BENGALURU: If the Housing Department’s plans come through, PM Narendra Modi will inaugurate the housing project for urban poor in Bengaluru next month. The project, envisaged during the tenure of former chief minister and Congress leader Siddaramaiah in 2016, aims at constructing one lakh houses. In 2018, the government had called for tenders to construct the houses, but acquiring the required land proved to be a Herculean task for the authorities due to land crunch.
Later, during the Congress-JDS government, the then chief minister H D Kumaraswamy extended the scheme to other cities in Karnataka. However, there was not much progress. The project, however, gained momentum during the tenure of BS Yediyurappa as CM. In May this year, Housing Minister V Somanna had even announced that Yediyurappa would hand over the first 6,000 houses to the beneficiaries on August 15. However, there was a change of guard in the state with Yediyurappa stepping down from the CM’s post.
Under the project, each house will cost Rs 5 lakh for the general category and Rs 4.2 lakh for SC and ST beneficiaries. Chief Minister Basavaraj Bommai, who met Prime Minister Modi in Delhi recently, had invited him to Bengaluru in December to launch several projects, including the long-pending suburban rail project. Sources in the Housing Department told The New Sunday Express that about 4,000 houses will be fully completed in the next fortnight. “We have land and clearance to construct 65,000 houses across the city of which 42,000 are in various stages of construction. Houses are being constructed in 46 locations on 316 acres,” an official said.
For BJP, it could boost its prospects in the elections to Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike to be held in 2022, which, in turn, will help it win more seats in Bengaluru in the 2023 Assembly polls. When contacted, Housing Minister Somanna said that he was discussing the matter with Bommai and a final decision will be taken soon.