Officials told to complete TIDCO houses by December

 Kakinada: State Municipal Administration and Urban Development Minister and Kakinada District In-charge Minister Ponguru Narayana has directed officials to complete all incomplete 365/430-category TIDCO houses in the district by December 2025 and hand them over to eligible beneficiaries. He issued these instructions during the Kakinada District Review Committee meeting held at the Collectorate on Wednesday. Minister Narayana chaired the session, which was attended by district officials and people’s representatives.

Addressing the media after the meeting, the minister said that the P4 and Zero Poverty programmes are being implemented with clear targets. Out of 1,02,450 identified Bangaru families, the state aims to adopt 80,158 families by August 15 through mentors (margadarsi).

Collector S Shanmohan said validation of these families will be conducted through gram and ward sabhas between July 17 and August 5, followed by training for master trainers and surveyors and a detailed survey from July 21 to August 6. So far, 3,844 Bangaru families have been adopted, and government employees are adopting about 10,000 families across different levels.

Minister Narayana urged MLAs and MLCs to actively participate in this initiative. He also mentioned that 47,000 farmers in the district are being encouraged to practice natural farming in 21,400 hectares. While the target is to issue CCRC cards to 69,000 tenant farmers, 23,636 cards have been distributed so far.

Under the PM Surya Ghar scheme, 1,799 rooftop units with a capacity of 6,218 kilowatts have been installed. Additionally, 189.77 acres of land has been acquired to produce 42.43 MW of solar power for agricultural pump sets.

On the irrigation front, the Eleru reservoir is facing water shortage, affecting the tail-end areas. The Collector informed that from August 1, water will be supplied to Eleru and PBC via the Purushothapatnam and Pushkara lift irrigation schemes. However, Jagampeta MLA Jyothula Nehru suggested starting the lift operations immediately to help farmers begin transplanting on time.

Kakinada Rural MLA P Nanaji highlighted that seven village panchayats in his constituency haven’t held elections in 11 years and are not receiving finance commission funds. He requested to expedite their merger into the Kakinada Municipal Corporation.

Kakinada City MLA Vanamadi Kondababu urged the minister to resume several halted Smart City works due to a lack of funds. He also pointed out that the previous government had allocated houses on unfit land, making it impossible for beneficiaries to build, and suggested allotting Polavaram spoil lands instead.

Some MLAs alleged that under the previous regime, Rs 140 crore in loans were taken in the name of TIDCO beneficiaries but diverted elsewhere, turning the accounts into NPAs. The current coalition government plans to repay this amount and complete the 365/430-category TIDCO houses that are halfway through, Minister Narayana confirmed.

Public representatives also raised the need to resolve the dumping yard issue.

The meeting was attended by Government Whips Datla Subbaraju and Yanamala Divya, MLCs Karri Padmashri and Perabathula Rajasekharam, MLAs Nimmakayala Chinarajappa, Varupula Satyaprabha, Civil Supplies Corporation Chairman Thota Sudheer, and former MLA SVSN Varma.