YSR Jagananna colonies: Beneficiaries struggle to finish houses

Srikakulam: YSR Jagananna colonies are not yet ready due to inadequate financial aid and lack of basic amenities. There are total 698 colonies that have been identified across the district. For each house, the state government is providing Rs 1.80 lakh as financial aid which is exclusively for construction to be taken up in the house site allotted. Women belonging to self-help groups (SHG) can get another Rs 50,000 from banks without interest in addition to the Rs 1.80 lakh. But this amount is insufficient for construction of houses. Based on the current prices for construction material like sand, brick, cement, iron, wood, etc., to complete a house at YSR Jagananna colony, Rs 7 lakh is required.

As government aid is limited to Rs 1.80 lakh, the remaining amount is to be borne by the individual beneficiary. "I was allotted a sanctioned a house at YSR Jagananna colony in Ragolu village in Srikakulam rural mandal. I received Rs 1.80 lakh from the government but I spent Rs 7 lakh to complete my house," said Yetcherla Adilakshmi, a beneficiary.

Due to insufficient funding, construction work is going at snail's pace at most of the colonies in the district despite officials putting pressure on beneficiaries to start and complete works. In addition, basic amenities like roads, drains, power supply are still not available at these colonies. At most of the colonies, electrical poles were erected but power is yet to be supplied.

For want of funds, many beneficiaries are not showing interest to build houses and they want to leave the site vacant till they mobilse adequate amount.

"We are motivating beneficiaries for construction of houses, and also providing basic amenities on priority basis," said project director for housing N. Ganapathi Rao.