Hyderabad, July 16:- Chief Minister Dr Y S Rajasekhara Reddy on Thursday said that the government’s top priority is to provide basic infrastructure facilities to poor people.
Distributing Rajiv Gandhi housing title deeds to beneficiaries at NTR stadium here on Thursday, he announced that his government was contemplating building 80,000 pucca houses in the state, in phases, as part of his ambition to make the state ‘hut-free’.
He asked the officials to identify land for the housing scheme. ‘‘Land or funds will not hinder the housing programme,’’ he said. While independent houses will be offered in rural areas, flats will be offered in urban centres, he added.
He stated that the entire housing scheme is being implemented in two modes—Indiramma and Rajiv Swagrugha—in the state offering houses to the poor and middle classes. The entire programme is drafted with a subsidy-cum-loan, where the government will play the role of hand-holder for poor beneficiaries.
Reddy, who had created a history of sorts by announcing a mammoth programme for irrigation projects which are being implemented, is once again making such an attempt.
While the erstwhile Telugu Desam Government had built 27.51 lakh houses during its nine-year tenure, the Congress has constructed 11 lakh houses in the last three years and about 10.5 lakh houses have been completed in the phase I of the Indiramma housing scheme.
The government has already initiated phase II of the Indiramma programme targeting about 22 lakh houses, while the remaining will be constructed in phase III. Further, to speed up housing activity, the government has created 3,500 teams, drafting about 21,000 officers and about 50,000 ministerial staff from other wings.
He said the government will provide training to poor people in vocational courses to come up economically in life.