Andhra Pradesh - Guntur   

A landmark, but no occupants spotlight

Photo: T. Vijaya Kumar

What next?: A stretch of greenery gives an aesthetic look to the Rajiv Gruha Kalpa project at Guntur. —

GUNTUR: Standing tall and stately amidst vast stretches of barren lands at Adavitakkelapadu village, the many housing blocks constructed under the Rajiv Gruha Kalpa housing project are a landmark in a city plagued by lack of housing facilities for its teeming working class.

Naturally, one expected the complex to be bustling with inmates, whose dreams of owning a house have finally been fulfilled. But a reality check at the complex revealed that after six months after its inauguration, none of the 1,088 beneficiaries have received the allotment letters from the Housing Board.

The Public Health department took nearly nine months to lay a 7.5 km drinking water pipeline to the housing complex and the works related to connecting the pipeline to the main pump-house have not been completed still. “It would take a couple of months to complete the work and provide water facility here,” said Public Health Superintendent Engineer P. Rama Rao. Construction of 1,088 flats in 34 blocks, each measuring 254 sq feet were completed by the Housing Board with an estimated cost of Rs.12.48 crore in March itself and after the GMC allotted the houses to the beneficiaries through a lottery system, the complex was inaugurated by the Chief Minister.

Power cables have been laid and ten 100 KV transformers have already been set up. A massive Elevated Service Reservoir (ESR) with a storage capacity of 3.5 lakh litres has been constructed and a Ground Level Reservoir, a sump with a capacity to store 5 lakh litres is nearing completion. Internal approach roads are being laid and works were in full swing to complete a Sewerage Treatment Plant (STP). “The GMC is committed to providing drinking water to the RGK housing scheme and a council resolution has already been passed. We will draw water from the second filtration plant to cater to the needs of the beneficiaries,” Municipal Commissioner Siddharth Jain told The Hindu on Monday. But more than the basic amenities, the continued reluctance of the bankers to provide loans (Rs.74, 250) to the beneficiaries have pegged the dreams of many. Most of the banks have not released the final instalment of the loan amount thus making it difficult for the housing board to give allotment orders. Amid this dilly-dallying, some of the beneficiaries under the impression that the Government would waive the loans, have not paid the money to the Housing Board.

For those beneficiaries who paid the full amount, the laxity on the part of Housing Board in dispatching the allotment orders was hurting. “We have not received the allotment order even after fulfilling all the conditions,” says G. Rani from Kothapet. Some of the addresses of the beneficiaries have still remained untraced and the Housing Board office at Vijayawada had sent back 160 such addresses back to Guntur.

“We are hoping that the beneficiaries would begin to occupy the flats within two months after the completing of drinking water pipeline works,” said G. Prasada Rao, Housing Board assistant executive engineer.

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