CPI(M) opposes proposal to shelve housing project

‘Only 6,000 units built under JNNURM handed over to beneficiaries’

The Communist Party of India-Marxist (CPI-M) has opposed the Vijayawada Municipal Corporation (VMC) proposal to wind up the housing scheme taken up under Jawaharlal Nehru National Urban Renewal Mission (JNNURM) programme abruptly.

Addressing a press conference here on Wednesday, CPI(M) city secretary Ch. Babu Rao said the Congress was enacting a drama regarding housing projects. The Centre has sanctioned 28,000 houses, but the VMC could take up construction of only 18,000. Of them only 6,700 houses were handed over to the beneficiaries.

Remaining houses were at different stages of construction. The VMC, now, has plans to shelve the housing project. The CPI(M) would not keep quiet if the housing schemes were shelved, he said.

The Congress government was enacting dramas regarding housing for the poor. There were reports that the Municipal Commissioner wrote a letter to the government underscoring the need for shelving the project. On the other hand, the MLAs and MP oppose the proposal openly.

These were nothing but different scenes of a drama scripted by the Congress, he alleged. “How can the Municipal Commissioner write a letter without knowledge of the MLAs and MP,” he asked.

The Congress had miserably failed in keeping its promises. The government identified that 1.47 lakh people required housing in the city. But, it could not provide more than 1,000 houses a year in the last seven years. It has plan of action to construct another 10,000 houses which requires land.

The VMC was cancelling the work orders awarded to AMR, Aditya, and Vensar construction companies. The miscreants were taking away the doors and windows etc. at Jakkampudi as the corporation could not complete houses for want of funds, he said.

The government should announce a plan of action and complete all the houses sanctioned under the JNNURM. It also needs to pay the employees’ salaries through 010 head of account (treasury salaries) on lines of Tirupati which is also a mission city. The cost escalation of Rs. 57 crore in housing projects should be released immediately, he added.