Telangana Government to Build 20 Lakh Houses in 4 Years

Hyderabad: Retaliating the Opposition's comments on Saturday, housing minister Ponguleti Srinivasa Reddy said that Chief Minister A. Revanth Reddy would continue in the post for the next four years without interruption. He said that the state government was going to construct 20 lakh houses for the poor under the Indiramma housing scheme by allocating Rs.27,000 crore funds in the next four years.

The minister on Saturday told mediapersons at the Secretariat that the government would conduct grama sabhas in all villages from November 6 to 20 to finalise eligible candidates for Indiramma houses. "If any poor woman possesses 400 square feet of open plot on her name or the family head, we would make her eligible under the scheme. The state government will provide Rs. 5 lakh funds in a phased manner for construction of houses under," the minister said.

The government is also developing a mobile app to select eligible candidates and monitor the process of releasing funds and construction of houses. Initially, the government is focusing on poor families possessing at least 400 sq. feet of open land. In the second phase, the government would provide government lands to the poor and offer funds of Rs.5 lakh to construct a house under the Indirammama scheme.

The minister said that for the smooth processing of applications for the Indiramma Housing scheme, the staff of 16 departments would be brought together. "The Centre provides Rs.72,000 for rural and Rs.1.25 lakh for urban houses out of the Rs.5 lakh. We will also invite BJP Union ministers Kishan Reddy, Bandi Sanjay Kumar and other opposition leaders for the inaugural function of the scheme," he explained.

Of the estimated funds of Rs.27,000 crore, the state government has already allocated Rs.7,740 crore in the state Budget for the scheme. A team of experts visited Andhra Pradesh, Haryana and other states to study the government's housing schemes. The Minister also said that the government would conduct panchayat elections before the Sankranthi festival and new sarpanches elected would also participate in the process.