Preference for living on the ground floor may be halting the progress of two-bedroom housing scheme in the Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation area. This came to light during a review meeting between State’s Housing Minister A. Indrakaran Reddy and Union Labour Minister Bandaru Dattatreya.
At the meeting, the two Ministers discussed the progress of the two-bedroom house scheme for which the Centre has already released around Rs. 540 crore. The State government plans to construct 2.6 lakh houses in the State of which around 1,690 houses have only been constructed. No houses in GHMC have been completed yet.
It was learnt that Mr. Reddy expressed that the State government was facing issues in GHMC area but also said efforts would be stepped up. Around 30,000 houses are under construction. Some of the issues pointed out by Mr. Reddy was the reluctance of beneficiaries to dwell in higher floors.
In GHMC area, the State government is building high-rises up to nine floors. Though elevators are part of the plan, beneficiaries are reluctant to give up their land holding in slums where the government plans to construct. They cite either ill-health of a family member or other reasons to show their unwillingness to live in higher floors, sources close to Mr. Dattatreya said.
