new structures.

“Many people told us that the houses in YSR Nagar are of not good quality. If the government asks us to vacate this place (encroached) immediately, we will search for a rented house as the Mayor had promised us that the administration would bear the rent. We prefer to go directly to the new area in NJR Nagar having observed the quality of works there,” said K Ramanamma of Parameswari Nagar.