Jagan seeks Central funds for housing scheme in Andhra Pradesh

VIJAYAWADA: Chief Minister Y.S. Jagan Mohan Reddy stated that the government will complete construction of houses by 2022 and provide houses to all eligible persons without fail. He made the remarks after Prime Minister Narendra Modi presented the annual PMAY (Urban), Asha India awards during a video conference to lay the foundation stone for six lighthouse projects under GHTC (Global Housing Technology Challenge) -India and distribution of PMAY- urban and ASHA - India awards virtually here on Friday in which Reddy and other Chief Ministers participated.

Andhra Pradesh ranked third in the ‘Best Performing State’ category. The State also received awards in 'project monitoring tools’ and ‘innovative construction technology’ under the ‘special award’ category while Visakhapatnam has presented an award under the ‘best performing municipal corporation’ category.

The Chief Minister received the awards from the Prime Minister virtually.
During the interaction, the Chief Minister hoped that 2021 would help the country regain its momentum and completely recover from the adverse impact of the Covid-19 pandemic.

He said that the Prime Minister has envisioned "Housing for All by 2022", by which year, the nation would complete 75 years of its independence. The programme is of particular relevance to the State of Andhra Pradesh, which is vulnerable to natural disasters like cyclones, heavy rains and floods due to its 974 km long coastline. In the bargain, the poor suffer the most in the absence of a permanent house.

The Chief Minister said Andhra Pradesh has taken the lead in the implementation of PMYA (Urban). Andhra Pradesh has taken a special drive to provide house sites to 30.75 lakh poor people and 68,677 acres of land, including 25,433 acres of government land, has been plotted and distributed to the eligible poor families.

Reddy said, "16,098 EWS housing colonies are being developed in urban areas and it is the endeavour of the government to provide required infrastructure in terms of toads, drains, water and electricity along with necessary social infrastructure for the colonies. It is estimated that an amount of Rs. 12,410 crore is required for providing the infrastructure".

The Chief Minister said that over 20.21 lakh houses were sanctioned so far under the scheme. The government will ensure that all houses are completed as per schedule before 2022.

He stated "Houses and house sites are being registered in the names of women beneficiaries. We are sure that this would go a long way in promoting women empowerment and in ensuring their financial security as well".

"At this critical Covid juncture, construction of houses of this magnitude will give a huge boost to the economy besides providing employment to people belonging to over 30 occupational categories like masonry, carpentry, plumbing and the like contributing to post-Covid economic revival", he said.

The state government has travelled a great distance towards achieving the goal of ‘housing for all’ by 2022 by distributing housing plots to all 100% eligible poor families and sanction of houses to 67% of all eligible poor families. Additional sanction of 8.95 lakh houses by Ministry of Housing & Urban Affairs and sanction of soft loans of Rs. 12,410 crore by HUDCO or other financial institutions will help them to accomplish the goal of ‘housing for all’.

Deputy Chief Minister Dharmana Krishnadas, Ministers Botsa Satyanarayana and Cherukuvada Ranganadharaju, MP Balashouwry, Chief Secretary Adityanath Das, Land Administration Chief Commissioner Neerabh Kumar Prasad, Housing secretary Ajay Jain, Municipal Administration Principal Secretary Srilakshmi and other officials were present in the video conference