VIJAYAWADA: Reiterating that not a single house in Ippatam village was demolished, Minister for Housing Jogi Ramesh lambasted TDP and Jana Sena for making an issue out of nothing.Speaking to mediapersons on Wednesday, he made it clear that neither houses were demolished nor land was acquired as being claimed by the two political parties. “All the officials did was removal of encroachments on drainage and those encroachments were compound walls,” he said.
He accused TDP of coming in support of Jana Sena disregarding the explanation of Ippatam villagers that none of their houses was demolished. The villagers even put up banners explaining the same. “However, first it was foster son (Jana Sena chief) and now his real son, who visited Ippatam to make it an issue for political mileage,” the minister remarked.Ramesh found fault with Pawan Kalyan’s antic of travelling on top of his car like a villain in movies. “Such stunts will be good in movies not in real life. People abhor such things,” he asserted.
The Housing Minister also took exception to reports in a section of the media that houses for the poor are not being constructed. “Unlike former chief minister N Chandrababu Naidu, who did not construct a single house, Chief Minister YS Jagan Mohan Reddy has given 31 lakh house sites and now 21 lakh pucca houses are being constructed in a phased manner,” he highlighted.
Ramesh maintained that houses are being constructed in an expeditious manner and by March 2024, houses for the poor will be completed. “In Jagananna colonies, the amount is being directly credited into the bank accounts of beneficiaries for house construction in case they have not taken up construction on their own. There is no scope for irregularities in implementation of the housing scheme,” he said.