Terming the State government’s claim of completing two lakh houses under the Life Mission a big lie, Leader of the Opposition Ramesh Chennithala has accused the Left Democratic Front regime of misleading the people for political gains.
Addressing mediapersons here on Saturday, Mr. Chennithala pointed out that construction of about 52,000 houses, among the two lakh buildings, had been completed during the tenure of the last United Democratic Front government.
‘‘While the government claims to have completed two lakh houses under the scheme, the official figures released by it put the number at 1.73 lakh,’’ Mr. Chennithala said.
Similarly, 55,000 houses constructed under a Central government housing scheme, which has been implemented as a separate project, too have been included under the Life Mission project. ‘‘This means about 1.1 lakh out of the total two lakh houses constructed in Kerala have nothing to do with the Life Mission,’’ he said.
Utilisation of funds
A closer scrutiny of the government’s claims further reveals that 20% of the Plan funds of all local bodies had been diverted to the scheme. Similarly, a fund of ₹885 crore received from the Centre under the Pradhan Manthri Awaz Yojna too had been used up for it, alongside a loan availed from the Housing and Urban Development Corporation (HUDCO).
‘‘Of the ₹4 lakh spent on each house, ₹2 lakh belonged to the Plan funds of the local body concerned while ₹1 lakh was from HUDCO. This makes the actual allocation of the State government towards each house just ₹1 lakh,’’ he said.
KPCC chief
Kerala Pradesh Congress Committee president Mullappally Ramachandran described Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan as a person habituated to making tall claims. He could not complete even half the number of housing units, over four lakh, delivered during the time of the Oommen Chandy government. Mr. Vijayan had shamelessly claimed credit for UDF schemes such as the Kochi metro project and the Kannur airport.
Mr. Vijayan had slammed Sashi Tharoor, MP, and Mr Chennithala for skipping the function marking the completion of the second phase of the LIFE Mission project.
