MCT readies thousands of houses for poor

- Housing Colony coming up at Vikruthamala, 20 km from Tirupati
- Allotment of houses to the beneficiaries through lucky dip will start from March, says MCT commissioner
- Government housing scheme is a boon to the homeless poor: Social activist Kalavathi

“We both toil all the day to get Rs 7,000 monthly in which we pay Rs 2,500 for house rent with no water. To have a house with all facilities, we have to pay Rs 5,000 to Rs 6,000 which we cannot afford. Our ordeal is going to end soon with our long cherished desire of a shelter at housing colony,” Susheela averred

Tirupati: EC Devi turned a bit emotional on seeing a house in the Vikruthamala Housing Colony, 20 km from the city. The forty-year-old home maker, one of the beneficiaries of the State housing schemes, out of curiosity came all the way from the city to the housing colony to have a glimpse of the houses built for the homeless poor of the pilgrim city. Devi said that her husband ER Chandrasekhar is a private electrician and earns monthly Rs 10,000.

“We have to pay Rs 3,000 as monthly rent to the house we are living in Korlagunta locality apart from meeting water and electricity charges and also education of two daughters-one studying MBA and other degree. We are from the city, born and brought up here, living in a rented house since 25 years of our marriage. We dreamt of a own home but never thought we could realise it with our limited financial resource till the allotment of the house came after 15 years of several attempts,” she said in a moving tone.

The case of Susheela (50) another beneficiary whose husband Ramaiah (55) eking out a livelihood as scrap vendor is more pathetic. They were living in a house in slum area located in Sanjay Gandhi Colony, paying Rs 2,500 devoid of facilities while their two children married living separately. “We both toil all the day to get Rs 7,000 monthly in which we pay Rs 2,500 for house rent with no water. To have a house with all facilities, we have to pay Rs 5,000 to Rs 6,000 which we cannot afford. Our ordeal is going to end soon with our long cherished desire of a shelter at housing colony,” she averred.

There are hundreds of such people living in sub-human conditions in the pilgrim city unable to afford a decent house with their meager earnings where house rent is much more compared to other urban areas. Taking advantage of the demand for the houses in the city rapidly growing with the pilgrim economy the house owners are collecting exorbitant rents leaving the poor and middle class people in lurch. Further, the government housing programme for poor is in limbo for the past 8 years which has added more to their agony. It was in 2009 about 1,000 houses were last allotted under the government scheme to the city poor in Damineedu while the massive housing programmes were taken up under Basic Services for Urban Poor of Jawaharlal Nehru National Urban Renewal Mission (JNNURM) for construction of 7,416 houses in Avilala, Tanapalli, Padipeta and Damineedu in 2009. But, it was in a limbo due to cost escalation.

Against the gloomy back drop, the MCT made renewed efforts to complete the construction of pending houses taken up under the JNNURM and also another 1,800 houses taking the total to 9,216 in two phases under the State government housing programme in Vikruthamala, after TDP came to power. Speaking to The Hans India, MCT commissioner V Vinay Chand said that it was the major achievement of the corporation and a hall mark of his service here as a commissioner. In a determined bid, the corporation revised the estimates and got additional funds from the government which saw the construction of all the pending houses being completed.

He said that allotment of houses through lucky dip to the beneficiaries will start from March and April and will go on till June providing the houses to the homeless poor. A social activist Kalavathi said the government housing is a boon to the poor as the beneficiary has to pay only Rs 75,000-Rs 1 lakh depending on the schemes with initial payment Rs 20,000-25,000. The remaining cost of each house will be borne by the Centre (Rs 1.5 lakh) and State government (Rs 1 lakh) as a subsidy. In other words, just paying Rs 1,000 per month for about five or six years, the poor become proud owners of a dream house.

G Sridhar