Amaravati: Affirming that the Government has taken up housing to the poor in a big way, Chief Minister YS Jagan Mohan Reddy said that they are committed to the initiative despite hurdles being created by Opposition and thus provided 30.76 lakh house sites and mooted construction of 15.60 lakh houses in first phase.

In the short discussion on housing on Thursday, the Chief Minister told the Legislative Assembly that the government has taken it as a prestigious initiative and acquired 71811 acres of land with a market value of Rs 25,000 crores to create an asset of about Rs 4-10 lakh to each beneficiary. As part of the project, about 17005 colonies are being built and in the first phase Rs 28,000 crore was spent for 15.6 lakh houses.

He said that a total of 71 lakh tonnes of cement, 312 lakh tonnes of sand, 7.5 lakh tonnes of steel, 1250 crore bricks will be used for this construction project, which would play a vital role in boosting the rural economy and will be a game changer in increasing GSDP.

Taking a dig at the opposition, he said that Chandrababu Naidu and his Party leaders have tried to a maximum extent to stall the initiative by moving courts, even in Pulivendula, and slowly all the legal tangles are being cleared. He said the housing schemes in TDP term were laden with corruption and inflated costs.

Citing the previous government’s housing module as pathetic, he said that only 215 sq ft house was offered in the past, while the current government is providing a constructed house in an area of 340 sq ft. TDP’s housing scheme burdened the poor, as they need to pay a Rs 3 lakh loan amount for 20 long years with a monthly installment of Rs 3,000.

The Chief Minister said that the government has been implementing the scheme in a transparent manner, without leaving out any eligible beneficiary, where even the public representative can go around confidently in their constituencies.

He said that Rs 32,909 crore is being spent on creating facilities like drinking water, drains, roads power supply, internet, along with schools, hospitals, village secretariats, RBKs, digital libraries which will be established over a period of time. He said that the government is going with centralised procurement for construction materials to reduce the cost and get quality material.