Telangana BJP has accused the BRS government of indulging in “large-scale corruption and diversion of funds” released by the Centre and the funding agencies for the construction of two-bedroom housing for the poor in the State, on Wednesday.
“The government had received lot of funding including ₹4,400 crore under the PMAY – Prime Minister Awas Yojana; yet the number of houses constructed for the poor has been about one lakh only whereas it had informed in 2015 that the scheme was to build six lakh houses. Where has the money gone?,” questioned senior leaders — former MLA Ch. Ramachandra Reddy, K. Venkateswarlu and others at a press conference.
“There has been total corruption and we are going to expose it across the State gathering details from every polling booth. Protests will be held outside district Collectorates on July 24 with the intended beneficiaries and those from eight districts of the Hyderabad region will hold demonstration at the Indira Park led by our chief G. Kishan Reddy,” they said.
The government had built 1.27 lakh houses in the last nine years, handed over 23,000 houses and 70,000 were under various stages of construction though not a single house has been built in at least 10 districts. “But, it could build Pragati Bhavan, new Secretariat, District Collectorate offices, party offices and others spending hundreds of crores of rupees even while ignoring the poor after enjoying power making all kinds of promises,” charged the party leaders.
With regard to funding for those owning plots, they pointed out that the grant being offered has come down to ₹3 lakh per applicant from the earlier promises of ₹ 5 lakh to ₹6 lakh. “We are not going to keep quiet. We intend to make it a major poll issue. Mr. Kishan Reddy will be visiting Batasingaram tomorrow (Thursday) to do a social audit as the 800 houses handed over are in a pitiable state,” they added.