The Telugu Desam government would build 19 lakh houses before going to elections, Chief Minister N. Chandrababu Naidu said in the Assembly here on Tuesday. Participating in a short discussion on housing, Mr. Naidu said the government had drawn plans to build 18,45,841 houses before the elections. Giving a break-up, he said plans had been drawn to build 13,06,557 houses in rural areas and 5,39,586 in urban areas.
He said the government was ready to spend ₹56,000 crore for housing and there was scope for giving away or regularising house sites to 15 to 20 lakh people.
The government was building three types of apartments in urban areas using the latest technology and materials. It had drawn plans to construct 3,64,228 apartments with floor space of 300, 360 and 430 square feet at ₹6.70 lakh, ₹7.44 lakh and ₹8.40 lakh respectively. Beneficiaries would have the right to sell the apartment. The idea was to create property for the beneficiaries, the Chief Minister explained.
He said the houses would be handed over to the beneficiaries on three occasions: the State government organised gruhapravesam (house warming) for one lakh beneficiaries on October 2; another for 2.5 lakh beneficiaries on Sankranthi Day, and another for 2.5 lakh beneficiaries on June 8, the day his government was sworn in and the day the people would participate in the Navanirmana Deeksha and take the Mahasankalpam.
He said the Telugu Desam government had to fight for its fair share in housing with the Central government because wrong figures were given by the previous Congress government.
According to a survey conducted in 2011, there were only 5,79,000 families without pucca houses and after verification only 2,10,000 were found to be eligible. This was the data sent to the Centre for the Prime Minister’s Awas Yojana, but the actual number was much higher, Mr. Naidu explained. According to a recent survey, there were 31,53,000 families without houses and after verification 20,99,000 families were found to be eligible for the PMAY.
Mr Naidu said he wrote a letter to Prime Minister Narendra Modi on November 10 asking that the State be sanctioned the number of units on the basis of the actual figure. The Chief Minister said the Congress government claimed that it had constructed 35,31,270 houses, but 14,40,000 houses worth ₹4,150 crore could not be located for geo-tagging. He charged the previous government with “misappropriating” the funds and not building the houses.
Minister for Housing Kalava Srinivas and 11 ruling party MLAs and BJP MLA P Vishnu Kumar Raju participated in the discussion.
