Indiramma Houses disbursement crosses ₹2,500 crore; 2.25 lakh houses grounded so far

The amount disbursed to the beneficiaries of Indiramma Houses in Telangana has crossed ₹2,500 crore so far. Of around 3 lakh sanctioned, 2.25 lakh houses were grounded (construction has begun) in six months — the pilot project was rolled out this January and construction in all gram panchayats began in May.

Corporation’s Managing Director V.P. Gautham said the scheme is a mix of welfare and development. Besides providing dignified housing, assets too are created for the beneficiaries. It gave a push to the rural economy, creating employment to many, he said addressing a press conference at the Corporation’s office Hyderabad on Tuesday (October 28).

Each beneficiary is provided with financial assistance of ₹5 lakh towards construction of a house in a minimum of 400 sq. ft and maximum of 600 sq. ft area. Though there were requests from various corners to allow construction of the houses in more than 600 sq. ft. area, the condition was not changed.

Mr. Gautham reasoned that this helps in avoiding people who can afford construction, tapping into the scheme; a person constructing a house in over 1000 sq. ft. with ₹20 lakh or any other amount, may try all means to benefit from the scheme and avail ₹5 lakh which makes for a part of the overall amount needed for the construction. He said that if one spends ₹1,250 per sq. ft. construction, the amount needed for over 400 sq ft. house will cross ₹5 lakh and the condition helps people from the poor background to not fall into a debt trap for house construction.

G+1 construction with 323 sq. ft carpet area

However, the State government has recently issued a Government Order (G.O.) allowing construction of the ground plus one floor houses in plot size less than 400 sq. ft., with carpet area not less than 323 sq. ft.

Mr. Gautham said while this applies across the State, the G.O. will be of help to people in urban areas where land is scarce and poor might not have 400 sq. ft land. This change was brought in based on feedback from the ground level. There are some districts where people were selected as a beneficiary but they do not have sufficient land.

Integration with Central schemes

The ₹5 lakh benefit is transferred to the beneficiaries in four installments. The final instalment of ₹1 lakh is yet to be transferred to beneficiaries. While slabs were laid for around 29,000 houses, the corporation will check how many houses were completed.

He said that the scheme is integrated with Central schemes, including Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Act, Swachh Bharat Mission. With this, the State government’s contribution will be ₹3.88 lakh and the remaining through the Central schemes. Beneficiaries will receive the ₹5 lakh benefit amount from multiple sources.

Several beneficiaries did not have the initial amount to begin construction. The Managing Director said that loans of varying amounts were provided to 21,993 beneficiaries towards this end.