Telangana will prioritise 59,000 hut dwellers for homes under the second phase of the Indiramma housing scheme, Housing Minister Ponguleti Srinivas Reddy told the state Assembly on Thursday. He also said the government would spend more than ₹40,000 crore on around eight lakh houses across the scheme’s two phases and would avoid relocating poor families far from their sources of livelihood.
Responding to questions from legislators, Ponguleti said Indiramma houses were being sanctioned by treating each Assembly constituency as a separate unit. The approach, he said, was intended to ensure that eligible residents received homes in areas connected to their existing livelihoods, rather than being shifted 30 to 40 km away.
The minister said the government was physically verifying beneficiaries selected through the draw process by visiting their homes. If people from other constituencies were found to have been selected, their names would be removed from the list, he said. The government was also seeking to ensure transparency in beneficiary selection, after the minister criticised the previous practice of allocating houses on political considerations.
Under the financial structure outlined in the Assembly, the first phase covers 4.5 lakh houses and is expected to require about ₹22,500 crore. The second phase covers 2.5 lakh houses, with an estimated requirement of ₹11,000 crore. A further one lakh houses in urban areas are expected to cost approximately ₹5,500 crore. Together, the two phases would cover around eight lakh houses and require more than ₹40,000 crore from the state government.
Ponguleti said the government was providing ₹5 lakh in assistance for construction under the scheme. Several legislators had argued that the amount was insufficient, and the minister said the government would examine the issue positively. He did not announce a revised assistance amount.
The minister also said about 3,200 houses approved during the first phase had stalled because of minor construction deficiencies. Those cases had been regularised and cleared, with payments expected to be released to the beneficiaries by the end of the week, according to his statement.
The government is separately identifying lands earmarked for poor families during the period of united Andhra Pradesh, along with land that had been acquired but not allotted. Ponguleti said district collectors had been instructed to allot those sites to eligible beneficiaries in their respective constituencies within a month.
