Chief Minister Y.S. Jagan Mohan Reddy on Monday instructed officials of the Housing Department to ensure that houses built in Jagananna Housing Colonies and Andhra Pradesh Township and Infrastructure Development Corporation (AP TIDCO) houses were of good quality.
During a review meeting held on the progress of construction of houses in Jagananna colonies, affordable housing structures for the middle-class and TIDCO houses, Mr. Jagan Mohan Reddy directed the officials to expedite construction work.
“I want to ensure quality in the construction materials being provided to beneficiaries and to make quality equipment available for electrification. I want the officials to start work for beneficiaries who chose Option 3 (the option to let the government build the houses) by October 25,” Mr. Jagan Mohan Reddy said. Further, the Chief Minister also added that there should be internet connectivity at the colonies.
Officials informed him that mapping of houses to be built, registration, issual of job cards and geo-tagging are almost complete, where in the districts Srikakulam, Vizianagaram and Guntur over 80% construction works were started in the respective colonies. Through reverse tendering for construction materials, ₹5,120 crore was saved, which is almost ₹32,000 for each house.
In regard to allocating house sites to eligible women in 90 days, as of August 22, there were 3,55,495 new applications for housing. Of these, 1,99,201 are eligible applications and 9,216 applications are pending for verification.
The Chief Minister directed authorities to provide house sites within a 90-day period for all eligible candidates. Reviewing the construction of TIDCO houses, the officials informed the Chief Minister that 85,888 units have been completed in the first phase and will be handed over to beneficiaries by December 2021. They informed that the second phase will be completed by June 2022 and the third phase by December 2022.
The Chief Minister also reviewed the affordable housing scheme for the middle-class in towns and cities, where officials said there was a demand for about 3.94 lakh plots in three categories like 150, 200, and 250 square yards. He instructed officials to prepare a detailed plan of execution and announce it by Dasara.
Authorities informed that three cities have secured Water Plus certification offered by the Union Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs as part of Swachh Bharat Mission Urban, where only nine cities have been selected across the country. Greater Visakhapatnam Municipal Corporation, Vijayawada Municipal Corporation and Tirupati Municipal Corporation have been awarded Water Plus Certificates.
In this regard, the Chief Minister lauded the authorities for achieving Water Plus certificates in three cities across the State and directed them to send guidelines on the best practices for drinking water supply and waste water management to the Collectors and Municipal Commissioners across the State. The Chief Minister said he wanted these guidelines implemented in all municipalities to ensure that every city and municipality in the State reaches the level of certified cities.
Deputy Chief Minister Dharmana Krishnadas, Municipal Administration and Urban Development Minister Botsa Satyanarayana, Housing Minister Cherukuvada Sriranganatha Raju, Chief Secretary Adityanath Das, Land Administration Chief Commissioner Neerabh Kumar Prasad, Housing Special Chief Secretary Ajay Jain, Finance Secretary K.V.V. Satyanarayana, AP TIDCO Managing Director Ch. Sridhar, Housing Secretary Rahul Pandey, and AP State Housing Corporation Limited MD Narayana Bharat Gupta were present.
