Rajiv Swagruha to start on March 25

The state government's ambitious programme -- Rajiv Swagruha -- aimed at providing houses to the middle-income group in all the municipalities and corporations at an affordable cost, will kick off on March 25. This was announced by chief minister YS Rajasekhara Reddy here on Sunday.

The applications will be available at all e-Seva centres in the state from March 25 and people who have been residing in the state for the last five years are eligible to apply for the housing.

The applicants, however, should not own a house or flat in the corporation or municipality in which he intend to apply. The application fee is Rs 250 with a deposit of Rs 5,000 in the municipal corporations and Rs 3,000 in the municipalities.

The chief minister said the applications received through e-Seva centres would be immediately scrutinised and action plan and list of allottees would be prepared at the earliest. He said he had asked the AP Housing Board to take up land acquisition after completing the demand survey in the respective municipalities and corporations.

"There would be four different categories of houses and flats for people of different income brackets. There would be independent houses in all the municipalities with less than five lakh population under the Rajiv Swagruha scheme. Bank loans would be arranged to the allottees and the government would also consider providing interest subsidy. I am sure prices of the houses and flats will be 25 per cent less than the prevailing market rates," he said.