Andhra CM Jagan asks officials for action plan to hand over houses to poor in Amaravati R-5 zone

“The sooner the houses are constructed and handed over to the poor, the better it would be for their lives,” Reddy was quoted as saying in a release by the state government.

Also read: Amaravati farmers to move SC against land allotment to the poor 

5,204 houses ready

Meanwhile, officials informed the chief minister that 5,024 Andhra Pradesh Township and Infrastructure Development Corporation (APTIDCO) houses are ready to be handed over.

They said levelling work of land at the R-5 zone, the designated place for eligible poor people in the capital area, has been completed and house pattas are ready to be distributed.

According to officials, 3.7 lakh houses have been completed thus far under housing for the poor as part of the “Navaratnalu” scheme of nine different welfare programmes, even as the state has spent ₹1,085 crore on housing in the past 45 days.

Further, they noted that the construction of five lakh houses would be completed in the next 45 days while 8.6 lakh of them are under various stages of development.

Moreover, efforts have been intensified to enable women beneficiaries to avail loans. More than 11 lakh women have already been granted bank loans up to ₹35,000 each, while loans sanctioned under the “Pavala Vaddi” MSME scheme has risen to ₹3,887 crore.

Related: Know all about Andhra Pradesh CM Jagan’s three-capitals plan

Farmers move SC

The Amaravati farmers had filed a special leave petition in the Supreme Court against the Andhra Pradesh High Court’s directive, which cleared the decks for the government to earmark the R-5 zone for housing for the poor.

The decision to appeal was taken after the farmers’ Joint Action Committee (JAC) consulted legal experts on 6 May.

The Supreme Court on 15 May heard the petition filed by the Amaravati farmers against the R5 zone and decided to transfer the case to the bench of Justice Joseph which was hearing the Amaravati case.

The JAC leaders insist that the distribution of the land in the area in question to poor beneficiaries was not proper as the land — surrendered by them for the state-of-the-art capital promised by the previous TDP government — was meant for setting up industrial and commercial establishments.

The farmers claimed that these were part of the lands that farmers in 29 villages had surrendered to the erstwhile TDP government for the construction of the capital city of Amaravati in return for developed commercial and residential plots.

But the government argued that the lands in question were not part of those given under the land pooling scheme to the then-ruling government.

Also read: Andhra Pradesh HC strikes down state government’s GO 1

The government of Chief Minister Jagan has also jettisoned the TDP plan for a single capital in favour of a decentralised three-capitals plan.

Under this, Amaravati will just be the legislative capital, while Visakhapatnam will be the executive capital, and Kurnool and the judicial capital.

According to sources, the high court order has cleared the way for the Andhra Pradesh Capital Region Development Authority to distribute 1,134 acres of land to about 48,218 beneficiaries in accordance with GO No 45.

The government has made 21 layouts for the distribution of pattas. The land is being levelled for marking. The plots, according to the government, were being readied in a picturesque setting.

The YSRC government, in March, issued orders categorising 900.97 acres of land in Krishnayapalem, Nidamarru, Kuragallu, Mandadam and Inavolu as the R5 zone. Along with this, 233.61 acres of land in the S3 zone was also clubbed with the R5 zone.

(With PTI inputs)