Amaravati: House-site distribution put off to August 15

Amaravati: The AP government's much-spoken house-site distribution programme is reportedly postponed from the scheduled July 8 to August 15.

The government has planned to distribute at least 30 lakh house sites to the poor beneficiaries across the State on July 8. Chief Minister Y S Jaganmohan Reddy has been asking the officials to speed up the land acquisition process at every review meeting.

He had also instructed the District Collectors and other officials concerned repeatedly to speed up the works. But just two days before the launch of the programme, the officials have reportedly told him that the process of land acquisition was still in progress. The targeted land needs to be pooled further. At the same time, the Revenue officials need to do much more ground work on these lands before handing over to the beneficiaries.

The government after acquiring the land, they said, has to undertake landscaping works, develop roads, water and electricity network, drinking and drainage water facilities, etc. Apart from the crucial infrastructure, the government has to develop the plots, prepare the documents in the names of the beneficiaries and much more physical and clerical works remain unfulfilled.

On the other hand, all kinds of works are getting delayed due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

As the positive cases have been mounting to more than 1,000 per day and the government has been forced to put restrictions on the people movement, the works could not be undertaken properly in the ground level, according to the officials. All these were the reasons for the change in the decision of distribution of house sites schedule, they informed.