BJP never constructed a single house when in power: Karnataka minister backs housing projects in state

Hubballi (Karnataka) [India], November 3 (ANI): Karnataka's Housing Minister Zameer Ahmad Khan on Monday took a dig at the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) for failing to provide housing for the people, while the current Congress-led government sanctions housing projects despite a cash crunch.
"During Siddaramaiah's previous term as Chief Minister, over one lakh houses were built for the people. But the BJP government did not construct even a single house when they were in power," Zameer Ahmad said while speaking to reporters here.
According to the minister, CM Siddaramaiah has assured that funds for multiple projects will be distributed by December 2026
Speaking about ongoing welfare projects, the Minister said, "Nearly 60,000 crore rupees are being spent on guarantee schemes. Despite this financial strain, I personally appealed to the Chief Minister to allocate funds for housing projects. Even with all the difficulties, he assured support and released 900 crore rupees."
He further stated, "This year we are providing 36,000 houses and plan to increase the number to 40,000 soon. The BJP says the government is bankrupt, but if we were bankrupt, would we be able to implement projects on this scale?"
Zameer Ahmad accused the BJP of lacking concern for the poor and said the Congress government remains committed to social welfare and housing for the underprivileged.
According to the Housing minister, multiple houses had been sanctioned during the previous term of the Siddaramaiah-led cabinet, but in the subsequent years, no new houses were approved.
"I reminded him (Karnataka CM) that during his previous term as Chief Minister, many houses had been sanctioned. But in the subsequent years, not a single new house was approved, leaving many people homeless. I told him that our government must take responsibility and build homes for them," he said.
According to Zameer Ahmed CM Siddaramaiah held multiple review meetings with the minister and MLA Prasad Abbayya. During the meeting, the CM assured that by December 2026, the housing funds will be distributed.
"The chief minister held two to three review meetings with me and MLA Prasad Abbayya. He said, "What you are saying is true. It may be difficult to allocate funds for the poor, but no matter the hardship, I will provide money for housing." He has assured that 2.3 lakh houses will be distributed by December 2026," the state housing minister said.
In 2024, the proposal was placed before the Cabinet, approved, and 500 crore rupees were released. With those funds, we completed 36,790 houses last year, and this year we are working to provide 42,000 more.
Recently, The Karnataka Housing Board proposed a 772 acre housing project Devannahalli. Similarly, the state government has released plans for multiple other futuristic cities in the state, including KWIN city, SWIFT city, AI City, Quantum city.
In a major push for aiming to distribute more houses to specific groups, the Karnataka cabinet in July also hiked the quota for minority communities in housing schemes from 10% to 15%. (ANI)