Chief minister YS Jagan Mohan Reddy will lay foundation stone for the housing project in Amaravati on Monday. The state government has granted house sites to about 50,000 families in the capital city in the newly created R-5 zone. The state government is going ahead with the work even as the high court reserved the verdict on a petition challenging the construction of houses in R-5 zone. State government has taken the issue of construction of houses for the poor in Amaravati as its prestige to make it a political agenda in the coming elections. The state government has already finalized the contractors for taking up the construction work as it has accepted the request of the beneficiaries to get them constructed by the government. Interestingly, the Centre, which has given green signal for the Amaravati housing project, has made it clear that it would release the financial assistance under PMAY only after clearing all the legal hurdles. The Centre is giving Rs 1.5 lakh to each housing unit under PMAY. In fact, the houses for the eligible poor in all the YSR-Jagananna colonies are being completely centrally sponsored as the state is giving just around Rs 30,000 as additional incentive for the beneficiaries in urban areas. While Rs 30,000 is being drawn from the NREGS for the rural beneficiaries, 30,000 will be secured as loan from the banks. As the Centre refused to release the financial assistance at this juncture, the state government has decided to launch the works through contractors by giving them advance payment from the state's share of Rs 30,000 per unit. All the housing units will be constructed with Shear Wall Technology where the prefabricated walls will be used to complete the house. This is expected to help the government complete the entire massive project in a span of just 6-7 months. See also: Affordable housing sales in seven major cities fall 18% in Jan-Jun Long-awaited EWS housing project finally begins in Mohali