Expand Pilot of Bhu Bharati to 28 Mandals: Ponguleti

Hyderabad: Revenue minister Ponguleti Srinivas Reddy has directed district collectors to expand the implementation of the Bhu Bharati Act pilot project to 28 additional mandals in the remaining 28 districts, starting the first week of May. The minister asked collectors to take a proactive role in the implementation of flagship initiatives such as the Bhu Bharati Act, Indiramma housing scheme and the Layout Regularisation Scheme (LRS).

The directives came during a video conference held on Tuesday, attended by Chief Secretary A. Santhi Kumari and collectors from all districts. The minister reviewed the ongoing implementation of the flagship schemes and other revenue-related matters.

Regarding LRS, the minister reiterated that there will be no extension beyond the April 30 deadline. Citizens were urged to avail the government’s 25 per cent LRS fees discount within the deadline. He praised the efforts of collectors in driving LRS implementation.

Calling the Bhu Bharati Act a people-centric reform, Ponguleti stressed that it should not be treated as a routine administrative task. He asked collectors to thoroughly study the Act and ensure meaningful public engagement.

He said that under the Bhu Bharati pilot project, underway in four mandals, Nelakondapalli (Khammam), Maddur (Narayanpet), Lingampet (Kamareddy), and Venkatapur (Mulugu), revenue meetings had been conducted in 16 of the 56 revenue villages since April 17. A total of 5,905 land-related applications had been received including 1,076 in Nelakondapalli, 233 in Maddur, 810 in Lingampet, and 3,786 in Venkatapur.

Collectors were asked to complete all revenue meetings in these pilot mandals by April 30. Lessons from these pilot areas will help the rollout in 28 more mandals, one per district excluding Hyderabad. Ahead of this expansion, tahsildars from the four initial pilot mandals will lead training workshops for officers in the new pilot areas, including tahsildars, deputy tahsildars, and two additional staff members per mandal.

Awareness programmes about the Bhu Bharatti Act have so far been held in 159 of the state’s 605 mandals. The minister also directed that pending Dharani applications at the CCLA level be addressed during these pilot mandal meetings.

With the monsoon approaching, Srinivas Reddy insisted that the selection of Indiramma housing beneficiaries be finalised by the first week of May, and that construction be accelerated. Each constituency will be allotted 3,500 houses, and one gazetted officer will oversee every 200 applications to ensure transparency. Officers will be held accountable if ineligible candidates are approved, he warned.

Only houses measuring between 400 and 600 square feet will qualify for funding, with stage-wise financial disbursement directly into beneficiaries’ accounts every Monday, Ponguleti said.

To reduce construction costs, Srinivas Reddy said a meeting will be held soon with industry stakeholders, coordinated with industries minister D. Sridhar Babu, to ensure subsidised prices for steel and cement.

He expressed dissatisfaction over the slow pace of beneficiary selection in 11 districts including Adilabad, Jagtial, Nizamabad, Wanaparthy, Mancherial, and Gadwal.

The meeting was also attended by stamps & registration IG Jyoti Buddha Prakash, MA&UD principal secretary Dana Kishore, Housing Corporation MD V.P. Gautam, CCLA, project director Manda Makarandu, among others.