Complete houses for victims before October 12: CM

Hyderabad, March 26 (INN): Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu on Thursday directed officials to ensure completion of houses for Cyclone-hit people of Visakhapatnam, Vizianagaram and Srikakulam before October 12 this year.

In a review meeting on public housing here at Secretariat, the Chief Minister expressed dissatisfaction over the haphazard manner in which houses were built in the last 10 years.

Stating that the quality of houses has been of low quality, the Chief Minister said that the previous government did not focus on making houses liveable for people. 'Most of the houses seem congested and have been built without planning,' the Chief Minister rued.

The Chief Minister directed housing department officials to identify and weed out bogus beneficiaries who got houses constructed in the last 10 years. He emphasized on studying best practices of public housing across the world and constructing similar models.

'The newly constructed houses should make people live instead of drive them away. They should be of good quality, permanent structures and should have re-sale value,' the Chief Minister added.

Suggesting officials to take to pre-stressed, pre-fabricated models of houses, the Chief Minister said the houses should also be able to resist disasters.

He directed officials to explore options on getting the beneficiaries to contribute 1/4th of the total cost. 'For instance, each house including all facilities costs about Rs 4 lakh. The beneficiary could beat 1/4th of its cost,' he added.

Given that Power Finance Corporation (PFC) has donated Rs 140 crore for the construction of 7,000 houses, the Chief Minister was informed by officials that the construction of 4,500 of these houses will begin soon.

The first unit, once completed, would be inspected by an expert committee on housing and will choose the best model. 'This model of public housing will be encouraged,' the Chief Minister was informed.

Currently, about 1.33 lakh houses are at lental level, the Chief Minister was told. He asked officials to complete the construction of these houses immediately.

The Chief Minister said that the Group of Ministers will inspect the construction of houses regularly.

Ministers Yanamala Ramakrishnudu, Pratipati Pulla Rao, Mrunalini, Acchan Naidu, Peethala Sujatha, secretary to CM Sai Prasad and Joint secretary to CM Pradhyumna and housing officials were present at the meeting.