Naidu aims to complete 20 lakh homes for homeless

VIJAYAWADA: Chief Minister Nara Chandrababu Naidu is targeting to build a house for every homeless poor in Andhra Pradesh. Construction of 20 lakh houses would progress at a swift pace with a target of completing seven lakh houses this year.

Naidu, in the Praja Galam joint manifesto of Telugu Desam and Jana Sena, had promised quality construction of houses for those who have already got sanctions for house sites. He promised to give two cents as house site to each beneficiary under the housing scheme in urban areas and three cents for each site in rural areas.

The chief minister has asked the housing department to work dedicatedly to reach the target of 1.55 lakh houses in the next hundred days and the annual target of seven lakh houses this year.

The total target is 20,84,240 houses, in which the highest number of 1,39,501 homes is in the Visakhapatnam district followed by 1,15,403 houses in the NTR district, 1,05,867 in YSR Kadapa, 1,04,620 in Nellore, 1,03,791 in Eluru, 1,02,849 in Krishna and 1,00,540 houses in Guntur district.

These apart, 87,648 houses would be constructed in Kakinada district, 83,221 houses in Srikakulam district followed by 82,221 in Vizianagaram, 82,145 in Anantapur, 80,213 in Tirupati, 79,721 in Annamayya, 77,701 in Chittoor, 73,792 in West Godavari, 73,282 in East Godavari, 73,113 in Prakasam, 72,353 in Satya Sai, 67,775 in Kurnool, 66,631 in Nandyal, 65,800 in Anakapalle, 62,211 in Palnadu, 50,415 in Bapatla, 45,801 in Alluri Seetharama Raju, 44,065 in Paravthipuram Manyam and 43,561 houses in the Ambedkar Konaseema district.

Housing minister, Kolusu Parthasarathy, said the foundations for 46 per cent out of a total of 20,84,240 houses – numbering 15,10,077 -- were laid in all districts.

Chittoor and West Godavari were at the top with 67 per cent and 63 per cent ‘grounding’ done, followed by Vizianagaram with 62 per cent, Srikakulam 60 per cent, Nandyal 57 per cent and Prakasam 55 per cent.

For the rest of the districts, foundation-laying was of 53 per cent to 24 per cent. Only 11 per cent grounding was registered in the Alluri district. “We are taking steps to speed up the work.”

The minister said the TD-led alliance government targeted to build seven lakh houses this year, of which 1.55 lakh houses would be ready in the next hundred days. By 2029, the state government would have built houses for all the homeless poor in the state, he said.

Prathasarathy claimed that the central government sanctioned 21 lakh houses to AP since 2016, but the YSRC government constructed only 6.8 lakh houses.

“We would come up with an action plan for construction of houses similar to those in Sanjeeva Reddy Nagar and Kukatpally Housing Board in Hyderabad with financial support from the central schemes for families of the middle and below middle-income groups in cities and towns,” the minister said.

He said the Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana (PMAY) scheme’s new edition would start in March next. The state government would soon conduct Grama Sabhas to identify the eligible persons who have no house.

As per estimates, 11 lakh persons are homeless in the state, he said.