VIJAYAWADA: Opposition Leader N Chandrababu Naidu on Thursday appealed to Chief Secretary Nilam Sawhney to order a thorough inquiry into the multiple instances of corruption in the name of house sites for the poor.

In a letter to the Chief Secretary, Naidu alleged multi-crore scams were being committed under houses for the poor by making the government pay an inflated cost to buy unfit land and loot public money in the name of levelling, layout making and filling the acquired land with soil.

“It is a pity that the government is acquiring land belonging to the poor, marshland, wetland, low-lying land, mangroves and forest land though they are not suitable for house sites,’’ he said. 

Citing an instance, Naidu alleged that the government was embroiled in a scam of over Rs  500 crore in acquiring and levelling over 600 acres of marshland at Burugupudi village in EG. 

The land was acquired at an inflated cost of Rs  45 lakh per acre, totalling Rs  270 crore. The amount required to increase the altitude of the land cost another Rs  250 crore.