Even two years after Visakhapatnam was allotted nearly 56,000 housing units under the ‘affordable housing in partnership category’ of the Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana (PMAY), the project still remains a work-in-progress.
According to latest reports, only 28,152 housing units are currently under various stages of construction. The project, which was anyway moving at a snail’s pace, ground to a halt after the shortage of sand hit construction works in and around the city.
Meanwhile, uncertainty looms over the construction of those projects which are yet to be grounded as the land pooling exercise has been put on hold. The housing scheme had attracted applications from nearly two lakh residents of the city, of which around one lakh people were found eligible by officials.
The project has been troubled by repeated delays since its inception. The lack of suitable land pockets has emerged as a major hurdle in the progress of works.
For instance, several assembly constituencies in the city do not have big land pockets for the construction of houses for the beneficiaries of that particular constituency.
The TDP government had attempted to emulate the land pooling exercise practiced in Amaravati in Visakhapatnam’s suburbs. However, no tangible progress has been made on the front after the change of guard few months ago. In the first phase of works, wherein 4,120 units had been sanctioned, nearly 3,800 units have been grounded.