Telangana: 36 ineligibles in 2BHK scheme

Hyderabad: Even as Chief Minister K.Chandrasekhar Rao is getting ready for the "mass housewarming ceremony" on December 23, when he will hand over 500 2-BHK homes to the poor in his two adopted villages in Medak district, those having no right to claim such housing are cornering 2-BHKs in the city. The first 2-BHK project of the state government was in IDH colony in the city in 2015. It was supposed to be the model 2-BHK colony for the poor. But is has become an embarrassment as people who are ineligible own some of the homes.

The housing department which conducted surprise inspection of beneficiaries found that around 36 ineligible beneficiaries, mostly followers of ruling party leaders, have cornered the plots. The government had built 396 2-BHK homes for '50 crore after demolishing existing dilapidated buildings. However, 36 of the beneficiaries have not lost their homes, nor are they in any way connected to the locality. They rented out the flats to others which is against the rules.

This has come as a big embarrassment for the TRS government and more so for the Chief Minister who has repeatedly boasted of the stringent norms to select beneficiaries and weed out the ineligible. In his first speech as CM in the Legislative Assembly in June 2014, the chief minister came down heavily on irregularities in Indiramma Housing scheme implemented during Cong-ress regime and vowed that he will ensure the benefits of TRS government's 2BHK scheme reach the eligible only.

The IDH colony attracted national attention as it was the first time that any state government in the country had provided 2-BHKs houses for the poor for free, spending Rs 8 lakh per unit. The colony was even showcased during the GHMC elections in February 2016, and played a key role in the TRS sweeping the elections after promising that similar colonies would be built to house all the poor.

What has shocked the government is that the ineligible owners secured their homes by claiming to be followers of various ministers. Housing minister A. Indrakaran Reddy said, “The CM has ordered stringent action against the ineligible beneficiaries. They have been vacated  and police cases booked against them. We are  tightening the norms for selection process in the wake of irregularities.”