MA&UD Minister Narayana orders inquiry into ‘massive irregularities’ in TIDCO housing scheme 

Implementation of the scheme during the YSRCP rule was replete with swindling of funds, besides ineligible beneficiaries were onboarded and a large number of eligible ones removed, says Narayana

Municipal Administration & Urban Development (MA&UD) Minister P. Narayana announced in the Legislative Assembly on November 16, 2024 (Saturday) that he was ordering an investigation into the large-scale irregularities that had taken place in the selection of beneficiaries of TIDCO (AP Township & Infrastructure Development Corporation) houses during the YSR Congress Party (YSRCP) rule in 2019-24.

Dues to contractors

Participating in a short discussion on ‘Implementation of PMAY Scheme in the State by AP-TIDCO – Problems of contractors and beneficiaries’, Mr. Narayana said the TIDCO housing scheme was replete with swindling of funds, and the previous government owed ₹540 crore to the contractors for works done by them. A committee comprising chief engineers was being formed to sort out their issues.

An additional ₹5,200 crore was needed to provide infrastructure for the TIDCO houses, for which efforts were being made to secure loans from HUDCO and various banks, he said.

Mr. Narayana recalled that during the TDP term in 2014-19, low-cost housing models in other countries had been studied and approvals were obtained from the Central government for 7,00,148 houses. A sum of ₹1.50 lakh each was contributed by the Central and State governments for the construction of the houses, and ₹90,000 was provided per house to create basic infrastructure.

Administrative sanction was given for five lakh houses in the first phase and, by May 2019, the construction of 77,370 houses was completed. However, the YSRCP government had limited the project scope to 2,62,216 houses without justifiable reasons.

Shear wall technology

The Minister said the houses were built using shear wall technology during the TDP regime, and it caught the attention of officials from seven States. On the other hand, there was total chaos in the project implementation during the YSRCP rule as payment structures were modified and bills kept pending. Everything else was in disarray as the then government lacked the planning required for smooth execution of the project, the Minister said.

Not only ineligible beneficiaries were onboarded, a large number of eligible ones were removed, and the money payable by the State to the banks was withheld.

“A comprehensive inquiry will be conducted into the whole gamut of issues,” Mr. Narayana said, in his reply to the points raised by 18 MLAs of the NDA allies.

Published - November 16, 2024 08:29 pm IST