Opposing the move to auction the Rajiv Swagruha housing project, Adraja, at Endada, the CPI city unit has demanded that the project be handed over to the VUDA. The party has also opposed auctioning of the valuable 57-acre land.
The project was launched with much fanfare by the government to provide housing to the middle class in 2007. The launch was delayed and work began much later, CPI city unit secretary J.V. Prabhakar told reporters on Thursday.
While more than 10,000 had applied for houses in the project paying deposits, around 500 paid Rs.25,000 accepting to take the units in the project publicised as a gated community.
A total of Rs.12 crore was mobilised from the applicants, he said.
Now, the money was proposed to be returned three months after auctioning, which was scheduled for February 11. He described it as a ploy to handover land to private agencies.
City assistant secretary M. Paidiraju alleged that the pricing of single, double, double-and-a-half, and three bedrooms tentatively at Rs.11.55 lakh, Rs.16.6 lakh, Rs.27.7 lakh, and Rs.35 lakh itself was puzzling as at that time flats were available in the city at Rs.1,500 an sft. They said that with the government housing agencies backing out of housing projects, the middle class was forced to look for alternatives with private builders ultimately making housing a private sector monopoly.
The party will organise a dharna opposing the auction at the Gandhi statue near GVMC.
