Andhra Pradesh govt lays stones for 2.02 lakh houses on single day
Under the first phase, 15.6 lakh houses have been sanctioned to be completed by June 2022
Vijayawada: The Andhra Pradesh government created a new record of laying foundation stones for 2.02 lakh houses on a single day under the ‘Navaratnalu Pedalandariki Illu’, the state’s flagship housing programme. The mega housing project is getting enormous response from beneficiaries as they are coming forward in large numbers to start construction works of their houses. The government decided to conduct mega grounding melas in 13 districts of the state on July 1, 3 and 4 which are treated as auspicious days as per the almanac.
According to the officials, a total of 28.3 lakh houses are being taken up in the state with an investment of Rs 50,200 crore in 17,005 ‘YSR Jagananna Colonies’. The programme is being taken up in two phases. Under the first phase, 15.6 lakh houses have been sanctioned to be completed by June 2022. Under phase-II, the rest of 12.3 lakh houses will be taken up during 2022. The government has already distributed 30.7 lakh house site pattas and will also be spending Rs 34,000 crore for infrastructure (roads, water, power, drainage, etc) in YSR-Jagananna Colonies.
Chief Minister YS Jagan Mohan Reddy launched the housing scheme in layouts on June 3. Though grounding of houses has been picked up and foundations for 3.4 lakh houses have been laid till 30 June, much of grounding is still to be achieved. Recently, the Chief Minister conducted a review meeting on the mega grounding programme under which arrangements were made for grounding phase-1 houses.
Special chief secretary (housing) Ajay Jain said there is a need to give special focus on the housing programme that is planned to be completed before June, 2022. He stated that unless the houses are grounded now, it may not be possible to complete by June next year. He further stated that the housing department alone would not be able to take up grounding of houses on a campaign mode. He recalled the success of the largest ever vaccination programme on a single day on June 20 administering vaccines to more than 13 lakh people with the cooperation of the entire district administration and all the departments. He mentioned that similarly, the grounding of houses also followed the vaccination pattern with involvement of all departments.
Ajay Jain said the ‘mega grounding melas’ scheduled on July 1, 3 and 4 as these are auspicious days under which it was planned to ground a minimum of 1 lakh houses on each of these days in the state. He stated that on the first day, as against a target of 1.28 lakh houses fixed, a total of 2.02 lakh houses had been grounded in the state which created a new record. He stated that this was the highest ever grounding of houses on a single day by any state so far. He said that it was planned to lay stones for a minimum of 3.6 lakh houses in these three days up to 4 July.