K T Rama Rao admits that one lakh houses promised to people would not be sufficient to cover all eligible applicants

Municipal Administration and Urban Development Minister KT Rama Rao said the construction of one lakh houses in 111 locations across Hyderabad, taken up at a cost of Rs 9,714 crore, is fast nearing completion.

The Minister reiterated that the double-bedroom Dignity Housing scheme is a one-of-its-kind initiative in the country aimed at providing houses for the poor free of cost. He said the houses would meet the urban family requirements and had excellent community infrastructure like roads, drains, streetlights, water supply, community hall, commercial centre, etc.

Earlier, addressing the public after inaugurating the double-bedroom complexes in Hyderabad on Monday, the Minister said he would send details pertaining to the locations of the 2BHK houses along with the photographs to opposition leaders who had been wondering where the one lakh houses were built in Hyderabad. “But if the Opposition leaders choose to close their eyes and still claim that they could not find these houses, we cannot help them,” he said.

Rama Rao admitted that one lakh houses promised to people would not be



sufficient to cover all eligible applicants in Hyderabad and indicated that it was a continuous process. He recalled that former Chief Minister NT Rama Rao started the weaker section housing scheme in the erstwhile Andhra Pradesh and later, the successive governments led by the Congress and other political parties too had claimed to have constructed such houses. “People are well aware of the matchbox-sized houses and the scams that these leaders have committed,” he said.

He lambasted the Opposition parties for their false claims and stated that if one considers all claims of the successive governments, there should be total 45 lakh weaker section housing units in the last 35 years in Hyderabad city alone. “If such was the case, there should be no poor person without a house in Hyderabad. But it is clear that there was some sort of a scam and there are irregularities,” he said. He said when he went to Varikolu in the Parkal constituency, he was informed that about 550 houses were sanctioned to the single village. However, he could not even find five houses on the ground.