Adopted by CM, this village gets step motherly treatment

More than 200 villagers in Chinnamulkanoor of Karimnagar district who had demolished their houses to avail of the State government’s prestigious housing scheme are left in lurch as contractors are reluctant to build in houses

Chinnamulkanoor (Karimnagar): Even as claims of several government welfare schemes bringing smiles to millions of people in the State galore, with the old houses being demolished and without a proper shelter to live in, the residents of Chinnamulkanoor, the village which was adopted by none other than Chief Minister K Chandrashekar Rao, have been facing severe hardships.

The contractors’ reluctance to take up construction of double bedroom (2BHK) houses for an amount of Rs 5.4 lakh and continuous elections in the State were the main reasons for the prolonging plight of the homeless villagers.

As part of Haritha Haram programme, K Chandrashekar Rao visited the village on July 4, 2015 and announced to adopt it. Interacting with the villagers during the Grama Sabha on August 24, the Chief Minister promised to construct 2BHK to all homeless people, besides promising comprehensive development of Chinnamulkanoor of Chigurumamidi mandal.

With the officials’ ultimatum to the people to demolish their houses if they wanted to be included in the list beneficiaries, 461 people demolished their houses as against the proposed 654 houses. But the district administration had sanctioned houses to only 247 beneficiaries and 214 people are still waiting for their turn while living in makeshift sheds.

The district administration had invited bids for three times from interested candidates to construct double bedroom houses in Chinnamulkanoor but the contractors refused to take up the works for Rs 5.4 lakh, fixed by the State government for each house.In this regard, District Collector Neetu Kumari Prasad wrote a letter to the Chief Minister, who was supposed to organise a meeting with officials on February 2 to take a decision on the issue. The cost of the unit is likely to be enhanced to Rs 7 lakh, it is learnt.

On the other hand, K Chandrashekar Rao, who assured to lay foundation stone for double bedroom house in the village, could not spare time due to the recent by-poll for Warangal Parliament segment and the present Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation (GHMC) elections, a beneficiary, Paidipelli Thirupathi Gould told The Hans India.

Another villager Burra Rangaiah alleged that the district authorities, without any concrete plan, forced them to demolish their houses five months ago, which made them to stay in small shelters by leaving household articles in the open. Now, the officials were planning to lay internal roads before constructing houses, he alleged.

Village Panchayat Secretary E Venkatram Reddy said the houses’ construction had been delayed as contractors were not coming forward to take up the works. The construction would begin once the bidding process was completed, but unfortunately none came forward, he informed.