Visakhapatnam: Andhra Pradesh Minister for information and housing Kolusu Parthasarathy announced that an additional Rs 3,200 crore has been sanctioned to complete housing works across the state.Speaking to the media after a review meeting held at the collectorate in Visakhapatnam on Friday, the minister criticised the previous government for its negligence, which had delayed the commencement of projects — a situation he said would not recur under the present administration.“This is why we conducted a ground-level assessment of the housing projects and visited two layouts, one in Visakhapatnam and another in Anakapalli district, where we interacted with beneficiaries and officials,” he said.The Naidu government had sanctioned 1.89 lakh houses in the undivided Visakhapatnam district, of which 43,000 have been completed so far. The minister said mistakes in the allotment of houses under PMAY-1 would be rectified, and surplus land would be used to develop new layouts for PMAY-2.At a separate meeting in Pydivada Agraharam in Anakapalli district, Parthasaradhi said an inquiry would be conducted into alleged irregularities in the allotment of houses and selection of layouts under the government housing scheme.The minister was responding to complaints raised by residents of Gidijala in Anandapuram mandal of Visakhapatnam, and Pydivada Agraharam in Anakapalli district.“We are not working for votes. The cause of welfare is important,” he stated.He added that 8,000 houses had been sanctioned across 380 acres in Pydivada Agraharam. “Houses will be sanctioned to deserving families, irrespective of their political affiliations,” he assured.Stating that three cents of land would be given in rural areas and two cents in urban areas, the minister said an additional benefit of Rs 1,50,000 would be given to each SC and BC beneficiary, Rs 50,000 to plain area SCs, and Rs 1 lakh to STs. The top-up benefit was introduced after the Chief Minister observed that these sections lacked funds to build houses, he explained.He warned contractors that failure to deliver houses on schedule would result in cancellation of contracts. Further, the names of ineligible beneficiaries would be removed, with fresh allotments made to those eligible.When MLAs informed the minister of unallotted houses, he directed officials to release them to eligible applicants.Responding to complaints that houses were being allotted to Visakhapatnam residents rather than local applicants, the minister clarified that locals are entitled to receive houses under the PMAY scheme.
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