CRDA okays house sites for 48k in Amaravati

Amaravati: The governing council of CRDA chaired by chief minister YS Jagan Mohan Reddy has stamped its nod to grant house sites to about 48,000 eligible poor from Guntur and NTR districts in Amaravati. The CRDA meeting held on Monday decided to grant the house sites to the poor under third-phase of Pedalandari Illu-Navarathnalu scheme. Chief minister asked the officials to set the plans ready for distribution of house sites as and when the issue is cleared by the high court. The state government had recently created a new zone R-V in the capital city area with a view to granting house sites to the poor from neighbouring areas of capital city who could not get plots due to the shortage of land. The state government had in fact decided to give the house sites to the poor long ago but the process got delayed due to legal litigations. The farmers of capital city area filed petition in high court challenging the CRDA’s decision to create a new zone without taking their consent which is mandatory as per the CRDA Act. The high court directed the government to conduct grama sabhas and take the views of the locals. Subsequently, CRDA conducted grama sabhas in all the 29 villages and recorded the statements of the locals. Interestingly, the villagers who attended the grama sabhas vehemently opposed the creation of new zone for grant of house sites to the poor saying that it would create demographic imbalance. However, the state government vetoed the resolutions passed at grama sabhas and created the new zone with about 1,134 acres. Although the CRDA master plan earmarked 5% of the total land for housing of weaker sections, the previous government had not granted house sites to the poor. The house sites will be granted after clearing the legal hurdles in the high court.