Pawan urges PM to probe housing scandal in AP

Vijayawada: Jana Sena Party (JSP) leader and actor Pawan Kalyan on Saturday urged Prime Minister Narendra Modi to order thorough investigation by the Central agencies into ‘massive fraud and financial scandal’ in the distribution of house sites and construction of houses for the poor in Andhra Pradesh.

In a letter to PM Modi, he alleged that the Y S Jagan Mohan Reddy government in the state perpetrated the gigantic scandal running into thousands of crores of rupees in the name of distribution of house sites and construction of houses for the poor since June 2019.

“A basic estimate, upon calculating the figures given by the state government itself, exposes a humongous financial misappropriation of Rs 35,141 crore only on purported acquisition of land for the project,” the actor-politician wrote.

The JSP leader said that the swindling in the name of land acquisition has been so high that a ruling party legislator himself sought an inquiry by the state vigilance and enforcement department but the government turned a blind eye.

He alleged that land prices were artificially increased many fold and only paltry amounts were paid to the land owners while the ruling party leaders pocketed the 'extra' money.

Of the total estimated (land and housing) project cost of Rs 1,75,421 crore, the state government claims to have spent a whopping Rs 91,503 crore (till October 2023), which certainly looks dubious, he wrote.

He recalled that the YSRCP government launched ‘Pedalandriki Illu’ (houses for all poor) scheme with the promise of constructing over 30 lakh houses across the state.

As a first step, it sought to distribute house sites to as many as 29,51,858 women beneficiaries.

In reality, however, only 21,87,985 women were eventually given house site pattas (titles).

While 28,544.64 acres of government land was converted into house sites, another 25,374.66 acres was purportedly acquired from private persons.

Pawan Kalyan wrote that while Jagan regime has been claiming that 30 lakh houses are being constructed for the poor, as per official records, the number of houses built in the 17,005 so-called Jagananna layouts is only 12,09,022 under different components.

“In the process, thousands of crores of rupees of public money was misappropriated by the elected people's representatives and other leaders belonging to the ruling YSRCP,” he added.