House sites distribution big achievement in history of the country: Amjad Basha

Kadapa: Deputy Chief Minister S.B. Amjad Basha has said the Andhra Pradesh government's ambitious distribution of house site deeds to the poor as part of the Navratna programme is a great achievement in the history of the country.

“There should be no homeless poor in Kadapa,” he said on Thursday, when house site deeds were distributed to more than 2,700 poor people on a 110-acre layout in Nanapalli under the Kadapa Municipal Corporation.

Addressing a public meeting, he said the state government, which is realizing the dream of the poor to own a house, has given top priority to the housing programme. The state showed the way to the rest of the country by setting up the "YSR Jagananna Colonies" and handing over housing deeds to 31 lakh beneficiaries in a manner unprecedented in the history of India, he said.

“As a son, Jagan Mohan Reddy is fulfilling the dream his father Dr Y.S. Rajasekhar Reddy,” he said and added that the dream of owning more than 1.10 lakh beneficiaries across the district will be realised. Some 23,500 persons will be given houses in Kadapa city alone. They will be housed before the coming Sankranti.”

The layouts will include infrastructure roads, potable water and electrification. Some 500 acres of land in the district was being purchased at a huge cost for the distribution of house deeds to the poor, he said.

YSR Congress Kadapa parliament president Suresh Babu, housing project director Rajasekhar, commissioner Lavanna, and MRO Bareddy Sivarami Reddy were among those who have participated in the event.

Sudheer Chandra Jana, Director of Housing for All (HFL) in the Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs, has expressed satisfaction over implementation of the AP housing programme. He said the Union Government would release funds on submission of utilization certificates. Jana was participating in a review meeting on the housing scheme at the Housing Corporation Office in Vijayawada on Thursday.

Jana said AP is implementing the PMAY Scheme successfully and the government has proposed a 30-lakh housing programme, a “big task”. He expressed happiness that the shelter-less families would get houses with implementation of the mega housing programme.

Ajay Jain, principal secretary, housing department, explained about the state government’s prestigious housing programme named as “Pedalandariki Illu. The state government has distributed 30.75 lakh pattas to the housing beneficiaries and purchased land worth '23,000 crore for construction of these houses, he said.

Ajay Jain said the ground-development for the houses has started and quality materials would be used in the construction. The government had sanctioned Rs 9,000 crore for providing infrastructure facilities in these housing colonies.

Narayana Bharath Gupta, managing director of the Andhra Pradesh state housing corporation, said the housing department would supply sand free of cost and complete house construction with quality materials. He also said thousands of the unemployed would get employment through the mega housing programme either directly and indirectly.