Chikkamagaluru: Housing and Infrastructure Development Minister V. Somanna has lashed out at the officials for not achieving the target set under various housing schemes.
Presiding over the progress review meeting of various housing schemes organised at the Zilla Panchayat Nazeer Saab auditorium here, he addressed the officials as ‘Gowda, Parashu, Biligiri’ at one point of time. The Housing Project is yet to be completed in this period of three months. How much money is required to complete the project and it is ready to be released, he asked.
He said the target can be achieved within a time frame if the authorities work diligently.
MLA C.T. Ravi said that 800 houses have been constructed in the City by the Slum Clearance Board, out of which only 120 house work has started while tender has been floated for the construction of 1511 G plus 2 houses under Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana. Of these, 600 houses are to be completed by 2022 and the remaining houses by 2024. However, it was brought to the notice of the meeting that 25 per cent of the houses have not been completed so far, he said.
In addition, 69 houses of the Dongri-Garesian community have been submerged but the work is yet to start. Those who have lost their homes due to heavy rains have been included from Category B to C Category which should be corrected, he said. He appealed that the problem of the landless should be resolved in Ajjanahatti and said that the contractors are the problem here.
Minister Somanna, who heard the problems, summoned the officials concerned in one sentence and asked them what were they doing so long. The Minister did not agree with the officials and asked the contractor, Srikanth Bandi, to pick him up wherever he was and get him to Bengaluru by tomorrow. “We have allotted 1 lakh plots in the State. We have added three housing projects under one roof and named Asare, he said.
He said the Government’s achievement was that the income limit of Rs. 37,000 in rural areas has been raised to Rs 1.20 lakh and in urban areas to Rs 3 lakh.
