VIJAYAWADA: The State government is all set to distribute RoFR (Recognition of Forest Rights) pattas to provide ownership rights to 1.53 lakh beneficiaries on the 3 lakh acres of forest land they are cultivating for years. Chief Minister YS Jagan Mohan Reddy will launch the distribution of pattas on Friday, marking the birth anniversary of Mahatma Gandhi.
In a statement issued here on Thursday, Deputy Chief Minister (Tribal Welfare) Pamula Pushpa Sreevani said that each beneficiary would get at least 2 acres of land as the Chief Minister is of the view that the poor should have at least 2 acres of land to eke out a livelihood.
The Chief Minister has directed officials to take steps for providing irrigation facilities to the lands in the forest areas and extending financial assistance to tribals through different schemes of agriculture, horticulture, tribal welfare and rural development departments to grow commercial crops.
The government will also distribute pattas to the DKT lands other than the forest lands being cultivated by the tribals. She said that as many as 19,919 tribal families will be given pattas for 31,155 acres of DKT land.
Sreevani said Chief Minister YS Jagan Mohan Reddy is all set to break the record set by his father and former chief minister YS Rajasekhara Reddy. While YSR gave RoFR pattas for 1.30 lakh acres of land to 56,000 tribals in the past, Jagan is going to distribute pattas for nearly 3 lakh acres to 1.53 lakh beneficiaries.
The governments for the last 10 years (from 2009 to 2019) distributed pattas for only 1.03 lakh acres, the deputy chief minister said.
Informing that Rs 2,136 crore was deposited in the bank accounts 18.40 lakh tribals towards 15 welfare schemes including Rythu Bharosa, pension, Vahana Mitra, Ammavodi, Vidya Deevena in the past one year, the minister said that the government is taking every initiative to improve the living standards of tribals and setting up educational institutions and health facilities for them.