Revenue and Housing Minister Ponguleti Srinivas Reddy said that the Telangana government was awaiting the Centre’s share of funds for the ambitious Indiramma housing scheme and asserted that the State would bear the financial burden if the Union Government failed to release the amount within the next few weeks.

In an informal chat with reporters on Saturday, he said that the State had been waiting since March for the Centre to release its contribution of around ₹1.13 lakh per house under the Indiramma housing. He said that the final bill payments to beneficiaries were temporarily withheld in anticipation of the Central assistance.

Despite repeated representations by Chief Minister A. Revanth Reddy and himself, the Centre had not sanctioned even a single rural house for Telangana so far.

The Minister said over 3.5 lakh houses had been sanctioned in the first phase of the Indiramma housing scheme, of which nearly 1.32 lakh houses had already been completed. Another 68,000 to 72,000 houses are expected to reach slab level by the end of June.

The second phase of the Indiramma housing scheme would be launched by the Chief Minister in Adilabad on June 2. The government is also planning to extend relaxations in the second phase by considering partially constructed houses for assistance under the scheme.

The Minister said the government planned to undertake joint surveys to permanently resolve inter-departmental land disputes and launch comprehensive surveys in 70 revenue villages in every district. The State has also initiated steps to address technical issues in registration offices by introducing a new software at ₹14.08 crore, which is expected to be operational within the next three to four months.

The Minister alleged that the previous K. Chandrasekhar Rao government had increased land prices twice within six months in an “unscientific manner” in 2022. The Congress government, he said, was revising land values scientifically based on expert recommendations.

A survey reportedly found that nearly 16,000 out of 38,000 selected beneficiaries had not occupied the allotted houses in Hyderabad. He also said the government was exploring “one-plus-one” housing models for brothers constructing houses on the same plot and considering redevelopment of old colonies such as Vambay and Rajiv Gruhakalpa, where buildings have become structurally weak.