Amid protest, Jagan lays foundation stone for houses in Amaravati

Amaravati, July 24: Amid protest by some farmers of Amaravati, Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister Y. S. Jagan Mohan Reddy on Monday laid the foundation stone for construction of houses for the poor in the CRDA region.

Asserting that Amaravati will remain home for all heralding an era of social justice, he laid the foundation stone for the construction of 50,793 houses for the poor in the CRDA region and for 45 social infrastructure projects in the Krishnayapalem layout.

Later, addressing a meeting at Venkatapalem in Guntur district, he described the event as victory over the evil forces that have created obstacles in distribution of house site pattas by moving the Supreme Court.

“The day will remain special and have a permanent chapter in the history of Andhra Pradesh as the poor have achieved social justice after a three-year long legal battle,” he said and declared that Amaravati is home for all henceforth.

Gone are the days of capitalists' domination over the weaker sections and the change, backed by the Government, will continue for good in the future too, he said.

TDP president Chandrababu Naidu and his sponsored organisations filed 18 petitions in High Court and five petitions in Supreme Court with the aid of foster son Pawan Kalyan and friendly media opposing distribution of house site pattas, he said.

TDP and its friendly media wanted NRIs to settle in Amaravati region by opposing construction of houses for the poor, he said adding they want the poor to remain poor forever.

The most disgusting thing is they went to the apex court unabashedly claiming that distribution of house site pattas in Amaravati would endanger the demographic balance.

“What is worse is that they took it as their heroism. We have never seen such moral degradation and dirty politics. For the last three years, the Government has been fighting a war over the evil forces that were opposing all good things and reforms being done for the poor,” he said.

Jagan said that the Government is spending Rs.1829.57 crore on this project, out of which Rs.1371.41crore will be incurred for the construction of houses and Rs. 384.42 crore will be spent towards infrastructure facilities like roads, electricity and drinking water.

An amount of Rs 73.74 crore will be spent towards 45 social infrastructure projects including 11 anganwadi centers, 11 schools, 11 digital libraries and 12 hospitals to cater to educational and health needs of the residents of Jagananna Colonies.

Once the construction is over, the worth of each house will go up to around Rs. 12 lakh, he said, formally handing over the house sanctioning papers to the beneficiaries.

Opposing construction of houses for outsiders in an area meant for development of the state capital, farmers and others staged protests at different places including Venkatapalem with black flags and black balloons. The protestors alleged that the Chief Minister was cheating poor in the name of houses.

The protestors also alleged that by laying the foundation stone, the Chief Minister has shown that he has no regard for the court. He said when the court has reserved its orders, the government should have not gone ahead with the foundation stone.

In March this year, the state government declared a new zone R-5 in Amravati to provide houses to poor people over 900 acres of land.

It is part of the land that was previously earmarked for industries, businesses and other commercial purposes in the master plan for the Amaravati capital area.

The move had angered Amaravati farmers’ Joint Action Committee (JAC), which challenged it in the High Court on the ground that this will change the status of the capital region and affect their interests.

The High Court on May 5 refused to pass interim orders on a petition challenging the government move. Later, the Supreme Court also declined to grant stay on the High Court order. However, the apex court also ruled that the rights of beneficiaries of house sites will be subject to the Andhra Pradesh High Court’s final judgment.

The Chief Minister had formally launched distribution of house site pattas on May 26 to the poor. 

He launched the programme in the R-5 zone spread over Guntur and NTR districts.

On July 11, the Andhra Pradesh High Court referred the case relating to allotment of house sites in R-5 zone to a three-member bench.