Nellore: TD and YSRC leaders are at loggerheads over the shear wall technology being used to build 25,000 houses for the homeless in Nellore city.
Reinforced concrete walls, known as shear wall, is being used for high rise buildings and earthquake prone areas. Moreover, it costs nearly Rs 2200 per sq. ft as against Rs 1000 per sq. ft in the conventional method of construction.
Pointing towards these factors, YSR Congress Nellore City legislator Dr P. Anilkumar Yadav has been questioning the rational behind using the costly technology in a place which has no history of earthquakes and when the buildings are not more than two floors.
He maintains that construction of houses for the poor with this technology will inflict financial burden on the beneficiaries. He has been daring TD member P. Narayana for an open debate on the subject.
The YSRC legislator is also alleging that the ruling party is keeping the beneficiaries in the dark over their share of '3 lakh to '6.94 lakh basing on the size of the house, which should be paid in equal monthly installments.
“When the Telangana government is giving houses measuring 560 sq. ft worth Rs 5.30 lakh free of cost, why is the TD government charging for the same.
They can construct low cost houses or allot small pieces of land to enable beneficiaries to build their own house. But, they are not doing this because they have their eyes on large scale kickbacks,” Dr Anil Kumar alleged.
He has been suggesting the beneficiaries not to opt for the houses for the next 15 months while assuring that the best quality houses will be provided after they come to power. However, TD leaders have been questioning his knowledge on the subject and ridiculing him for raising unnecessary issues.
Mayor S.K. Abdul Aziz said the houses with shear wall technology will last for over a 100 years unlike conventional houses. Stressing that they can save a lot of time in building the house, he claimed that the contract has been bagged by the popular firm, NCC and they have been gearing up to allot 1000 houses by January next year.
He struck down the allegations over keeping the beneficiaries in the dark on their share of construction cost while pointing to the details available in the applications.
