VIJAYAWADA: Chief Minister Y. S. Jagan Mohan Reddy blamed the Telugu Desam for stalling distribution of 3.65 lakh house sites to poor by filing false cases in courts and getting stay orders. He expressed confidence that he will get these orders vacated and distribute the house sites to poor in the state.
Replying to a discussion on housing schemes in the State Legislative Assembly here on Tuesday, the CM charged that followers of senior Telugu Desam leaders, including Paritala Sunita in Prakasam, and others in East Godavari, Anantapur, Kurnool, Vizianagaram and Amaravati districts, apart from CPI-M in Visakhapatnam, had filed false cases on fictitious grounds to stop distribution of house sites on nearly 3,65,680 acres land in the state.
Quoting an instance, Jagan Mohan Reddy stated that distribution of 54,000 house sites located on CRDA lands in Amaravati had been stopped due to a court case, as a petition had been filed on grounds that distribution of house sites could lead to a demographic imbalance. He regretted that Telugu Desam politics had degraded to such low levels.
The Chief Minister, however, made it clear that his government is committed to give away 30.66 lakh house sites located on about 68,677 acres and worth of over Rs. 23,535 crore to the poor on December 25. He said in the first phase, construction of 15.60 lakh houses will be taken up. He asserted that this itself would boost economic activity to the extent of Rs. 28,084 crore for purchase of materials like cement, steel and metal, among others, apart from generating direct employment of 21.70 crore mandays and indirect employment of 10 crore mandays.
Each house would be coming up over about 340 square feet area, where each beneficiary had to pay only Re. 1, he stated.
Jagan Mohan Reddy found fault with former chief minister Chandrababu Naidu for failing to complete execution of houses taken up under several schemes, but leaving huge arrears to be cleared by the YSR Congress regime.
Jagan proves TD's claim on insurance payment wrong
Chief Minister Y. S. Jagan Mohan Reddy on Tuesday slammed the erstwhile Telugu Desam government while showing data in State Legislative Assembly on crop insurance payments made by the erstwhile TD government.
Refuting charges of Leader of Opposition N. Chandrababu Naidu about non-payment of insurance by the Jagan Mohan Reddy government, the Chief Minister clarified that Rs. 1,227 crore will be paid directly into the accounts of farmers on December 15. Accusing the TD leader of lying outright about insurance claims, he said the opposition is trying to make an issue out of a non-issue.
The CM maintained that there has been no instance when YSRC had gone back on its promises. “Whatever Jagan promises, he will do it. That is the credibility I have,” the CM asserted commenting that Chandrababu Naidu never fulfilled his words. Castigating TD for creating ruckus on crop insurance, he said, “We have fulfilled 90 percent of the promises made in our manifesto. Payment of insurance is a work in progress as procedures have to be completed. “If opposition TD continues telling such lies, in the next elections, the number of 23 (MLAs of Telugu Desam) will deplete to 2 or 3,” he remarked.
The Chief Minister said, “We have announced five programmes in December, which include Amul-AP procuring milk on December 2, cattle distribution on December 10, crediting insurance amount on December 15, starting resurvey of lands on December 21, and distribution of house site pattas on December 25,” he pointed out.
CM Jagan asked Speaker Thammineni Seetharam to display details of insurance premium payments on screens in the Assembly. He said, “During the rule of previous TD government, farmers feared paying a heavy premium. Thus, they did not show any interest in insuring their crops. During Chandrababu’s term, only Rs. 415 crore claims were received in October 2019 for 2018 Kharif and only Rs 537 crore insurance claims were processed in 2018 Rabi and even fewer claims were received earlier. But, in our government, as many as 58.77 lakh farmers have been brought under insurance cover. The state government has taken the responsibility of paying Rs. 1,030 crore as premium, he underlined.
Refuting allegations of TD, the Chief Minister said, “Our government has paid insurance for 2018 in October 2019 amounting to Rs 415 crores. The 2019 amount will be paid as scheduled. We have been paying premium without burdening farmers by just collecting Re. 1 from them. When everything is very clear, the opposition leaders are intentionally creating chaos in the House without having any meaningful discussion,” he remarked.
