PEDDAPALLI: High tension prevailed in Manthani at the site of unfinished two-bedroom houses when people claiming to be applicants came to evacuate another set of people who had already occupied the houses and put their locks on them.
While the fracas between the two groups was going on, area tahsildar Banda Prakrash arrived on the scene along with police officials. He contended that none had been allotted the houses, as the contractor has not yet completed the construction and handed them over to the government.
It turned out to be one-upmanship among local political groups trying to take an upper hand in allotment of houses. According to reports, a local TRS leader had locked up the yet to be completed houses in Manthani of Peddapalli district on Wednesday. He then handed over the keys of the houses to TRS party activists, though they are ineligible for 2 BHK houses. These people occupied the houses.
Having learnt about houses having been given away, locals who had applied for the houses reached there with belongings saying the houses belonged to them. They tried to break the locks put by the earlier people, who too landed there. The latter started alleging that the problem is being created by leaders of opposition parties.
As heated arguments were going on, the tahsildar arrived on the scene contending that the houses have not yet been allotted to anybody. The houses are incomplete and there is no electricity or water supply.
The contractor constructing the houses is yet to hand over the houses to the government.
There is no confirmation whether any police case has been booked. Apparently the two groups have the backing of zilla parishad chairman Putta Madhukar and his rival Congress party MLA Duddilla Sridhar Babu. The two are reportedly raising the heat in the run up to the assembly elections next year. Both are vying to allocate a maximum number of 2 BHK houses to their own well wishers and followers. In the process, poor families actually eligible for the houses are getting sidelined.
