Conflicting developments now signify the prestigious 2BHK housing scheme of the Telangana government. Despite the marked reluctance on the part of contractors to bid for the 'unprofitable' works almost everywhere, the government has increased the quota of houses per Assembly constituency from 400 to 1,000. The only thing which seems to be clear is, the Telangana Rashtra Samiti government has plans to return to power in 2019 hinging on the success of the housing scheme for the poor.
The housing scheme has not witnessed any progress in all the 31 districts in the State, barring Chief Minister K. Chandrasekhar Rao’s adopted villages Erravalli and Narsannapet in Markook mandal of Siddipet district and Hyderabad.
MLAs motivate contractors
P. RAM MOHAN reports from Kamareddy
Construction work of 105 double bed room houses has already begun at four colonies in Banswada Assembly constituency held by the Minister for Agriculture Pocharam Srinivas Reddy, while plans are afoot for grounding the remaining, 2,570 houses by month-end.
Contractors have come forward to take up the responsibility after a great deal of motivation and request by the local MLAs as the construction cost of Rs.5.04 lakh offered by the Government is considered to be a low quote. It may be added here that the Government wanted to build each 2BHK within the said cost besides providing infrastructure with another 1.25 lakh. According to the Collector N. Satyanarayana, as many as 65 places were identified for the implementation of the project and the houses were almost evenly distributed to each constituency.
Tenders were approved for another 390 houses and work order would be issued to them by February 12, he added. As regards Nizamabad district, tender process has been on and positive in Nizamabad rural, Bodhan and Armoor constituencies. Tenders would be finalised by month end and construction would begin next month, said the Collector Yogitha Rana.
Beneficiaries’ list was already prepared by the survey and they would be selected through the lucky draw system, she said and added that the poorest of the poor and the shelterless would be given the priority in the allotment.
All hunky dory in CM’s adopted village
K.M.Dayashankar reports from Karimnagar
Though the number of applications for the sanction of double-bed room houses is increasing by the day in the erstwhile Karimnagar district, the housing scheme has yet to take off in the earnest. Contractors are not coming forward to take up the construction of the houses.
The Roads and Buildings department had so far called tenders on five occasions till February 1 this year but no contractor was bidding the contract work stating that it was not feasible for them to construct the houses at the rate of Rs5.4 lakh each following the escalation of construction costs and labour charges.
Except for Chief Minister K Chandrasekhar Rao’s adopted village of Chinna Mulkanoor village in Chigurumamidi mandal in Karimnagar district where 247 houses were being constructed by the Megha Engineering Infrastructure Limited (MEIL) by spending Rs 15.54 crore, there is no construction of houses in any part of the districts in Karimnagar, Rajanna-Sircilla, Jagtial, Peddapalli and some mandals which were merged in adjoining Siddipet, Jayashankar Bhupalapalli and Warangal Urban districts.
In the integrated Karimnagar district consisting of 13 assembly segments, the State government had sanctioned a total of 5200 houses at the rate of 400 houses to each assembly segment comprising 240 for rural areas and 160 houses for urban areas. Additional 1500 houses were sanctioned in Sircilla assembly segment represented by Minister for Municipal Administration and IT K Taraka Rama Rao under reserved quota.
Out of a total of 6,947 houses sanctioned in the erstwhile Karimnagar district, only 247 houses were being completed in MEIL in the Chief Minister’s adopted village in Chinna Mulkanoor. Nowhere in the district, had any company or contractor come forward to take up the works. The officials said that they were ready to provide sand, fly-ash bricks from NTPC Ramagundam and cement at lesser rates. But, the contractors were saying that the project cost of Rs 5.4 lakhs was not sufficient as per the designs of the State government, they added.
A legislator, who does not want to be quoted said, they were worried lot over the delay in the execution of double bedroom houses as there is huge demand for the houses. “We are receiving petitions for the double-bed room houses every day, but the contractors were not coming forward to take up the works”, he complained.
Slum dwellers reluctant to take houses
Gollapudi Srinivasa Rao reports from Warangal Urban
Legal complications and unwillingness on the part of beneficiaries to accept houses in double storey buildings hindered progress in the 2BHK housing scheme.
The Chief Minister K Chandrasekhar Rao himself visited several slums in Warangal city to reassure slum dwellers but not many came forward to accept the houses as they harboured doubts. The district administration had planned to construct ground plus two floors for housing scheme in view of shortage of land. MLA D Vinay Bhaskar said 2,000 houses were sanctioned in his constituency of which 500 houses are ready for distribution. The rest 1,500 houses are at various stages of construction.
“We are identifying two more sites at Shayampet on the outskirts of Hanamkonda. There, we will construct 500 houses,” he said. Mayor N Narender said after the Chief Minister K Chandrasekhar Rao’s visit, they started construction of 792 flats in SR Nagar slum.
“We faced lot of resistance as people are diverted by Opposition parties. We convinced the beneficiaries and started construction. Hence the delay,” he said. Of the 792 flats, 88 were grounded and are at various stages of construction while 92 are yet to be grounded. A beautiful apartment is coming up with 104 blocks in SR Nagar. Similar structure is coming up at Balasamudram, the precious land in the heart of Hanamkonda city.
The district officials opined that the bifurcation of districts helped Warangal get an average 3,000 houses under the state government’s flagship programme double bed room housing.
