Congress leader disputes T’gana minister’s housing scheme claims

Hyderabad, The war of words between Congress leader Bhatti Vikramarka and Telangana minister T. Srinivas Yadav over construction of houses for the poor in Hyderabad under the state government’s double bed-room housing scheme is still continuing.

A day after the Animal Husbandry Minister released the statistics about the construction of one lakh houses, Congress Legislature Party (CLP) leader Vikramarka termed the government’s statement a pack of lies.

He alleged that there are many discrepancies in the data released by the minister about the works taken up.

The two leaders have been attacking each other ever since the minister accepted the Congress leader’s challenge to show him the houses built in Hyderabad and took him and other Congress leaders around for two days last week to show the works.

Vikramarka, however, alleged that Yadav left mid-way during the joint inspection and this itself shows that the government’s lies are getting exposed.

He told reporters on Tuesday that the hollowness of the government’s claims of constructing one lakh 2-BHK units in Hyderabad is exposed as all they could show only 3,428 houses in Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation (GHMC) limits.

The Congress leader said the Telangana Rashtra Samithi (TRS) government was hoodwinking people by showing the same houses before every election. He alleged that the government again made the claim in view of the ensuing elections to the GHMC.

The Congress leader said the government stated that 1,824 houses were built in the Nampally area but not a single house was built.

Recalling that Chief Minister K. Chandrasekhar Rao had promised in 2016-17 that 10,000 houses will be built in every assembly constituency, he asked as to when the government will construct 2.4 lakh houses in GHMC limits.

Srinivas Yadav on Monday released list of 111 locations where the government took up construction of one lakh 2-BHK houses. He dared Congress leaders to visit all locations before making any allegations.

The minister also stated that construction of some houses under the scheme was taken up outside the city limits due to non-availability of land within the city.

“The Congress leaders want to stretch the issue like a daily serial but I don’t want to waste my time and hence I am releasing the list of 111 locations. Let them visit these places and satisfy themselves,” he said.

The minister claimed that the government completed construction of 632 houses in five locations and handed them over to beneficiaries.

Stating that the construction work was delayed to Covid-19 pandemic, Yadav said remaining houses will be built by September next year. Of this, 74,447 houses will be completed by December this year at 88 locations.

The minister said the government was spending Rs.9,714.59 crore for construction of one lakh houses in Greater Hyderabad.