Minister Ponguleti: 2.90 Lakh Indiramma Houses out of 3 Lakh Grounded Under Phase-1

Hyderabad: Housing minister Ponguleti Srinivas Reddy on Friday said the Congress government had sanctioned three lakh houses under Phase-I of the Indiramma housing scheme, of which nearly 2.90 lakh houses had been grounded and around 50,000 completed, with beneficiaries performing housewarming ceremonies. He said over two lakh houses were in different stages of construction and would be completed within two months. The minister also announced that Phase-II of the scheme would be launched in Adilabad district on June 2.

Addressing a review meeting held at the Telangana Housing Corporation headquarters with public representatives and officials of the erstwhile Khammam and Warangal districts, Srinivas Reddy said Telangana had become a model for the country by providing financial assistance of `5 lakh with 100 per cent subsidy for construction of houses for the poor, something no other state had done. He stated that 3,500 houses had been sanctioned for each Assembly constituency, while additional houses were allotted for constituencies falling under ITDA areas.

Srinivas Reddy said the housing programme would continue through third and fourth phases until every eligible beneficiary was covered. He added that beneficiaries who had received financial assistance of up to `20,000 under the Indiramma housing scheme of the undivided Andhra Pradesh government would be eligible for new Indiramma houses.

The minister directed officials to clear pending bills of beneficiaries who had constructed houses exceeding 600 square feet in Indiramma pilot villages. He instructed forest officials and Singareni Collieries management not to obstruct poor beneficiaries constructing Indiramma houses in place of their existing huts by claiming ownership of land. He also asked district collectors to ensure that there were no hurdles from revenue or police departments in transporting soil from tanks and ponds for laying house basements.

Stating that large extents of land distributed to the poor during the tenure of Chief Minister the late Y.S. Rajasekhar Reddy were still available, Srinivas Reddy directed collectors to identify such land parcels and prepare proposals for their utilisation. He said the review meetings were being conducted district-wise to obtain feedback from public representatives on welfare programmes and revenue-related issues and to resolve constituency-level problems immediately. He said necessary modifications would be incorporated in Phase-II of the Indiramma housing scheme based on suggestions received from elected representatives.

The minister placed responsibility on district collectors to complete beneficiary selection for all under-construction 2BHK housing units by the end of this month. He also instructed officials to immediately complete basic infrastructure facilities such as electricity, drinking water and drainage in double-bedroom housing colonies and speed up pending works through beneficiary associations by taking towers as units in under-construction colonies.

Srinivas Reddy directed officials to ensure free sand supplied to Indiramma housing beneficiaries was made available from nearby areas as far as possible. Referring to large tracts of forest land and long-pending boundary disputes between revenue and forest departments, particularly in Khammam and Warangal districts, the minister called for joint surveys by both departments to arrive at permanent solutions. He also ordered surveys using recently procured rovers to resolve disputes involving patta lands, revenue and forest boundaries.