HYDERABAD: Chief Minister Y. S. Rajasekhara Reddy declared in the Assembly on Tuesday that the Government was determined to provide houses to all the shelterless in three years.

Intervening during heated arguments during question hour, the Chief Minister admitted that many persons who were issued pattas were not able to construct houses as they lacked funds. There was also no coordination between the housing programme and the issue of pattas.

PJR on the offensive

A lot of heat was generated as the entire Opposition and a senior Congress member, P. Janardhan Reddy, criticised the Government's decision to temporarily halt distribution of house-site pattas to the poor in Hyderabad and Ranga Reddy districts. TDP members repeatedly interrupted the Chief Minister when he tried to give a reply.

Earlier, replying to the main question, Revenue Minister Dharmana Prasada Rao told Ch. Venkata Reddy (CPI) that Collectors had been instructed to give pattas to the eligible poor, subject to availability of Government land, excluding Hyderabad and Ranga Reddy districts.

Intervening, Dr. Reddy said a lot of corruption took place in the housing programme during the TDP regime and there were such instances even now. To prevent this misuse, the Government had suspended two works inspectors and a divisional engineer after money was drawn for 300 to 400 houses without constructing them in Warangal district.

Congress' achievements

He said 13 lakh houses were constructed during TDP rule but still an estimated 40 lakh families were shelterless. In tune with the Congress party's poll promise, the Government had built 6.5 lakh houses in the first year and planned another eight lakhs this year.

As the demand was growing, the housing programme was being taken up in a demand-driven manner to saturate one-third villages and wards in every mandal/town under Indiramma, he said. The list of beneficiaries would be placed before gram sabhas and construction of houses would begin in March.

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