Simhachalam houses to be regularised: Ganta Srinivasa Rao

Visakhapatnam: Thousands of families living in five villages will heave a sigh of relief with the government deciding to regularise houses constructed on Simhachalam land. HRD Minister Ganta Srinivasa Rao announced that houses constructed within 200 sq yards in five villages, including Adavivaram, Vepagunta, Venkatapuram, Cheemalapalli and Purushottampuram would be regularised very shortly.

Houses built in 201 sq yards and above would be regularised by levying the basic value prevailing in 1998. For houses on 201 to 300 sq.yards land, the owners have to pay 15 per cent on basic value and for 301-500 sq. yards they have to pay 30 per cent on the basic value, the minister said.

Addressing a press conference here on Wednesday, Ganta Srinivasa Rao said that as per the Telugu Desam Party’s assurance in the 2014 elections, the long-pending Simhachalam land issue was settled giving top priority.

With this, thousands of families would get a big relief, he added. A three-member committee with Collector, Joint Collector and Executive Officer of Srivarahalakshmi Nrusimha Swami Devasthanam appointed to finalise guidelines to kick-start the regularisation process. The committee started its work from Wednesday and shortly would announce the particulars for the regularisation, the minister said.

Though there are several proposals were examined, finally the government has decided to regularise the lands considering the basic value of the land in 1998. In fact, the government in its first cabinet meeting held June 12, 2014 has decided to regularise the lands.

However, due to the pending court cases and several administrative hurdles, it was delayed. Finding a solution to the burning issue, the government passed a bill in the assembly and brought an Act to settle the issue, Ganta Srinivasa Rao said. ZP Chairperson L Bhavani and MLA Pendurty Bandaru Satyanarayana Murty were present.