House Site Pattas will be alloted to all eligible beneficiaries: AP CMO Principal Secretary Praveen Prakash

The government of Andhra Pradesh has decided to distribute house site pattas to all the eligible tribals on the occasion of World Tribal Day across Andhra Pradesh state. As part of this, CMO Chief Secretary Praveen Prakash visited Visakhapatnam and East Godavari districts. He toured the districts by special helicopter to observe the implementation of the scheme.

Praveen Prakash, chief secretary, state chief minister's office, said the government has taken steps to provide cultivable land to every eligible tribal family. Arriving at the helipad set up at Rampachodavaram Degree College in a special helicopter from Vijayawada, he held a meeting with state-level officials and reviewed the steps taken for distribution in the third phase under the Forest Rights Recognition Act. It was directed to take steps to transfer the rights over the lands to the eligible beneficiaries by August 15. So far 6.5 lakh acres of land have been acquired under individual and joint forest rights across the state.

Of this, 2.2 lakh acres were claimed under private titles. He said about 21,419 acres were distributed in the third installment under Rampachodavaram ITDA. He also said that steps have been taken to abolish 287 forest protection committees and hand over the lands to 230 communities. East Godavari District Collector D. Muralidhar Reddy was asked about the steps taken to issue house deeds in the district. Later, the lands belonging to the forest conservation committees in the villages of Thallapalem and Bhimavaram were examined. Meanwhile, MLA Nagulapalli Dhanalakshmi, DCCB Chairman Anantha Babu, Chief Secretaries, District Collector, District Joint Collectors, ITDA POs met and discussed about tribal area issues at PMRC. Chief Minister's Office Chief Secretary Salman Arokhyaraj, Tribal Welfare Chief Secretary Kantilal Dande, District Joint Collector G Laxmisha, Forest Conservation Officer Nageswara Rao, District Forest Officer Sunil Kumar, ITDA POs Praveen Aditya and A Venkataramana were present.

CMO Principal Secretary Praveen Prakash on Tuesday toured the Visakhapatnam agency also and examined Chintapalli Mandal Pedabarada Panchayat Siripuram Village Forest Conservation Committee. The forest protection committee in Manyan directed the authorities to distribute forest title deeds to the lands and coffee plantations. They want to eradicate poverty by distributing house site pattas to tribal farmers. He directed the authorities to supply silver plants and coffee plants to the tribal farmers. During the visit, District Collector V. Vinay Chand, Director, Tribal Welfare Ranjit Bhasha, PCCF Pradeep Kumar, ITDA PO Dr. Venkateshwara Salijamala and other officials were present.