KCR Waives Arrears Worth Rs.3,920 Crore, Wins Friends

Hyderabad: Telangana Chief Minister K. Chandrasekhar Rao on Tuesday announced waiving of Rs 3,920 crore arrears owed by beneficiaries of the weaker sections housing scheme and the Rajiv Gruhakalpa scheme.

This decision seemed to split the opposition as Jana Reddy from the Congress thanked KCR for the waiver while Shabbir Ali of the TDP accused the government of shielding the corrupt from the earlier regime who had now joined the TDP.

KCR disclosed that going forward there was no question of reviving the Housing Corporation and that the state government would only construct 2BHK houses from now on. “Closing this corporation which is riddled with corruption is a policy decision,” Mr Rao told the Assembly.

He said that the government would build the 2.6 lakh 2BHK houses before the next elections. The tender process was going on and had been finalised for 14,224 houses of which 1,217 had been constructed.

He revealed that contractors were hesitating to apply for the 2BHK house tenders as they were busy with Mission Kakatiya, Mission Bhagiratha, irrigation projects and roads construction. Given that the margin for building 2BHK houses was not much, the government was holding parleys with contractors and major companies to take up the construction as a social responsibility.

KCR said the government would supply sand free of cost for the construction and had already entered into MoUs with 31 companies to buy cement at Rs 230 a bag.

He said there was no shortage of funds as the state government had allotted Rs 17,660 crore for the purpose and the Centre had agreed to give Rs 1.5 lakh per house.

Later, Opposition leader K. Jana Reddy said the Congress government had taken an informal decision not to collect the arrears, and thanked Mr Rao for waving them.

Speaking in the Council, Leader of the Opposition in Council Mohd Ali Shabbir said, against the promise of 2 lakh houses per annum and 10 lakh houses in five years, the government had constructed a mere 300 flats in IDH Colony, Hyderabad and about 500 houses in Erravalli and Narasannapet in Siddipet district.

He accused the government of shielding those who joined TRS from Congress involved in irregularities in housing scheme during Congress rule.

The comment led to protests from TRS members.