'Historic betrayal' of weaker sections in house sites distribution: TDP

Amaravati: TDP State President and former Minister K Atchannaidu on Friday accused the Jaganmohan Reddy government of resorting to a historic betrayal of the poor families of the weaker sections and backward classes by perpetrating a 100 percent fraud in the free house sites distribution scheme in the State.

Atchannaidu said that Chief Minister YS Jaganmohan Reddy was spending huge amounts of public money on advertisements only to make bogus claims on distribution of 28 lakh house site pattas to the poor. Field level verifications revealed that 70 percent of these house sites were relating to the government sites that were already in possession of the poor owners. Jagan Reddy was now just giving 'possession certificates' again only to make wrong claims for political mileage.

Addressing a press conference here, the TDP leader demanded a CBI probe into the whole house sites scam. He said that at one village in Tekkali constituency, represented by him in the AP Assembly, the government officially declared that 38 house sites were being given. On verification, it was found that 31 sites were already under occupation by the individual owners. Even the remaining 7 sites were allotted in uninhabitable places.

While 70 percent of the 28 lakh house sites were the poor families' own sites, the remaining 30 percent house sites were given in either burial grounds or on hilltops or in low-lying flood-prone places.

Atchannaidu deplored that even in those 30 percent new house sites, the Chief Minister, his Ministers and his party MLAs committed massive 3-tier fraud that involves looting of over Rs 6,500 crore of public money without fear of the people's heartburn or disapproval.

A Rs 4,000 crore corruption was committed in land acquisition for house sites. Another Rs 2,000 crore fraud took place under the cover of levelling of those lands.

Also, Rs 50,000 or so was illegally collected from the house site beneficiaries which came to a total Rs 500 crore corruption.

With such a 3-pronged massive fraud, the YSRCP rule made a mockery of the poor families in the name of the whole house sites distribution programme.

Atchannaidu demanded that the Chief Minister fulfil his election manifesto promise of giving free houses to all the poor families without linking the housing units with the banks.

The TDP built 9 lakh good quality houses and distributed them to beneficiaries in rural areas. It also built another 5 lakh houses some of which were completed 100 percent with the remaining completed up to 90 percent or 80 percent. The Jagan regime is not giving these houses to the selected beneficiaries for the past 2 years.

The TDP leader slammed the government for its 'ulterior plans' to indulge in collection of the illegal 'J-tax' and to loot public money on a massive scale.