Lokesh To Distribute Pattas To 372 Mangalagiri Families

Education Minister Nara Lokesh will distribute permanent house-site pattas to 372 beneficiaries of his Mangalagiri assembly constituency at a programme in Kunchanapalli on Monday.

The Mana Illu–Mana Lokesh programme will be held at Sri Srinivasa Conventions in Kunchanapalli of Tadepalli mandal.

Lokesh said the initiative is aimed at providing ownership rights to poor families who have been living for decades in houses built on government land but lacked legal ownership documents.

He had promised during the last elections that pattas would be issued to every eligible beneficiary residing on government land in the constituency for a long period by 2029.

According to the officials, nearly 80 per cent of the pattas-related issues have already been resolved, while some cases involving land under the control of the Central government are still pending. Lokesh is pursuing these issues with the Centre, it said.

In the first phase, 3,002 beneficiaries received pattas in April last year, while another 2,634 beneficiaries were given pattas in July this year. The first two phases together covered land estimated to be worth nearly `2,000 crore, with permanent pattas being issued free of cost to the beneficiaries.

The beneficiaries have been living for over three decades on land belonging to various government departments, including Forest, Irrigation, Revenue, Endowments, Roads and Buildings and Panchayat Raj. As the land was government property, the residents had no ownership documents, making it difficult for them to sell their houses or obtain loans against the properties.

Lokesh had held several rounds of consultations with senior officials of the departments concerned and took the issue up to the cabinet level to resolve the land-related hurdles department-wise.