Revenue Department directed to expedite land acquisition for housing scheme in Vizag

The Revenue Department, on Wednesday, was directed to expedite the process of land acquisition to implement the Andhra Pradesh government’s housing scheme for the poor in Vizag. The notice came in from Principal Secretary to the Chief Minister Pravin Prakash while he was presiding over a review meeting at the Zilla Parishad hall in Vizag. Joint Collector M. Venugopal Reddy, Assistant Collector Prathista, Paderu Sub-Collector S. Venkateswar, DRO M. Sridevi, RDOs P. Kishore Seetharama Rao, Shiva Jyothi, and DRDA Project Director V. Visweswara Rao were among few of the top officials present at the review meeting.

The Principal Secretary further directed the Revenue Department officials to utilise government land as much as possible for implementing the housing scheme. He also permitted the officials to utilise unused land that was allocated to various organisations excluding medical institutions, temples, and religious places. Previously, Pravin Prakash surveyed the lands at the field-level along with the Collector V. Vinay Chand. Visits were made to Jerripothulapalem and Gurrampalem villages belonging to Pendurthi Mandal and government lands in Sabbavaram Mandal.

In line with the scheme, collector V. Vinay Chand permitted the officials to acquire lands that come under ‘A’, ‘B’ and ‘D’ under 22 A categories and exclude ‘C’ category lands. The collector said that a majority of lands that were allocated to small industries were left unused, so they can be used under this scheme.

An official announcement from the Principal Secretary to the Chief Minister said that the house sites would be distributed to approximately 3 lakh landless poor by Ugadi this year. Giving the Revenue Department further direction, Mr. Prakash said the identified land sites must be close to the village and within the vicinity of social and basic infrastructure. He encouraged the officials to work towards Chief Minister Jagan Mohan Reddy’s scheme ‘Navaratnalu so that justice was done to the poor and weaker sections in the society.