RTI reveals mirage of 2BR houses

The Hans India‎‎: Telangana: Saturday, October 22, 2016.

The much-publicised programme of two-bedroom houses for the poor in Telangana has turned out to be a mirage. The information gathered by an activist Ganji Srinivas Rao through the Right to Information Act proved it beyond doubt.

Chief Minister K Chandrashekar Rao announced on May 31, 2016, that two-bedroom houses project had been undertaken for the poor to live with self-respect and a target has been set to construct two lakh bedroom houses during 2016-17 financial year.

Subsequently, the Housing Department has sent proposals to the Finance Department for the allocation of Rs 13,000 crore for the construction of houses.

However, the poor people did not know how to apply for the two-bedroom house and if at all applied they do not know how to get the allotment of house under the scheme.

RTI activist Ganji Srinivasa Rao in a series of applications under the provisions brought out the startling truths regarding two-bedroom housing scheme.

It appears that there is a wide gap between the objectives of the Chief Minister and the implementation by the officials if one goes through the information Srinivasa Rao received from the office of the Project Director (Housing).

The information reveals that there are hardly any guidelines from the government to receive applications from the beneficiaries for two-bedroom houses.

The RTI activist has sent applications to the public information officers of ten districts under the RTI Act demanding information regarding two-bedroom housing scheme.

However, the very few district officials responded immediately and not a public information officer has given identical information. It shows that there are no clear guidelines regarding the housing scheme at all.

For instance, the public information officers (PIOs) of District Project officer (Housing) provided information in all the districts except Medak. The PIO of Medak informed that the information was available with the Executive Engineer of TSEWIDC, Medak. In Warangal district, the information regarding the beneficiaries was available with Tahsildars and municipal corporation officials.

The RTI activist wanted to know as to how many applications were received for the two-bedroom houses, the eligibility of applicants, the government guidelines to receive applications, the criterion including guidelines, rules and regulations taken up by the Revenue officials.

According to the PIO of Hyderabad Collectorate in their reply on 28-04-2016, they received 45,000 applications for two-bedroom houses. The beneficiary should be white ration cardholder and all the members of the family should be below the poverty line and they should not own a house.

It was also stated that the government did not issue guidelines to receive applications. However, for the guidelines, the applicant may see the GO 10 of 15-10-2015, GO 12 of 26-11-2015.

The Ranga Reddy Collectorate after receiving the RTI application forwarded to the project officer of Rajiv Griha Kalpa (RGK). However, the project officer never responded to the RTI application.

The Medak Collectorate reacted in a different way. The PIO forwarded the RTI application to the Project Director (Housing) on 18-04-2016.

The Project officer on 27-04-2016 informed the RTI applicant that the information could be obtained from the executive engineer of TSEWIDC, Medak and forwarded the application to that office.

Surprisingly, the officials of the district represented by the Chief Minister did not know information regarding two-bedroom houses.

The Mahbubnagar Collectorate promptly forwarded the RTI application to the Project Officer (Housing) who stated in his reply that his office do not receive any applications for housing directly from people.

However, the people may submit applications to the Tahsildar concerned or municipal officials during the Gram Sabhas. He also stated that rules under the GOs 8, 10 and 12 are applicable for two-bedroom houses.

In Karimnagar, the Collectorate forwarded the application to the Project Director (Housing) who collected Rs 76 for sending the GOs 8, 10 and 12. He stated in his cryptic reply that they have received 93,435 applications for houses throughout the district.

The Adilabad Collectorate forwarded the RTI application to the Project Officer (Housing) who did not respond to the application so far.

In Nalgonda, the Project Director (Housing) who received the RTI application forwarded by the Collectorate stated the number of applications they received constituency-wise.

In Khammam district, the project director, after receiving RTI application from the Collectorate, stated that they have received 672 applications for two-bedroom houses as on March 31, 2016.

In Warangal district, the Collectorate forwarded the RTI application to tahsildars of all mandals and the municipal commissioner of Warangal Municipal Corporation and the Project Director (Housing) on 23-04-2016.

The project director simply sent the GOs. Only three Tahsildars Chennaraopet (3,364), Govindarao Pet (6,000) and Parvatagiri (4,080) responded to the district collector orders and supplied information. In Nizamabad district, the project director responded stating that they have received 81,392 applications.