Andhra Pradesh CM Jagan Mohan Reddy launches housing scheme

Mixing old and new schemes and dovetailing them to the Centrally-sponsored housing programme, the Andhra Pradesh government launched the house-sites distribution exercise in East Godavari district on Friday.

Chief Minister Y S Jagan Mohan Reddy, who formally launched the scheme named after his late father and himself as YSR Jagananna Housing Colonies, said the programme would benefit 30.6 lakh people in the state.

"This is a 15-day festival that we have launched today. We will be building not houses but new townships as more than 17,000 of them will be coming up.

In our election manifesto, we promised to build 25 lakh houses but now we will be building 31 lakh houses," the Chief Minister said, addressing a public meeting after unveiling the housing programme pylon at Komaragiri village.

In urban areas, one cent and in rural 1.5 cents of land would be allotted to each beneficiary under the programme and the title deeds would be issued in the name of women.

Full title deeds were not being issued to the beneficiaries now because of an impending litigation in the High Court over the programme.

The state government originally wanted to enable the beneficiaries to sell the units in five years but later changed it following the court intervention.

As many as 28.30 lakh of these houses would be built under the Pradhan Mantri Aawas Yojana for which the Centre will release a grant of Rs 1.50 lakh per unit. The Chief Minister said Rs 50,490 crore would be spent on the construction of houses.

He said the house site distribution was a continuous process and no eligible person would be left out, irrespective of their affiliations. He claimed Rs 23,535 crore worth of land was being given away in the form of house sites. The state government has decided to dovetail it with the MGNREGP that would cover another Rs 30,000 per unit in rural areas.

Only in urban local bodies, the state government would spend the Rs 30,000 per unit besides providing sand free of cost for construction. In the first phase, 15.10 lakh houses will be built and the balance will be taken up in the second phase.

The previous Telugu Desam Party government built 2,68,625 housing units under PMAY, which are now being handed over to the beneficiaries. The Jagan Mohan Reddy government, however, announced it was taking the burden of loan on itself for the dwelling unit of the size 365 sqft.

(Photo Credit: Twitter/AndhraPradeshCM)