VIJAYAWADA: BJP MLC and party Election Management Committee convenor Somu Veerraju has alleged irregularities worth `30,000 crore in the housing for poor project undertaken by the State government. He said the TDP government had increased the cost of the houses up to `3 lakh and passed the additional burden onto the beneficiaries.
Speaking to reporters here on Saturday, Somu wondered whether the yellow brigade was ruling AP or trading it.
“There is a need to examine the housing for poor project as there are irregularities worth `30,000 crore. Also, the government claims to have handed over three lakh houses to beneficiaries a few days ago, but in reality, the number is around two lakh. That too, the subsidy that should be extended to the beneficiaries by the State and Centre has not been given to many,” he alleged. Out of `4,000 crore for the affordable housing project, the State government had spent only `1,400 crore so far, he said. Somu further said the then Urban Development Minister M Venkaiah Naidu had sanctioned close to seven lakh houses for the State.
“However, none of the houses inaugurated recently were built in either corporation or municipality limits,” he claimed.
Somu also alleged that the TDP had institutionalised corruption in the State through Janmabhoomi Committees. There were different ‘rates’ to get different things done through the committees. “Not just the Janmabhoomi Committees, there are irregularities even in the initiatives such as Neeru-Chettu, Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan, Integrated Child Development Services (ICDS) and others. I had written a letter to Human Resource Development Minister Ganta Srinivasa Rao against the proposed development of government schools with `4,848 crore under the Hybrid Annuity model. The tenders were cancelled after I had written the letter,” he said.
He added that it was not CM Naidu, but Prime Minister Narendra Modi who was taking the administration in the State ahead. “When the budget allotted for MGNREGS for the entire country is `40,000 crore, AP was given over `9,000 crore. The Centre is extending maximum support to AP. However, the TDP is attacking the BJP and its leaders out of insecurity,” he observed.
Somu wondered what AP Planning Board Vice-Chairman Ch Kutumba Rao was doing when the TDP government borrowed `1.6 lakh in the last four years. “Now, the government wants to mortgage various projects’ assets to mobilise funds for the `6,200-cr Godavari-Pennar interlinking project. I don’t know what he is doing instead of advising against the poor fiscal management.”