TDP demands cancellation of OTS scheme

Mangalagiri: TDP former MLA Kuna Ravikumar on Tuesday demanded that the YSRCP government withdraw its One Time Settlement (OTS) scheme immediately considering the panic it has created among the 46 lakh poor families who included beneficiaries dating back to 30 to 40 years back.

Ravikumar asked how all the poor people's houses could be brought under the 'Jagananna Sasvata Gruha Hakku Pathakam' (permanent house rights scheme) when they were built under the previous governments since 1983. The latest OTS scheme was nothing but a conspiracy of Chief Minister Y S Jagan Mohan Reddy to extort over Rs 4,800 crore.

Addressing a press conference here, the TDP leader called upon the poor beneficiaries not to fall into the ruling party leaders' trap by paying Rs 10,000. The VROs, welfare assistants and the volunteers cum YSRCP rowdies were creating panic among the poor families to forcibly extract acceptance certificates. This exposed the extortionist mindset of the YSRCP regime, which acquired arrogant and factionist overtones as a natural legacy.

The TDP leader said the OTS was made applicable to poor people's houses built with the government support between 1983 and 2011. A beneficiary paid Rs 7,000 per each house and got Rs 3,000 subsidy loan under the NTR government in 1983. Now, the Jagan government is asking that poor family to pay Rs 10,000 in the name of permanent registration rights. Who gave the authority to Jagan to collect money for a house built four decades ago, he asked.

Ravikumar asked whether or not the Chief Minister made a grand promise to waive Rs 3 lakh loan on housing units at the time of election campaign. Instead of fulfilling that, the same Jagan Mohan Reddy was now not hesitating to forcibly collect money from the poor beneficiaries at the rate of Rs 10,000 in villages, Rs 15,000 in municipalities and Rs 20,000 in municipal corporations. They were targeting 41 lakh beneficiaries in rural areas and 5 lakh in urban areas.

He demanded the YSRCP own media to explain how the OTS extortion for houses built decades ago could be 'good news' for the poor families. Over 38 lakh poor families opted out of OTS and only 8 lakh families gave consent. Now, the government removed the 'Not Willing' option in the OTS scheme only to extort the poor families forcibly.