ONGOLE: Finding suitable land for the construction of houses for the poor under the Jagananna housing scheme in Prakasam has become a herculean task for the officials.
In the Ongole city limits alone, officials have identified around 25,000 beneficiaries and had earlier identified around 700 acres of government land near the hill area of Yarajarla village in Ongole mandal.
But the local people objected to the proposal and some of them even knocked on the door of High Court claiming that the land which was identified for the Jagananna housing colonies near the hill is not vacant land and was allotted for mining by the mining department on a lease basis. The quarry lease agreements are still alive as the government didn’t de-notify these lands from mining. The high court has given status quo orders on the Yarajarla hill area lands.
Subsequently, the district authorities are in search of suitable government or private lands to purchase and provide houses for the identified beneficiaries. Former minister and Ongole MLA Balineni Srinivasa Reddy had assured that all the urban eligible beneficiaries of Ongole town would get their house site patta papers by next month's end. The district authorities are now in the process of identifying new areas with the required quantity of vacant lands to provide houses to the beneficiaries.
Recently, the district authorities visited six villages in and around Ongole city limits. The officials team inspected the Revenue lands and found that around 600 acres of land are available in the villages of N Agraharam, Alluru, Yarajarla, Vengamukka Palem and others. But here also some farmers are not willing to give their lands for the housing scheme purpose. Recently, the authorities came to a conclusion to get a government order issued for compulsory acquisition for the benefit of large-scale public benefit norms.