Srikakulam: Land identification for house sites yet to gather pace

Srikakulam: State government is planning to distribute house sites for poor on a massive scale for 25 lakh families by coming Ugadi festival. But in Srikakulam district, the house sites identification is yet to get momentum for the same.

In Srikakulam, in total 8.31 lakh families are having white ration cards. All these white card holders have registered their names for houses sites under poor families' quota. But after due verification, the officials accepted only 93,000 applications and rejected 7.38 lakh applications.

Total revenue villages are 1,131 in the district of it government lands are not available in 700 villages. Here, the officials are planning to acquire assigned lands from private parties by paying compensation amount. In the remaining 431 villages, 1,011 acres of land is available. As per revenue department estimations, one-acre land can be distributed to 40 persons and 1,011 acres of land is sufficient to 40,440 families.

Remaining 52,560 families have to wait for house sites till its acquisition. Eligible beneficiaries of 700 villages have to shift to other villages for house sites as government lands are not available in their villages. "We are looking for various options and alternatives to acquire lands in all villages sufficiently for the beneficiaries and reviewing the process division wise," Joint Collector K Srinivasulu told The Hans India.