HC notices to govt. over corruption in housing scheme

The Telangana High Court on Friday issued notices to the State government after taking up a letter written by a woman from Mulugu district who alleged that local authorities were collecting huge sums of money in allotment of houses under the State government’s prestigious project, Indiramma Housing Scheme. 

A bench of Justices P. Sam Koshy and Narsinga Rao Nandikonda directed the Chief Secretary, Mulugu district Collector and other officials to file counter affidavits in the matter within three weeks. Thippala Sai Bhavani, a widow from Mulugu district, wrote a letter to the HC stating that there was a big scam in selection of beneficiaries under Indiramma Housing Scheme. She requested the HC to order for a detailed inquiry into the allotment of houses by either CBI or Enforcement Directorate. 

The woman contended that she applied for house under the scheme but the officers at the mandal and village level ignored her plea. The officials concerned declined to consider her application having resorted to fake, fabricated and false survey, she stated. According to her, instead of conducting a genuine survey to identify persons in need of houses among the poor, the officials were collecting money ranging from ₹50,000 to ₹1 lakh for allotment of house under the scheme, she charged. 

The woman stated that local political leaders were accumulating huge sums of money under the guise of the scheme and it had become a perpetual source of income for the political leaders and local authorities. Some of them were even using the money illegally collected from the persons applying for allotment of houses for ‘micro finance loans’ at exorbitant interest rates, the woman stated.