VIJAYAWADA: It is a race against time for officials as Chief Minister YS Jagan Mohan Reddy has directed them to expedite the progress of housing schemes and fixed Ugadi (Telugu New Year) as target to complete construction of at least five lakh houses.Meanwhile, officials are confident of achieving the target as construction of more than 2.80 lakh houses has been completed as on February 22 and over 1.50 lakh houses are either ready or would be completed by the end of March.
It may be recalled that the State government had taken up the construction of 28 lakh houses in two phases under ‘Navaratnalu - Pedalandariki Illu’ programme. Besides supplying construction material, including sand, cement, iron, bricks, at the housing layouts itself, the government has also arranged to provide a low-interest loan of Rs 35,000 to each of the beneficiaries after consultation with banks.
Housing Minister Jogi Ramesh, Special Chief Secretary (Housing) Ajay Jain have been reviewing the progress regularly. They have appointed special officers to districts to personally monitor the ongoing construction works in the layouts and to give instructions to the staff at the field level.
When contacted, Special Chief Secretary (Housing) Ajay Jain told TNIE that steps are being taken to complete the construction of 5.50 lakh houses, including 1.50 lakh TIDCO houses, by the end of March.
The inauguration could be planned on any date in April, he added. Meanwhile, Special Secretary (Housing) Diwan Maidan and AP State Housing Corporation managing director G Lakshmisha on Wednesday inspected layouts in Guntur and Paravathipuram Manyam districts, respectively, and motivated the beneficiaries to complete constructing their houses at the earliest.