2,000 acres to house the poor in Hyderabad

Hyderabad: Chief Minister K. Chandrasekhar Rao has asked officials to identify 2,000 acres in the core areas of the city, including in posh areas like Jubilee Hills and Banjara Hills, to build houses for the poor.

He said the household survey had revealed that two lakh poor families were homeless in the city and the government needed 2,000 acres to build houses for them.

Mr Rao held a review meeting here with senior officials at his camp office in Begumpet on Wednesday to discuss the issue.

“There is a general feeling that houses for the poor will be constructed away from core areas. Why should the poor be shunted out? When governments are giving hundreds of acres in the city to set up educational institutions, universities, government offices, clubs etc. and though large portions of them are vacant, what’s wrong in giving the same extent of land to construct houses for the poor,” Mr Rao asked.

He asked officials to identify 2,000 acres in different parcels belonging to the government and if need be acquire private lands wherever government land was not available.

Mr Rao said the government would provide a free double bedroom house to each poor family by constructing apartments in the core areas of the city.

“The Telangana government has drafted a mega budget of Rs 1.15 lakh crore this year. There will not be any problem in allotting funds from this huge budget to build 2BHK houses for the poor,” the CM said.