Hyderabad: In line with the ideas of Governor Jishnu Dev Varma and Chief Minister A Revanth Reddy, the government will be providing Indiramma Houses to the most backward section of the society, Chenchus, who have not seen their own houses for decades and there will be additional 9,000 houses for the tribal constituencies.

In a statement released on Sunday, the Housing Minister Ponguleti Srinivasa Reddy said that 13,266 Indiramma houses were being sanctioned to 13,266 Chenchu families under the saturation method in 21 constituencies under the four Integrated Tribal Development Agencies (ITDAs) of Utnoor, Bhadrachalam, Munnanur and Eturu Nagaram.

The Governor, on many occasions had asked the State government to construct permanent houses in tribal areas, and Chief Minister Revanth Reddy had also made many suggestions on the development of tribal areas, especially the construction of their residential houses. Based on the suggestion of the Governor and the Chief Minister, Indiramma houses are being sanctioned to the Chenchus in tribal areas, said Srinivasa Reddy.

The Minister said that as part of the first phase, on Monday, he would personally hand over the sanction papers of Indiramma houses to the Chenchus along with local MLA Dr Vamsi Krishna in Munnanur, Achampet constituency. The Chenchus are a tribe that lives in the forests. They make a living by hunting in the forests and collecting and selling forest produce. It is unimaginable that they have a permanent home other than small huts, and they do not live in those forest areas.

That is why the government has decided to allocate Indiramma houses in the places where they live. No government has even thought about this in decades, the minister said.

In Utnoor ITDA limits (10,836 houses), Mancherial 157, Nirmal 153, Asifabad 3371, Boath 163, Khanapur 2257, Sirpur 227, Adilabad 2848, Bellampalli 223, Bhadrachalam ITDA limits Aswaraopet 274, Munnanur Chenchu Special Project (2156) Achampet 785, Mahabubnagar 245, Parigi 63, Tandoor 174, Kollapur 105, Kalwakurthy 120, Vikarabad 63, Devarakadra 64, Nagarjunasagar 17, a total of 13,266 houses.

It was announced that the government was sanctioning 3,500 Indiramma houses to each constituency in the state this year, but now it has been decided that an additional 8,750 houses have been sanctioned to the tribal constituencies within the ITDA area. The ITDA Project Officer has been appointed as the nodal officer to supervise the process of sanctioning Indiramma houses in tribal areas.