Hyderabad: Following Chief Minister K. Chandrasekhar Rao’s instructions, the GHMC has prepared a report on the sanction of pending Rs 5,500 crore for the double bedroom housing project for urban poor in the city. The corporation says in the report that the government has to clear pending bills from July last year and they could deliver about 80 per cent of the project if Rs 3,500 crore is released immediately.
The corporation has constructed about 8,000 houses in in-situ slums, which are ready to be occupied and which will be inaugurated soon. However, work pertaining to about 80,000 houses has been running at snail’s pace since July last year since the government has not released a paisa since then.
Sources in the corporation said that the government has partially cleared bills generated in May and June. Sources said that Chandrasekhar Rao told the corporation to send a detailed report on the pending bills so that the amount may be allocated in the State Budget which will be finalised in a couple of days.
A senior GHMC official requesting anonymity said that the corporation would deliver about 80,000 houses by May if the government allocates Rs 3,500 crore in the Budget. He said that the corporation is under tremendous pressure from contractors to pay the dues as their labour costs are mounting though there has been no progress in the project since eight months.
“If delayed further the 2BHK project would fail miserably like the Rajiv Gruhakalpa scheme where the contractors left midway. We urge the government to release the funds in the interests of the public and contractors,” he added.
