Hyderabad: The Telangana government is set to construct one lakh Indiramma houses in the Inner Ring Road area falling under the Core Urban Region Economy (CURE), covering Quthbullapur, Cyberabad and Hyderabad limits, state Revenue, Housing and Information & Public Relations Minister Ponguleti Srinivas Reddy has said.
Land acquisition for the project will be completed in the next two to three days, following which tenders will be called for, the minister said, adding that the exercise is being carried out on the directions of Chief Minister Revanth Reddy.
As a pilot project, construction will begin in 19 Assembly constituencies within the CURE limits, with 500 to 1,000 houses to be built at each location in the first phase. More houses will be sanctioned in subsequent phases, the minister said.
Ponguleti said the government will not relocate the poor to areas 30 km away from the city for housing, and will instead build homes within the same constituencies where beneficiaries currently live, close to their livelihoods. He said this will hold regardless of land value, even in areas where an acre costs between Rs 100 crore and Rs 200 crore.
The minister also referred to 125 houses left incomplete in the Dhoolpet area under the previous government, stating that these are now being completed and handed over, with the Collector directed to identify additional land nearby for the remaining eligible beneficiaries.
Ponguleti reiterated his earlier challenge that the Congress government would construct more houses in two and a half years than the BRS government built in ten years, saying he would not contest the next elections if this is not achieved. He said there has been no response yet from BRS leaders on this challenge.
He also accused the previous BRS government of using the pretext of large infrastructure projects for corruption, claiming it saw no political benefit in building houses for the poor, while the Congress government is using the same funds to build homes for them.
The minister made these remarks while participating in a programme to distribute double-bedroom house pattas to beneficiaries in the Goshamahal Assembly constituency, along with ministers Ponnam Prabhakar and Mohammed Azharuddin, and MLA Raja Singh. He said a hut-free Telangana remains the Congress government’s target, to be achieved through the Indiramma housing scheme.
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