YS Jagan to lay foundation stone for constructing 47,000 houses for poor in Amaravati on July 24

AMARAVATI: The Andhra Pradesh Cabinet on Wednesday decided to lay the foundation stone for the construction of 47,000 houses for the poor on July 24. The meeting, presided by Chief Minister YS Jagan Mohan Reddy, decided to carry out a ground breaking ceremony on 1,366 acres of land in R5 zone of Andhra Pradesh Capital Region Development Authority (CRDA) in Amaravati at an expenditure of Rs 500 crore.

Apart from that, the cabinet also approved the allotment of agricultural and land holdings in islands to the landless poor in the State, borrowing of Rs 3,880 crore by Power Finance Corporation for the construction of Bhavanapadu-Mulapet Port in Srikakulam district, implementation of Jagananna Suraksha and other projects approved by the State Investment Promotion Board (SIPB).

Disclosing the cabinet decisions to the media, Andhra Pradesh Minister for Information and Public Relations Minister Chelluboyina Srinivasa Venugopala Krishna, said, "About 55 decisions were taken at the cabinet meeting. Relating to assigned lands and low-lying lands, the State Cabinet had decided to confer full rights to all original assigned land owners who had enjoyed the lands for twenty years. In case of death of original beneficiaries, their legal heirs would get the full rights. This would benefit 66,111 persons who were in control of 63,191.84 acres of assigned lands."

He highlighted significant decisions made by the State Cabinet, including the approval for a welfare calendar for July. As per the calendar, the State Government would release funds for Jagananna Thodu on July 18, Nethanna Nestam on July 22, Sunna Vaddi on July 26 and Videshi Vidya Deevena on July 28.

Apart from permitting construction of burial grounds for SCs in 1966 revenue villages, the Cabinet decided to remove Inam lands from the prohibited list of Section 22-A benefitting 1,13,000 beneficiaries. "The cabinet also decided to waive off loans given to dalits to purchase 16,213 acres of land under land purchase scheme before bifurcation of the State. They will now enjoy full rights on those lands," the minister said.

In another major decision, the Cabinet decided to fill vacancies in new and old medical colleges and hospitals. As per the green signal given by the Cabinet, 706 posts in new medical colleges and teaching hospitals, 247 posts in Kurnool Cancer Hospital, 94 CTBC posts in the 11 existing medical colleges would be filled up. It also gave nod to fill up 128 teaching and 68 non-teaching vacancies in polytechnic colleges and two senior posts in AP Maritime Board.

While enhancing the retirement age of professors working in educational institutions like JNTU from 62 to 65 to overcome the scarcity of teachers and that of Endowment Department staff from 60 to 62, the cabinet also gave approval for all temple Arachakas to continue in the profession as long as they could without retirement. Regarding the cases filed against those involved in Visakhapatnam Land Scam, the cabinet decided to order a fresh probe with regard to 18 registered cases while accepting the reports in 43 cases.

In addition, the cabinet had also decided to fill 11 vacancies in the newly created Tadepalligudem revenue division and 13 deputy collector posts in the State. Apart from taking a decision to ratify the MoU signed with the US educational agency ETS for training students of 3 to 10 classes for TOEFL certification and for extension of the scheme to Intermediate students.

Besides permitting the AP Maritime Board to raise necessary loans to build ports, the cabinet had sanctioned Rs 454 crore towards Rehabilitation and Resettlement (R&R) package to 10,231 Project Affected Families (PAFs) and Project Displaced Families in 22 villages under phase 2 and 3 of Gandikota Reservoir Project.