Andhra CM launches housing for poor scheme, slams opposition TDP for 'creating hurdles'

East Godavari (Andhra Pradesh) [India], December 26 : Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister YS Jagan Mohan Reddy on Friday launched the flagship programme of Navaratnalu Pedalandariki Illu (Houses for Poor) at Komaragiri layout of U Kothapalli Mandal of Pithapuram assembly constituency in East Godavari district.
The event coincided with Christmas and 'Vaikuntha Ekadasi'. The Chief Minister said that the festival spirit will continue for the next 15 days across the State.
Speaking at the launch event, the Chief Minister said that about 30.75 lakh beneficiaries have been identified across the State, of which 28.30 lakh houses will be given under 17,000 YSR Jagananna layouts and another 2.62 lakh are TIDCO flats.
"We are not constructing just 'houses' for poor, we are constructing towns," said the Chief Minister adding that the government will take up the construction of 28.30 lakh houses at a total cost of Rs 50,940 Crore, while in the first phase 15.60 lakh houses will be commenced from Friday at a cost of Rs 28,000 crore and the remaining 12.70 lakh houses will commence from next year.
Although the State government wanted to handover registered pattas to the beneficiaries but due to the court cases, all the beneficiaries are being given D-form pattas, and once the legal cases are resolved, land deeds will be handed over, in the name of women beneficiaries. All the beneficiaries will be given 1.5 cents in rural areas and one cent in urban areas.
In regard to this project, the Chief Minister said that the government had acquired 68,361 acres of land worth Rs 23,535 crore, where each beneficiary will receive land costing around Rs 4 lakh.
Stating that three options were given to the beneficiaries for the construction of their houses, he said they can choose either one. In the first option, the entire building material and labour charges will be given by the government, where the beneficiary can construct the house as per their choice. In the second option, the beneficiary has to build on their own and has to procure building material and the money will be released in phases. The third option is that the government shall take up the entire responsibility of building the house just like the model house where each house will consist of one bedroom, living room, kitchen, toilet and verandah, with a total plinth area of 340 sq.ft. and will be provided with basic facilities like lights, fans, overhead tank and water connection.
Referring to the TIDCO housing, Jagan Mohan Reddy said that for the first time in the country, a house site patta is being given for just one rupee. He said that the previous TDP government had left a debt of Rs 3,000 crore for constructing 2.62 lakh houses.
In a campaign asking the beneficiaries of TIDCO houses to choose between Chandrababu Naidu's and Jagan's housing schemes, out of 1.43 lakh beneficiaries, only one person had opted for Chandrababu's scheme, where the beneficiary has to pay an amount of Rs 3 lakh, with monthly instalments of Rs 3,000 for 20 years totalling the amount to Rs 7 lakh. But for the remaining, who chose Jagan's scheme, the government shall allocate the 300 sqft houses to the beneficiaries through the agreement of sale by paying just one rupee. Also, the remaining 365 and 430 Sq.ft, houses will be given at 50 per cent subsidy for the poor. The entire TIDCO housing burdens the government about Rs 4237 crore and another Rs 3,000 crore for creating basic infrastructure facilities.
YS Jagan said that the selection of beneficiaries was done in a most transparent manner irrespective of caste, creed and political affiliation. This is a continuous process and still eligible persons can apply and allotment will be done in 90 days. Describing the Komaragiri layout, the Chief Minister stated that 16,681 houses will be coming in this layout consisting of Anganwadi centre, Primary School, High school, bus stand, health clinic, Janata Bazaar, Park and Community hall. The government also decided to plant 13 lakh saplings in all layouts for maintaining a clean and healthy environment.
The Chief Minister asserted that the housing for all project, not only benefits the 30.75 lakh beneficiaries but covers 1.24 crore population (with four members per house), which changes the lives of those families in the State. He said that many small scale, medium scale enterprises and labour will be benefited and lead to great economic activity in the State.
Castigating TDP for creating hurdles in the distribution of house sites and filing PILs even on the eve of the launch, the Chief Minister said the project was supposed to be launched long back but the Opposition leaders moved courts and filed PILs to hold this project. The project was to be launched on Ugadi (March 25) this year, but due to the legal hurdles created by TDP leaders, it went on from Ambedkar Jayanti, YSR Jayanti, Gandhi Jayanti, Independence Day, and finally happened today.
Even today, nearly 10 per cent of the total distribution of about 3.67 lakh houses were stalled due to the court cases, where TDP leaders approached courts and filed PILs.
In Amaravati, they stalled house site distribution citing demographic imbalance as the reason and got a stay from the High Court. If people of all castes, and strata cannot coexist, can we call it a capital city? We will build a capital where people from all walks of life can coexist.
Citing the 44th amendment of the Constitution of India in 1978, the Chief Minister said that the constitution has given a legal right for the property, but today in this given critical situation there arises doubt over its implementation due to cheap politics of opposition leaders.