The Hindu : Andhra Pradesh / Hyderabad News : Village panels to monitor ‘Indiramma’

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Village panels to monitor ‘Indiramma’

Staff Reporter

Minister orders inquiry into irregularities
IHS pending bills will be released within a month

HYDERABAD: Village level monitoring committees would soon be appointed for effective implementation of Indiramma Housing Scheme (IHS), said Minister for Housing C. Shilpa Mohan Reddy on Friday.

During surprise visits to Khambhalapalli and Suraram villages in Medak district to scrutinise the execution of IHS, the Minister said checking corruption, quick release of funds to beneficiaries and meeting the scheme’s annual targets as his immediate priorities.

“There have been several allegations of corruption and 30 lakh more houses to be completed in coming years,” said Mr. Reddy. The visit to Khambhalapalli seemed to have yielded desired results as villagers brought out an important lacuna in the IHS to the Minister’s notice.

Most the IHS houses in the village have roofs of asbestos sheets and tiles and thus cannot be considered ‘pucca house’. The scheme defines ‘pucca house’ as one roofed with cement slab. These beneficiaries had to lose about Rs.9,000 out of the total grant Rs.34,250 as they failed to meet the scheme’s roofing specifications. Induru Kamalamma, a beneficiary of the housing scheme, who covered her house with asbestos sheets, got only Rs. 22,200.

Financial problems

When the Minister enquired, some beneficiaries cited financial problems as the reason for having low-cost roofing and others said they feel at home with tiled roofing. “Either due to poverty or cultural preference, the beneficiaries must not be deprived of their granted amount. I will request the Chief Minister to consider inclusion of more varieties of roofings into IHS specifications so that the beneficiaries can claim the full amount,” Mr. Reddy said.

The Minster ordered for inquiry into irregularities, which were found in Suraram village. He informed that all the IHS pending bills that were stopped due to elections would be released within a month’s time and added that the monthly surprise visits would continue to make the department work towards completion of targets.

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