Housing Minister V Somanna announced that Chief Minister BS Yediyurappa will hand over 5,000 houses to people below the poverty line (BPL) in Bengaluru on August 15.
After attending a meeting with officials from the revenue department and the Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike (BBMP) officials, at Vidhana Soudha, Minister Somanna said that they discussed handing over 445 acres of the government’s land to the Rajiv Gandhi Housing Corporation to implement the Prime Minister’s Housing Scheme.
“The construction of 46,000 multi-storied houses on 316 acres of land, under the One Lakh Housing Scheme, is in various stages. The Chief Minister will hand over 5,000 houses to the poor on August 15,’’ said the minister.
The minister also said that all the Members of the Legislative Assembly (MLAs) of Bengaluru will be given an opportunity to handover 50 per cent of the houses to those below the poverty line.
He added that these shelters are being provided to the poor at affordable costs. “The cost of each house has been reduced to Rs 5 lakh from the fixed price of Rs 7 lakh. We are discussing bringing down the cost further, to Rs 4.20 lakh for the Scheduled Caste.
I will not tolerate delay or negligence of officials in allocating houses to the poor people. Stringent action will be taken against such officials,’’ the Housing Minister said.
The minister also said that the Karnataka Slum Development Board has taken up the construction of 1.8 lakh houses and the construction is still in progress. “I expect the construction of these houses to be completed in a year. Local organisations have also taken up the construction of 70,000 houses in different cities,’’ he added.
