Chief Minister Y.S. Jagan Mohan Reddy has directed the Housing Department officials to “nail the Opposition’s prevarication campaign on the TIDCO houses.”
“Send across a message to the people that the State government has spent over ₹21,000 crore so far on construction of the houses,” Mr. Jagan Mohan Reddy said at a review meeting held at his camp office, near here, on April 13 (Thursday).
Alleging that the Telugu Desam Party (TDP) was carrying out a misinformation campaign to tarnish the image of his government, Mr. Jagan Mohan Reddy pointed out that the the opposition party, while in power, had abandoned the construction of the TIDCO houses meant for the poor.
“The government is completing the construction of such houses and handing them over to the beneficiaries,” the Chief Minister said, adding that basic infrastructure was also being provided at sites where TIDCO houses were being constructed.
“Present facts before the people so that they will not be carried away by the vicious propaganda. The officials should also pay attention to providing drainage and other basic facilities in Jagananna Colonies,” he said.
Explaining the difference between the TDP term and that of the present government on construction of TIDCO houses, the officials said ₹21,000 crore was spent in the last 45 months against ₹8,723.08 crore spent during the TDP term.
“The present government has spent over ₹482 crore as it has given 50% concession on payments made by the beneficiaries in the TDP rule, besides giving a benefit of ₹12,011 crore through free registrations to an additional 2.62 lakh beneficiaries and arranging ₹1,875 crore bank loans through tie-up with banks,” they said.
The government had also spent ₹9,044 crore towards HUDCO loan repayments and construction of houses and provision of basic infrastructure, they said. While there were no registrations of TIDCO houses between 2015 and 2019, houses numbering 1,55,673 were registered and 48,172 houses were handed over to the beneficiaries in the last 45 months, the officials said.
The completed houses would be handed over to another 1.50 lakh beneficiaries by June and 1.12 lakh beneficiaries by December, they added.
A sum of ₹10,203 crore was spent on housing in the financial year 2022-23 while a target of ₹15,810 crore was fixed for the present fiscal. As many as 3,40,741 houses were completed and 4,67,551 housing units were ready for completion as part of the housing for all poor people, they added.
Housing Minister J. Ramesh; Municipal Administration Minister A. Suresh; Chief Secretary K.S. Jawahar Reddy; AP State Housing Corporation chairman D. Dorababu; TIDCO chairman J. Prasanna Kumar; Special Chief Secretaries Y. Sri Lakshmi (MA&UD), K. Vijayanand (Energy) and Ajay Jain (Housing); Finance Secretary K.V.V. Satyanarayana; Special Secretary (Housing) Mohammad Deewan; APSHC MD G. Lakshmi Shah; AP TIDCO MD Ch. Sridhar; and Mines and Geology Director V.G. Venkata Reddy were present.
