Housing for poor: 3,200 acres allotted in Visakhapatnam

In order to implement the Andhra Pradesh State Government’s housing scheme for the poor, 3,200 acres have been allocated in Visakhapatnam District. Reportedly, the title deeds (pattas) for the house sites would be distributed to approximately 1.6 lakh landless poor, by Ugadi this year.

Speaking to the media, on Friday, Visakhapatnam District Joint Collector (JC), M Venugopal Reddy (IAS), informed that the Revenue Department identified 6,116 acres of government land, assigned land and patta land, across ten mandals in the district. A total of 3,200 acres will be slotted into thirty-five blocks. The blocks will further be developed as housing colonies with basic amenities in Visakhapatnam. 

Out of the remaining land, 2,016 acres will be allotted to the farmers who had previously given their assigned land, and patta land, to the State Government. The Joint Collector shared that each farmer will be compensated with a plot of 2,200 sq. yards. These layouts will be housed near the National Highway with beautiful landscapes. The Visakhapatnam Metropolitan Region Development Authority (VMRDA) will develop the rest of the nine hundred acres. 

Sharing the details regarding the land acquisition process, the JC also said that the land pooling exercise, at the village-level, has been completed. He further mentioned that necessary steps would be taken to form layouts.