Miscreants loot empty 2BHK flats

Government infrastructure worth `550 cr stolen within GHMC limits

Miscreants have been stealing fixtures, including wires, doors, taps and copper coils of transformers from 2BHK house sites within GHMC limits.

Corporation officials said that following instructions from minister K.T. Rama Rao in August last year, private agencies expedited work on the 2BHK houses in the city and completed construction of about 70,000 houses.

A delay in payments — totalling `1,096 crore since October — led to these agencies withdrawing about 10,000 labour and security staff from the construction sites in December.

Taking advantage of this, miscreants have stolen valuable infrastructure worth `550 crore.

Work pertaining to 92,000 houses is in various stages of completion. Over 10,000 labourers are sitting idle since December last year.

A senior official, requesting anonymity, told Deccan Chronicle that some miscreants at Hafeezpet had stolen electrical wiring and copper coils from transformers from the 2BHK housing site. The same thing has happened at the Dundigal site, where miscreants even took away wooden doors and steel taps.

“The civic body has decided to hand over completed houses to district collectors or the EVDM (Directorate Of Enforcement Vigilance & Disaster Management) wing for safeguarding till they are allotted to beneficiaries. EVDM had earlier cited staff crunch and was unwilling to safeguard the houses. Now, it says it would monitor houses after installing CCTV cameras,” the official stated.

The government had allocated `9,700 crore for construction of these houses. It is expected to establish one lakh houses, with about 4,000 houses in each of the 24 constituencies of the state capital.