Housing Minister Kolusu Parthasarathy.
| Photo Credit: File Photo
Minister for Housing Kolusu Parthasarathy asserted that the TDP founder and former Chief Minister N.T. Rama Rao had pioneered housing for the poor, and Chief Minister N. Chandrababu Naidu kept up the legacy.
He recalled that Andhra Pradesh was the first State to have permanent houses built for the poor during the reign of NTR.
Participating in a discussion on the demand for grants to the Housing Department in the Legislative Assembly on Friday, Mr. Parthasarathy said Mr. Naidu had allocated a sum of ₹15,000 crore for housing in 2014-19. A total of 12 lakh houses were sanctioned under the Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana (PMAY) between 2014 and 2019.
Out of 10 lakh NTR houses, 4.75 lakh were completed, and out of seven lakh TIDCO houses, 2.50 lakh were finished.
The Minister alleged that the YSRCP Government had wasted about ₹18,000 crore by giving one-cent land in urban areas and two cents in rural areas for housing in places that were uninhabitable.
Even basic infrastructure was not created in those colonies. The YSRCP Government had reduced the ₹2.50 lakh, which the TDP Government allocated per house, to ₹1.80 lakh. A sum of ₹3,760 crore meant for the construction of houses for the weaker sections was diverted in 2019-24, he said.
Under PMAY 2.0, a survey was being conducted to provide 53,950 houses starting in March, and proposals for an additional four lakh houses were prepared, Mr. Parthasarathy added.
Published – March 08, 2025 08:04 am IST