2-BHK housing scheme, land for Dalits move at snail’s pace

​Hyderabad: The Telangana state government’s ambitious 2-BHK housing scheme and three acres of land for Dailts is moving at a snail’s pace. Out of the sanctioned 2.6 lakh 2-bedroom units, only 1,426 houses have been completed as on February 28 this year and 16,068 houses have been taken up for construction.

He attributed the slow pace of construction of houses to the poor response from the contractors. “The response from the contractors has not been encouraging as most of them are busy with Mission Bhagiratha, Mission Kakatiya and other irrigation schemes taken up by the government,” he said.

To encourage construction of 2-bedroom houses, the government is now supplying sand free of cost, said the Minister.

Apart from this effort, the government has entered into a MoU with 31 companies for the supply of cement at Rs 230 per bag as compared with the market price of Rs 320 per bag, he said. The selection of suitable sites by the District Collectors has almost been completed, he said.

With these proactive measures, the Minister claimed that the pace of tenders and construction had picked up in the last three months. He further said it would gain further momentum in 2017-18 financial year. The cost of construction would be met through extra-budgetry resources.

As regards the three acres land distribution to SCs, he admitted things were moving at a slow pace. He said before formation of state from 1972-2014 the total land purchased and distributed was only 1,242 acres and the expenditure incurred was Rs 73.66 crore. In contrast, after the formation of Telangana State, the government had distributed 9,664 acres to 3,671 Dalit families by spending Rs 406 crore.