Telangana splurge continues: 104 MLAs to get Rs 1 crore houses

The Telangana government’s project to build the office-cum-residence, each costing around Rs 1 crore, for 104 MLAs has evoked sharp response from the opposition which termed it a “criminal waste of public money”.

The construction of the office-cum-residence (popularly known as camp offices) has already begun in 65 constituencies, where they are in different stages of construction, the state government has said.

The camp office in Parakal assembly segment in Warangal district, represented by C Dharma Reddy of the ruling Telangana Rashtra Samithi, has been completed at a cost of Rs 68,92,448.

The building would be inaugurated on Thursday, it said.

The objective of the scheme is to make MLAs accessible to their electorate at all times, a release from the roads and buildings department said.

The construction of office-cum-residential buildings has been taken up in 104 assembly constituencies in the state except 15 segments in Hyderabad, it added.

However, the opposition, the Bharatiya Janata Party, alleged that the scheme is a “criminal waste of public money”.

“The BJP denounces Chief Minister K Chandrashekar Rao spending over Rs 100 crore on MLA camp offices across the state. The BJP considers it as criminal waste of public money,” Telangana BJP spokesperson Krishna Saagar Rao said in a statement.

He also said that the TRS government was completely disregarding the accountability in spending tax payer’s money for personal comforts of the MLAs and satiating their luxuries in the name administrative infrastructure.

The TRS government has not fulfilled its election promise of building double bed-room houses for the poor so far, but it is constructing “second official homes” for the chief minister and the MLAs, he said.

“The CM has built a second official home for himself with around Rs 100 crore and also building second homes for the MLAs across the state with another Rs 100 crore. TRS party will surely pay a heavy price for this misadventure and mockery of electoral promises they have made to the people of Telangana,” the BJP spokesperson said.

Image: The objective of the scheme is to make MLAs accessible to their electorate at all times, a release from the roads and buildings department said.