Left, Jana Sena allege fraud in housing scheme

Vijayawada: CPM State leader Ch Babu Rao alleged that the TDP government was cheating people in the name of ‘House for All’ scheme to grab the votes of poor. He termed the housing scheme at Jakkampudi hilly area as a big fraud and dishonesty towards the poor.

The leaders of CPM, CPI and Jana Sena inspected the construction quality of houses and other aspects at Jakkampudi on Thursday. Babu Rao said that the plaque for the housing project was laid by Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu in 2014. Since then, not a single house was handed over to the beneficiaries.

When the government did not construct the houses in two-and-a-half years, how could it build in two-and-a-half months, he wondered. He said that the CPI, CPM and Jana Sena Party would expose the fraud in the housing schemes.

There were about 50,000 homeless poor under the VMC limits. However, only 28,152 houses were sanctioned, and tenders were called for only 10,625 houses.

The government had to show land for constructing 8,496 houses at Jakkampudi. But the foundation stone was laid for only 6,000 houses. He said that construction work was started for only 1,104 houses. At this stage, how many decades will it take for the government to complete 50,000 houses, questioned Babu Rao.

He blamed the government for increasing the share of beneficiaries by 40 to 60 per cent mounting additional burden on them. He alleged that the
TDP MLAs and middlemen were cheating the poor homeless people by collecting Rs 50,000 to Rs 2 lakh on the housing schemes.