Verbal duel between TDP, YSRCP

Vijayawada: Municipal Commissioner J Nivas said on Wednesday the Vijayawada Municipal Corporation is facing acute shortage of land for the construction of houses sanctioned to the city under the Housing for All and PMAY Scheme by the Central government.

The Commissioner gave clarification in the council meeting on Wednesday that the Vijayawada Municipal Corporation is asking the district administration to allocate land for the construction of 16,128 houses. Mayor Koneru Sridhar chaired the council meeting.

Commissioner Nivas said the Union government allotted 28,152 houses under PMAY and Housing for All (HFA) schemes. He said the corporation has land at Jakkampudi village for the construction of 10,000 houses and land in some other parts of the city for the construction of another 2,000 houses. But more land is needed for the construction 16,128 houses, he added.

He felt that the housing problem would be solved to some extent with the construction of houses in the city under the PMAY. He said a detailed project report has been sent to the state government on the construction of houses in the city.

Earlier, the 37 division corporator Gade Adilakshmi raised the housing issue and asked the progress on the selection of beneficiaries in the city. Other members also participated in the discussion and underlined the need for speedy construction of houses to address the housing problem.

The council also held a detailed discussion on the regularisation of house sites in the hill areas of the city. The corporators of both Telugu Desam and YSRCP said the dwellers of hill areas have been waiting for a long time for the regularisation of house sites in the city.

Replying to their questions, the Commissioner said the revenue department is conducting a detailed survey in the hill areas of the city and announced the regularisation of house sites is free for the land below 100 square yards.

He said rules framed by the state government are to be followed for regularisation of house sites which have more than 500 square yard area. Some corporators said the house owners are facing problem because the houses were not registered on their names. He said some issues are to be sorted out to collect house tax on the houses built in the encroached lands, he added.

“Houses built before January 2014 were eligible for regularisation and we cannot change rules”, he added. When the debate was held on the construction of structures in grave yards in the city, Mayor Koneru Sridhar has made it clear the municipal corporation will not allow the constructions in the graveyards. He said there are no vacant lands in Vijayawada city and existing grave yards are filled with structures.

Mayor responded in the council to the proposal made in the agenda that small structures should be allowed on the graves in the grave yards belonging to the corporation. YSRCP floor leader B Punyaseela pointed out that Muslims and Christians bury the bodies as per the custom and their sentiments should be respected.

She questioned why the corporation is raising objections for it. Mayor has made it clear the civic body respects all religions but should think of non-availability of space also, he added.