Housing scheme launched amidst criticisms, accusations

Dismissing allegations that the ‘Innovative Housing Scheme’ was a poll gimmick, medical education and district-in-charge minister S A Ramdas distributed applications for potential beneficiaries of the scheme today.

In the first phase of the scheme, 6,000 applications will be distributed for the beneficiaries in K R constituency, represented by the Minister. Each house will have an area of 300 sqft with one large hall, one bathroom, one room and a sit out, Ramdas said.

He said that 60 acres of land has been ear-marked for the project, which is being launched for the first time in the State. The houses are meant for people residing in rented houses and with income below Rs 84,000. If false income certificates are furnished to avail the benefits of the scheme, a criminal case will be lodged, he said.

The houses will be built at an expense of Rs 6.75 lakh each, of which 2.75 lakhs will be funded by the Centre. The rest of the amount will have to paid by the beneficiaries by availing bank loans.

The beneficiaries of the project will include people with disabilities, widows, parents with students studying in government schools, auto-drivers and ex-servicemen. He said that depending on the success of the scheme launched on a pilot basis, the scheme will be launched in all districts of the state.

The scheme has indeed caught the fancy of the potential beneficiaries who had gathered in large numbers to avail applications available at the Citizen Service Centre and Zonal Office of Mysore City Corporation, K R Mohalla, leading to jostling and pushing, creating confusion and chaos for a while. Police had to resort to mild caning to calm down the crowd.

Stadium works launched

Ramdas laid the cornerstone for works worth Rs 12.53 crore at Chamundi Vihar stadium here on Monday. A synthetic track worth Rs 3.15 crore, sports complex worth Rs 1.41 crore, swimming pool worth Rs 3.62 crore, wooden floor worth Rs one crore, a hockey turf worth Rs 2.85 crore and a ‘Garadi Mane’ worth Rs 50 lakh are among the projects to come up in the stadium.

Title deeds

He also said that title deeds for the 4,500 beneficiaries of Ashraya scheme will be distributed during chief minister’s visit to the district on March 21.

Complaint to EC

Alleging that the Innovative Housing scheme was a “poll gimmick” to woo voters during the Assembly polls, H V Rajeev, President of District Cooperative Union and KJP leader said that he would lodge a complaint against Ramdas with the election commission.

Addressing the media, he said that Ramdas was exploiting the economically backward communities through the scheme.

Rajeev said that Ramdas had launched the scheme only in Krishanaraja Assembly constituency, which he represents.

“If the aim was to benefit the actual beneficiaries, then the scheme should have been implemented in whole of the district. The scheme is nothing but an election gimmick,” he added.

He also recalled that a similar scheme launched by Mysore Urban Development Authority (MUDA) few years ago had ended up as an eye wash. The application fee amount was collected from people, but the scheme never materialised, he added.