VIJAYAWADA: Accusing the State government of delaying distribution of houses completed by the former TDP government, party supremo and Leader of the Opposition N Chandrababu Naidu urged the government to hand-over the already constructed houses to the poor beneficiaries’ families without any delay. He asserted that the government should open its eyes now after seeing the overwhelming response to the virtual protests held at 102 places across the State in response to the call given by the TDP.
“It is unfortunate that in the last 13 months, the ruling party was troubling the already identified beneficiaries under the Housing for All scheme. Under the TDP government, over 25.57 lakh housing units were taken up at a cost of Rs 50,000 crore — 6 lakh houses in the urban areas and 19.57 lakh houses in rural areas. The Centre extended all support to the scheme. The State ranked top in implementing geo-tagging and Aadhaar seeding to the completed houses,” he said.
In a statement on Monday, Naidu said the former TDP government completed 9.94 lakh houses at a cost of Rs 12,145 crore. Mass house warming ceremonies were done for two lakh houses during Dasara and four lakh during Sankranti, he said. Stating that units were taken up under the Affordable Housing Programme, he said construction began for over 5.24 lakh houses in 101 towns and cities. He asked how many units the government had distributed. The YSRC was buying land worth Rs 50 lakh at throwaway prices and pocketing the profit, Naidu alleged.