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Jagan lays foundation stone for housing site in Amaravati
The foundation-stone laying ceremony was held at the state’s Krishnayapalem village, amidst tight security arrangements in the wake of protests by the farmers of Amaravati
Hyderabad
Andhra Pradesh chief minister Y S Jagan Mohan Reddy on Monday laid foundation stone for a massive housing colony of around 50,793 houses for the poor in its capital Amaravati, which was proposed to be developed by the previous Telugu Desam Party (TDP) government as a world-class capital city of the state.
The foundation-stone laying ceremony was held at the state’s Krishnayapalem village, amidst tight security arrangements in the wake of protests by the farmers of Amaravati, who had given away their 34,000 acres of land for the capital city.
Hundreds of men and women raised black balloons, opposing the construction of the housing project. The police also kept several farmers under house-arrest to prevent them from joining the protests.
The farmers, under the banner of Amaravati Parirakshana Samithi (Amaravati protection committee), have been waging a legal battle against the proposal of the Jagan Mohan Reddy-led government in the state to create three capitals for the state, instead of Amaravati which they want to be retained as the only capital city.
On Friday last, the state high court reserved its judgment on the proposed construction of houses for the weaker sections in Amaravati. A high court bench comprising justices DVSS Somayajulu, Cheekati Manavendranath Roy, and Ravinath Tilhari was hearing a batch of petitions by farmers challenging the move to carry out works for the construction of houses in residential (R-5 zone), despite the earlier orders of the high court not to take up any permanent structures till the case is disposed of.
AMARAVATI FOR ALL
Laying the foundation stone for the housing project, the chief minister said Amaravati did not belong to a few rich and mighty, but to all sections of the people and the housing project would herald an era of social justice. Jagan also inaugurated a model house constructed for the poor in the plot allotted to one of the beneficiaries at the village.
Addressing a public meeting later, the chief minister said the event marked a victory over the evil forces that have created obstacles in distribution of housing site ‘pattas’ by moving the courts.
“Today will remain special and have a permanent chapter in the history of Andhra Pradesh as the poor have achieved social justice after a three-year long legal battle,” Jagan said, while declaring that Amaravati is a home for all henceforth.
He alleged that the opposition parties wanted non-resident Indians (NRIs) to settle in Amaravati region by opposing construction of houses for the poor. “They even went to the Supreme Court claiming that distribution of house sites in Amaravati would endanger the demographic balance. We have never seen such moral degradation and dirty politics,” he said.
Jagan said his government was spending ₹1829.57 crore on the housing project. While, ₹1371.41 crore would be spent on the construction of houses and ₹384.42 crore on creating infrastructure facilities like roads, electricity and drinking water.
“Further, an amount of ₹73.74 crore will be spent towards 45 social infrastructure projects including 11 Anganwadi centres, 11 schools, 11 digital libraries and 12 hospitals to cater to educational and health needs of the residents of these housing colonies, named as Jagananna Colonies,” he said.
He claimed that once the construction was completed, the worth of each house, which was now being constructed at a cost of ₹2.3 lakh, would rise to around ₹12 lakh.
As per the original master plan of Amaravati, the entire capital region was supposed to be developed as the world-class capital city, with nine theme cities – the Government city, Justice city, Finance city, Education & knowledge city, Health city, Sports city, Cultural city, Electronics city and Tourism city.
Criticising this move of the state government, senior TDP leader and former MLA D Narendra said, “Now, the capital region will be dotted by weaker section houses, schools, health centres, Anganwadi centres, libraries and market yards. It is a systematic destruction of the capital city.”
He said Jagan had hurriedly laid the foundation stone for the housing project, despite the issue pending in the high court, only to hoodwink the poor ahead of the assembly elections. “Why didn’t he take up the construction of similar housing projects for the evacuees of Polavaram project first? This is nothing but cheating the poor in the name of houses,” the TDP leader alleged.
