Affordable Housing Scheme For Middle Class Families Soon: Ponguleti
Strict action was being taken to ensure corruption-free implementation, citing the suspension of nine panchayat secretaries and dismissal of two more over bribery complaints: Housing minister Ponguleti Srinivas Reddy
HYDERABAD: Housing minister Ponguleti Srinivas Reddy on Friday announced that the government will unveil a new affordable housing scheme for middle-class families within two months. He noted that the recalled that earlier Congress governments had created affordable housing colonies in Kukatpally, Baghlingampally and other areas, and introduced the Rajiv Swagruha scheme between 2004 and 2009 for middle-class homebuyers.
These initiatives were discontinued by the previous BRS government, resulting in a severe shortage of reasonably priced homes in major towns, Sriniavs Reddy told a press conference here. The Congress government would revive affordable housing through a fresh policy that will enable construction and sale of homes at prices below prevailing market rates.
Srinivas Reddy said the government had identified four locations along the Outer Ring Road where nearly 10,000 houses will be constructed at each site under the proposed middle-class housing scheme. The project would be taken up on a no-profit basis to ensure maximum benefit to families struggling with rising urban housing costs.
Simultaneously, a new Indiramma urban housing policy is being shaped to take up G+3 or G+4 housing for poorer sections in the areas where they currently reside.
He said houses-built decades ago under earlier Congress regimes at the Kukatpally Housing Board had deteriorated, prompting the government to consider replacing them with high-rise towers.
The housing department has also taken up the completion of the two-bedroom houses for poor left unfinished by the previous BRS government at a cost of ₹700 crore, besides spending ₹200 crore on amenities in these colonies.
The department has initiated steps to reclaim Housing Board land leased out or encroached upon, completing compound walls around 1,000 acres. Srinivas Reddy criticised the previous BRS government for scrapping the Housing Board and said the Congress government had restored the institution, filled vacant posts and streamlined operations to accelerate housing projects.
The Congress government has sanctioned nearly four lakh houses under the Indiramma Indlu scheme, with three lakh currently under various stages of construction. One lakh houses will be completed by March, and another two lakh by June.
The minister said strict action was being taken to ensure corruption-free implementation, citing the suspension of nine panchayat secretaries and dismissal of two more over bribery complaints. He added that pending cases of beneficiaries whose earlier Indiramma houses remained incomplete would be resolved through Cabinet decisions in the coming months.