Tirupati: Speed up construction activity, officials told

Puttur (Tirupati): To give a big push to the ongoing construction activity in Jagananna Housing Colonies in the district, Collector K Venkata Ramana Reddy has been conducting regular inspections to monitor the progress.

He inspected the housing layouts in Vadamalapet and Puttur on Wednesday and made several suggestions to the officials. Enquiring about the progress of the ongoing construction activity in Vadamalapeta mandal, the Collector said that the construction activity should go on fast track.

Officials told him that in Vadamalapeta layout, out of the sanctioned 1,061 houses, works at 428 houses have either not started or they are at the foundation level only. A total of 59 houses were totally completed. In Kalyanapuram layout of Puttur mandal, out of 261 houses sanctioned, 191 were below foundation level while another 46 have completed foundation level.

The Collector told the officials to create awareness among the beneficiaries to see that they start foundations immediately. By adopting an action plan and coordinating with the public representatives, daily progress should be achieved in the construction activity. He also instructed the officials to identify a sufficient number of contractors and masons to make progress in the construction of houses under category-3 which are in different stages.

He made it clear that the payments were being made to the contractors in time and cement, steel and sand were available in sufficient quantities. In view of this, new contractors can also come forward to take up the activity. The Collector said that officials will see that beneficiaries and contractors sign MoUs and accounts will be opened in ICICI Bank so that the payments will be made to the contractor in stages based on the progress of the works.

Speaking to the Puttur municipal chairman Hari, vice-chairmen Jayaprakash and Sankar, he said that with the support of councillors, they should play a key role in creating awareness among beneficiaries. Housing special officer Ramachandra Reddy, Housing DEs Mahesh and Sankarappa, Municipal Commissioner Venkatrami Reddy, tahsildars Bhargavi and Jayaramulu, MPDO Mallikarjun and other officials were present during the inspections.