CPI vows to fight for house sites for poor

Ongole: CPI State secretary K Ramakrishna announced that their agitation will continue until every eligible poor family in the State receives a house site.

On Thursday, Ramakrishna, along with CPI State executive committee member Gujjula Eswaraiah, CPI Prakasam district secretary ML Narayana, other leaders and housing site beneficiaries inspected lands at Agraharam in Ongole that were allotted to 22,000 people by the previous YSRCP government.

Speaking at the layout, Ramakrishna said that lakhs of poor people across the State are waiting for Chief Minister Chandrababu Naidu to fulfil his promise of providing housing sites. He said that people in rural areas were expecting three cents of land, while those in urban areas are waiting for two cents each.

He explained that the previous government had purchased over 400 acres at Agraharam in Ongole and issued assurance certificates to 22,000 poor beneficiaries, but only placed stones on the land without showing actual possession or providing basic infrastructure. He said that the beneficiaries are left confused about what to do with the certificates in their hands.

Ramakrishna criticised the new coalition government for not showing possession to anyone, citing ineligibility as an excuse, which has forced many poor people in Ongole to continue living in rental homes. He also highlighted that nearly 80 per cent of the TIDCO houses built during the previous TDP government have not been handed over to beneficiaries.

He alleged that the YSRCP government completely neglected these houses and did not allocate even a single rupee for their completion, leaving them in a state of abandonment without basic amenities.

Ramakrishna demanded that the government immediately complete the TIDCO houses on a war footing, provide basic infrastructure and distribute them to beneficiaries. He also called for immediate issuance of house titles to poor people currently living on government lands and provision of basic amenities in those colonies, warning that their struggle would continue until the land was secured for the poor.

The programme was attended by CPI district executive members R Venkata Rao, Vadde Hanuma Reddy, K Veera Reddy, R Ramakrishna, M Vijaya, N Murali, CPI Ongole City secretary Kottakota Venkateswalu, DHPS State general secretary Karavadi Subbarao, other leaders and CPI workers.