Free sand to beneficiaries to build Indiramma homes: Telangana housing minister
: The Congress govt will supply sand free of cost for construction of
Indiramma houses
to the scheme beneficiaries, revenue and housing minister
Ponguleti Srinivas Reddy
announced at a programme in Mulugu district where he distributed approval letters of Indiramma houses.
Ponguleti directed all the collectors to ensure that sand stockpiles are kept ready and supplied free of cost to beneficiaries. Sources said the govt was also in talks with steel and cement companies for supplying them at a subsidised rate.
He said that if beneficiaries begin construction within the next 10–15 days, funds will be released to them every Monday. Forest officials will be instructed to allow people living in makeshift homes within forest areas to construct Indiramma houses at the same locations, he said. Over 9,800 Chenchus were sanctioned Indiramma houses, which, he said, was a historic decision of the Congress govt.
"In addition to 3,500 Indiramma houses for Mulugu constituency at the rate of 3,500 for each of the 119 assembly constituencies in the state, an additional 1,500 units were sanctioned in the Integrated Tribal Development Agency limits," he said.
Responding to minister D Anasuya Seethakka's request, Ponguleti sanctioned another 1,000 Indiramma houses to the Mulugu and ITDA areas in the constituency.
Stating that the incumbent 'Indiramma govt' was synonymous with Indiramma housing, Ponguleti said 25.5 lakh such houses were sanctioned to the poor by the previous Congress govt of the combined AP state in the
Telangana
region alone.
"After the formation of Telangana state, the previous BRS govt, which held power for two terms, sanctioned only 92,000 houses and completed 60,000 of them. Nearly 30,000 houses were left incomplete with only walls standing. The contractors were not paid for their work by the previous regime," he alleged.
The minister said there were at least 60 eligible beneficiaries in every village, but currently only about 30 houses per village can be sanctioned. However, he assured that all eligible families will be provided houses in a phased manner in future.
"The target of the Congress govt is to construct 20 lakh Indiramma houses with a budget of Rs 22,500 crore over the next four years," Ponguleti said and appealed to the people to observe the welfare schemes being implemented by the Congress govt and support it in the upcoming local body elections.
On the issue of Bhu Bharathi (land records), Ponguleti pointed out that during the previous govt farmers had to run from pillar to post for resolution of land issues. Now, revenue officials were proactively reaching out to the people to resolve their problems, he said.
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