Telangana: Week after they lost huts in fire, 75 families have their own flats

“Today, for the first time in my life, I used a toilet that is not out in the open. My husband and I lost our meagre belongings, including my mangalsutra and some cash in the piggy bank. I had gone to fetch water from a handpump and by the time I returned, the fire had taken everything. This flat is like heaven after half a lifetime spent in huts,” said Mukka Roopa Devi from Nalgonda.

The slum that was gutted was known as Patrika Nagar and fell under Ranga Reddy district. (Express Photo)

The 75 families who walked into their new homes Tuesday are Telangana natives and their names and other details were verified within a day based on Aadhaar data collected last year.

Significantly, 79 families, comprising labourers from UP, Bihar and Jharkhand who also lived in the gutted Madhapur slum, are also likely to get free flats. “If they were living in the slum and lost their huts and belongings in the fire, they are eligible for free housing. That is what Telangana government has decided. We are verifying details to ascertain if they lived in the same slum. Once we are sure, we will allot flats to them, irrespective of their nativity,’’ said Harichandana. As of now, these families have been moved to GHMC’s transit housing project in the nearby Keshav Nagar and await verification.

“As per government rules, beneficiaries of housing schemes have to pay a minimum amount, but in this case, we have waived off everything,” she said.  The state government, she said, also gave each family Rs 8,000 for buying essential commodities etc.

“There are no domicile rules or nativity criteria in this case because it was a fire. The process to verify the identity of the remaining families is on,’’ said M Raghunandan Rao, District Collector of Ranga Reddy.

The 75 families who walked into their new homes Tuesday are Telangana natives and their names and other details could be verified within a day based on Aadhaar data collected last year. (Express Photo)

The slum that was gutted was known as Patrika Nagar and fell under Ranga Reddy district. It was located amid towering buildings of software companies in the IT corridor of Madhapur. The slum-dwellers had been asked to go away as they were encroaching on land meant for a park for IT employees, but they stayed put as they had nowhere to go.

Last Friday, a fire caused due to sparks from an illegal electricity connection in one of the huts gutted the 200-odd huts and left 1,000 people homeless. There were no casualties.