The dream of poor people to have houses of their own turned into reality when Chief Minister N. Chandrababu Naidu remotely inaugurated the mass house-warming ceremony of 1 lakh-plus dwellings under the Central government supported NTR Housing Scheme (NTRHS) here on Monday.
They are part of the 17.40 lakh houses being constructed at a total estimated cost of ₹50,000 crore with June 8, 2018 as the deadline. It was on June 8, 2014 that Mr. Naidu took charge as the Chief Minister.
Under the NTRHS, the Andhra Pradesh government undertook the construction of 12 lakh houses in the rural areas at a cost of ₹16,000 crore and 5.40 lakh houses in towns costing ₹33,000 crore with the Central and the State governments contributing ₹1.50 lakh each towards subsidy.
Mr. Naidu said it was a unique programme not conducted anywhere else in the country and was in sync with the government’s endeavour to provide basic amenities to all the needy, thereby improve their living conditions.
Earlier schemes flayed
He alleged that thousands of crores of rupees were swindled in the name of the housing scheme earlier but the houses constructed during the current regime were geo-tagged and photographed to have a proper record of the physical progress achieved. It also helped in eliminating the scope for corruption.
One lakh more houses would be constructed by Christmas and Sankranti and another one lakh by June 8, he said.
As per official information, West and Godavari districts put together had approximately 24,300 houses sanctioned followed by the other districts under the NTRHS 2016-17 with a total of nearly 82,600 houses. A total of about 18,820 houses are under construction under NTRHS Gramin and NTR Urban Housing Scheme.
