The construction of about 1.5 lakh double bedroom houses will be completed in the next two months, said Housing Minister Prashant Reddy.
Telangana government launched the 2BHK houses programme in 2015 and sanctioned 2.83 lakh houses. Of that, tenders were called for two lakh houses and work started for 1.8 lakh houses. So far 40,000 units were completed and 1.5 lakh houses are nearing completion.
Responding to a query raised by Congress member T. Jeevan Reddy in the Legislative Council here on Thursday, Mr. Prashant Reddy said construction of houses was taken up wherever land was available. The houses would be given free of cost to the poor. The Centre’s Prime Minister’s Awas Yojana was linked to the State government’s programme but the guidelines for selection of beneficiaries were different under the Centre’s scheme.
While the State had spent ₹7,800 crore so far on 2BHK houses, Centre sanctioned only ₹1,311 crore. Over 17 per cent of the money was spent while the State share was ₹6,500 crore. The unit cost of 2BHK house was ₹5.04 lakh in rural areas, ₹5.3 lakh in municipalities and ₹7 lakh in Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation area and the share of Centre for these was 14 per cent, 28 per cent and 21 per cent respectively.
He said the construction of 2BHK houses in rural areas would be speeded up by giving incentives to contractors and an amount of ₹10,500 crore was allocated for the programme in the budget for2020-21. The government would also give financial assistance for one lakh houses if people have their own house sites.
The Minister said that incomplete Indiramma houses in the united State were verified by the Revenue department and two lakh houses were found to be belonging to genuine beneficiaries and funds would be released for their completion.
Encroachment at Gopannapalle
TRS member M.S. Prabhakar Rao said that government land under Survey No.127 belonging to Dalits was encroached by an MP and demanded action, including registering a case under SC,ST Atrocities Act and land should be recovered. The Minister said it would be taken to the notice of the government and action would be taken however influential a person might be.
Government already initiated action against encroachment of three acres of government land in Gandhamguda in Rangareddy district where 66 buildings were constructed and the Revenue department had issued notices. The issue was in High Court.