Telangana to complete the consturction of 2.60 lakh houses this year

The Telangana government has come up with an action plan to complete the construction of 2.60 lakh houses on war footing by the end of this year.     

As a first step, the government has decided to come up with more flexible guidelines to encourage the contractors who were not willing to take up the project due to lesser profit margin.It has already announced that agencies would be offered sand free of cost, cement at factory prices and supply fly-ash for cement bricks used in the construction.    

The cabinet subcommittee headed by Housing Minister A Indrakaran Reddy, which met here on Monday, reviewed the scheme and took note of the problems causing delay in the implementation.It has decided that funds for the project should be kept at the disposal of the District Collector and they should be given all powers to execute the scheme speedily. 

The Collectors will also



be responsible for identifying the beneficiaries. They have been told to complete the tender process by the end of February.The subcommittee felt that  the expenditure incurred on each house would come down by Rs  50,000 by providing sand free of cost,  cement at Rs 230 per 50 kg bag and extend subsidies provided for the construction of  toilets to the contractors.    

The minister said that the NTPC (National Thermal Power Corporation) had agreed to supply fly-ash free of cost to make cement bricks being used at the project sites.  

The appointment of a Nodal Officer to monitor the housing scheme and supply of sand to the neighbouring districts was also discussed at the meeting. 

The committee members - T Harish Rao, G Jagadeesh Reddy, P Mahendar Reddy and Mission Bhageeratha Vice Chairman V Prashant Reddy were also present in the meeting.