CPI(M) Urges A.P. to Distribute House-Site Pattas to All Eligible Poor, Warns Against Poll Use
CPI(M) leader Ch. Babu Rao demands house-site pattas for all homeless poor in Vijayawada and NTR district, alleging irregularities in the government's proposed distribution drive.
The CPI(M) has called on the Andhra Pradesh government to distribute house-site pattas to every eligible homeless poor family, while cautioning that the proposed 'Pattabhishekam for the Poor' programme should not be turned into a platform for political campaigning.
Speaking to the media at the party office on Monday, State secretariat member Ch. Babu Rao said house sites and pattas should be given to at least one lakh homeless poor people in Vijayawada and the NTR district.
Citing the government's own figures, he claimed that of the 24,042 pattas proposed for distribution, 21,450 — roughly 90 per cent — were issued earlier, leaving only 2,586 as new. He alleged that 12,710 beneficiaries who had already received pattas under previous governments were being included again, and that names had been changed in another 8,746 cases.
Mr. Babu Rao said more than one lakh poor people in Vijayawada and the district were living in rented houses, while another 50,000 were residing on land belonging to the irrigation, endowments and railway departments, or along the Krishna river and its canals. He demanded that their claims be considered, especially those who had lived there for decades.
He also flagged the plight of TIDCO housing beneficiaries who had deposited between ₹50,000 and ₹1 lakh nearly nine years ago and were still awaiting allotment. He sought completion of pending works and early allotment of the houses.
Alleging irregularities in the allotment of houses built under the Jawaharlal Nehru National Urban Renewal Mission (JNNURM), he demanded an inquiry into what he described as a ₹100-crore scam and called for the beneficiary lists to be made public.
Mr. Babu Rao opposed conditions that delay full rights over the new pattas and sought financial assistance of at least ₹5 lakh per beneficiary for house construction. He said the CPI(M) would organise protests if pattas and house sites were not provided to all eligible poor families.
CPI(M) city secretaries Boi Satyababu, B. Ramana Rao and P. Krishna took part in the media conference.