Time stands still for Aasare beneficiaries

The homes have been ready for occupation for three months now. The government has so far handed over house keys to 13,631 beneficiaries.

On Tuesday, the chief minister’s office issued a direction to the deputy commissioners (DCs) to get the houses inaugurated by either the district incharge ministers or the local MLAs. Chief Minister D V Sadananda Gowda made an announcement to this effect on Wednesday at a meet-the-press programme.

The State government has set a target of constructing 58,655 houses for the flood-affected in 14 districts which faced floods in October 2009. Due to political instability, the process of handing over the houses had taken a beating.

B S Yeddyurappa had inaugurated houses in Raichur three months ago when he was the
chief minister. Subsequently, he had directed the district incharge ministers to hand over the houses to the beneficiaries, as it would not be possible for him to be there for every inauguration.  

However, with instability facing the Yeddyurappa government, especially in anticipation of the Lokayukta report on illegal mining, none of the ministers executed this responsibility. On top of it, with the resignation of Yeddyurappa and formation of a new cabinet, there were no district in-charge ministers for 20 days.

People in most districts complained it was becoming difficult to get the ministers to inaugurate the houses. Hence, the chief minister has directed the DCs to ensure that the houses are handed over soon.

As many as 1,024 houses in Koppal and 1,682 houses constructed in Bagalkot are yet to be handed over.

Officials in the Belgaum DC office said, despite letters having been written to the district incharge minister, 861 houses are pending inauguration.

The district administrations of Gulbarga, Yadgir, Gadag and Raichur have similar reasons for houses not being inaugurated.