Jagan launches housing scheme Jagananna Sampoorna Gruha Hakku

Amravati: Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister Y.S Jagan Mohan Reddy celebrated his 49th birthday on Tuesday by launching the Jagananna Sampoorna Gruha Hakku (one-time settlement) scheme in Tanuku town of West Godavari district. Over 52 lakh families will get homes under the scheme.

The Chief Minister said that in the last 30 months, the government has credited Rs 1.16 lakh crore to people through direct benefit transfer (DBT) under various welfare initiatives. "Why would I take money from the poor in the name of OTS when over Rs. 1.16 lakh crore has been provided through various schemes?" he said and asked people to question Opposition parties about the same.

Jagan said that so far only dwelling rights were provided to the people but now they will get complete rights with registered titles of their houses. This will allow the beneficiaries to pass it down to the next generation as an asset or avail bank loans or sell their property at the market rate without any hassles.

"The government is waiving off the Rs. 10,000 crore outstanding housing loans of 40 lakh beneficiaries who availed loans from the AP Housing Board Corporation since 2011. Beneficiaries will get house documents with clear titles with free registration and it will benefit 52 lakh people," he explained.

As part of the scheme, the Chief Minister distributed registered documents to 8.26 lakh people who have enrolled for OTS. Similarly, people who have constructed houses in government allotted lands with their own money but don't have full rights can avail registration by paying just Rs. 10 and secure their property. For free registrations alone the government has been spending Rs. 6,000 crore, Jagan said.

He added that the entire value of the assets would be around Rs. 1,58,000 crore and the beneficiaries can avail of the scheme by paying nominal amounts of Rs. 10,000 in villages, Rs. 15,000 in municipalities, and Rs. 20,000 in municipal corporations. In case the loan amount is less than the stipulated amounts, the beneficiaries can then pay the outstanding loan amount and get complete rights on their property, he said and added that the scheme has been extended up to Ugadi (2 April).

Taking a dig at Opposition leader N. Chandrababu Naidu and a few media houses, Jagan said they were not able to bear the good initiatives that are being provided to the poor and questioned why the previous TDP government did not implement the schemes when it was in power.