1 Lakh Houses Under PMAY: Naidu’s Target

Vijayawada: Chief Minister Nara Chandrababu Naidu has speeded up the construction of one lakh houses under the Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana (PMAY-1) scheme in Andhra Pradesh.

The state government aims to hand over the houses to the beneficiaries and perform housewarmings by the end of this month.

The Chief Minister is keen on fulfilling the housing promise he made during the assembly polls, and asked officials to complete the task on an urgent basis.

“Officials must hand over the completed houses to one lakh beneficiaries and the housewarmings should be done by New Year or Sankranti festival,” he said.

He asked officials to also take up construction of an additional 7.60 lakh houses by 2026.

Naidu recommended use of drones to check the quality of construction of the houses. “Develop basic amenities in all the layouts,” he said and noted that consent was given to take 597 persons on deputation to the housing department, to help speed up the works.

Housing minister Kolusu Parthasarathy said the CM’s instructions would be fully implemented.

He said, “We have intensified efforts to complete one lakh houses to the poor and distribute the keys to them in a mega event. Currently, 83,000 houses have been completed, while the remaining 17,000 are in the final stages of construction.”

He said that over the past six months, approximately `450 crore was spent to accelerate the housing scheme. “As part of infrastructure development for the layouts, a major part of these have already been electrified, while road formation works are in progress.”

“We have appealed to the Union minister for energy, housing and urban affairs Manohar Lal Khattar to allocate funds for infrastructure development in housing layouts. The need is for creating essential infrastructure such as roads, water supply and drainage systems. The minister has promised allocation of funds for these projects in the 2025-26 Union Budget,” he said.

Special chief secretary to housing, Ajay Jain, said all district collectors have been instructed to ensure timely completion of the houses. AP state housing corporation MD Rajababu is working with grassroots officers to expedite construction and ensure quality, he said.