Jagan's promise of house sites to 50,000 poor in Amaravati to be fulfilled soon

VIJAYAWADA: The aim of Chief Minister YS Jagan Mohan Reddy to provide house sites for 54,000 poor people in capital Amaravati is all set to be achieved soon. The authorities are aiming to complete all the works within a week.

The authorities are preparing 20 layouts of R5 Zone in Mandadam, Navuluru, Ainavolu, Kuragallu, Krishnayapalem and Nidamarru areas in Amaravati, where an Electronics City had earlier been proposed under the ‘nine cities’ concept for the ‘new capital’.

The house sites distribution for the poor was facing hurdles due to protests from Amaravati farmers backed by the Telugu Desam and petitions in the AP high court. However, the high court recently allowed the government to go ahead with allocation of the house sites. Following this, the chief minister has begun the planning for distribution of the house sites next week.

Notably, the farmers of Amaravati had filed a Special Leave Petition (SLP) in the Supreme Court against the AP high court verdict allowing the Jagan-led state government to allot house site for the poor in the R5 Zone. The pro-Amaravati farmers staged protests. On Wednesday, hardcore Amaravati activists and farmer leader Kolikapudi Srinivasa attempted to start an indefinite ‘fast unto death’ demanding cancellation of the house sites allotment in R5 Zone at Thullur. The police foiled the attempt by arresting Srinivasa Rao and his supporters.

Work is progressing smoothly to provide houses to the poor in the capital area. The layouts are being fully readied for distribution. Plot boundaries have been identified and the work on laying the stones was progressing at a fast pace.

Due to various reasons like unavailability of land, some 23,192 beneficiaries in Tadepalli, Mangalagiri urban and rural areas as well as Thullur and Pedakakani mandals of Guntur district were excluded from the list of those getting the house sites. Further, another 25,000 beneficiaries in NTR district also failed to get house sites for the same reason.

In the wake of the recent judgment given by the high court, land has been allocated through a GO:45 issued by the state government. Under this, 550.65 acres have been allotted for Guntur district and 583.94 acres for NTR district. A total of 1,134.59 acres has been allotted.

Besides this, the state government allocated another 268 acres under the AP CRDA for the 'Navaratnala - Houses for the Poor’ scheme. In this, 168 acres in Borupalem, Pichikalapalem and Anantavaram villages have been allocated for the beneficiaries of NTR district. Another 100 acres have been allocated in Nekkallu for the beneficiaries of Guntur district.

The officials have completed the process of printing land titles after completion of the verification process. The land title contains all the details of the beneficiaries with chief minister Jagan's message, beneficiary details, Aadhaar number, village details, D. patta, layout and plot boundary details on two pages. These certificates are signed by the concerned tehsildar and the details would be sent to the central government to build houses for all of them under the Modi government’s housing-for-the-poor scheme.

According to the officials, 20 layouts were readied for the beneficiaries of Guntur and NTR districts in Ainavolu, Manddam, Navuluru, Nidamarru, Krishnayapalem and Kuragallu villages. After allotting the land to CRDA, the boundaries of the land were ascertained.

After the acquisition of the land, the layouts were prepared. As per the town planning rules, the plots were laid out leaving open space, roads, drains, parking and other necessary land in the layouts.

A deputy collector-level officer and an executive engineer are appointed for each layout. Some 120 surveyors and engineering assistants have been appointed to speed up the works.

Ministers Botsa Satyanarayana and Adimulapu Suresh said the government was firm about allotting house sites to the poor in Amaravati and this was being done under the provisions of the Constitution. “The YSRC government is committed to the development of Amaravati and will do justice to Amaravati farmers,” they said.