VIJAYWADA: Chief minister YS Jagan Mohan Reddy will visit Ongole to distribute house sites to the poor on Friday. With local legislator and former minister Balineni Srinivasa Reddy bent on going to elections only after distribution of the house sites, the state government hurriedly released nearly 200 crore to complete the land acquisition last fortnight. The district administration is on its toes to ready the layouts for grant of sites to about 22,000 poor in Ongole constituency.
Along with social welfare minister Dr Merugu Nagarjuna, municipal administration minister Dr Adimulapu Suresh, and district collector AS Dinesh Kumar, Balineni Srinivas Reddy inspected the arrangements at Agraharam village on the outskirts of Ongole city. This project has been a long-pending promise of Balineni. The state government had actually wanted to acquire land near Pernamitta to grant house sites to the poor during the distribution of house sites taken up across the state about three years ago. However, it was stalled after a few local farmers approached the high court against the land acquisition. Subsequently, Balineni, with the help of district administration, shifted the location to Agraharam. However, the process once again hit the roadblock after the state government failed to release the budget for acquisition. The issue was finally resolved after Balineni’s brief revolt over the delay in clearing the budget and selection of candidates in the district. After ignoring Balineni’s suggestions on selection of candidates, Jagan had directed the officials to clear the budget to complete the land acquisition. The district administration completed the task of acquisition within a fortnight and launched layout preparation work. The district collector deputed special teams to level the land and complete the marking of plots. “CM will formally launch the district of house sites to the poor in my constituency on Friday. We kept our promise despite hurdles created by TDP leaders,” said Balineni Srinivasa Reddy.
Minister Nagarjuna said this would be biggest township of all the YSR Jagananna layouts in the state. He said it would be a memorable day in the history of Ongole as no previous government had distributed house sites to about 22,000 people in one go. Minister Adimulapu Suresh said they would also be taking up construction of houses in the township soon after the completion of patta distribution.
