Kakinada: The housing activity under the Rajiv Gruha Kalpa scheme is in full swing with work on 11,490 units going on as per schedule, said RVV Satyanarayana, District Manager, Andhra Pradesh Housing Corporation here on Tuesday. He said there was great demand for these houses from the lower middle class. Most of the units were located in prime areas. He said tenders were called and work was entrusted to contractors for 6,744 houses.

For the remaining units, finalisation of tenders was in progress. Of the total cost of Rs. 82,500 for each housing unit, he said, the beneficiary's contribution was Rs.8,000. Bank loans took care of a major chunk of the rest. Vital infrastructure such as roads, drainage and electricity would be provided by the Government. The role of the housing corporation, he said, was to entrust the construction to contractors and ensure quality work. He said all the Rajiv Gruha Kalpa houses would be completed by October.

`Repay on time'

Making it clear that no subsidy component is involved in the cost of the housing unit, he said the beneficiary should repay the loan as per agreement between the housing corporation, bankers and beneficiaries. In case of default of payment for three successive instalments, he said, the beneficiary would face the risk of foregoing the right on the house and the banker is free to allot the same to other in open auction. On urban housing for people below poverty line, Mr Satyanarayana conceded that the progress was not encouraging. As against 9,516 houses allotted to the district, he said, only 749 could be sanctioned till now. He attributed the tardy progress to the roster system with very few takers from SC/ST categories to whom forty per cent of houses were earmarked. Of the total cost of Rs.40,000 of each house, he said, Rs.3,000 was subsidy, Rs.35,000 bank loan and the beneficiary's contribution was Rs.2,000.

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