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Beneficiaries cough up bribes to get pattas
A newly wed labourer’s wife pledged her mangalasutra and added some more money to get her 75 square yards land in PM Palem (area name changed) so that she could get patta from the hands of Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu at the ‘Pattala Pandaga’ held at the Pragathi Maidan of the Ukkunagaram, near here on Wednesday.
Visakhapatnam: A newly wed labourer’s wife pledged her mangalasutra and added some more money to get her 75 square yards land in PM Palem (area name changed) so that she could get patta from the hands of Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu at the ‘Pattala Pandaga’ held at the Pragathi Maidan of the Ukkunagaram, near here on Wednesday.
“We bribed several times in the past but we never succeeded to get the patta. This time we took a chance and coughed around Rs 1 lakh,” said 23-year-old Sujatha (name changed), who came to the venue along with her mother-in-law. She said she did not regret bribing because this was what her husband has been waiting for years.
Her mother –in-law said nothing comes free these days, while talking to The Hans India. She said her son did not attend the event as he did not want to miss a single day wages.
“I feel sorry that my young daughter-in-law wore nothing for the occasion,” the elderly woman said. Like Sujatha and her mother-in-law, several people told that they did pay to get their pattas.
An old couple from Kotaveedhi, who refused to divulge their names said they paid Rs 500 the only amount they could arrange in the last 15 days.Other gave a wry smile giving enough indications that they had hurdles to reach this venue.
But the Chief Minister went blaring in the public address system that he would get opinion from the beneficiaries through IVRS on the transparency. “Please note down the number 1100, if someone asked a bribe for this patta, please call me. I will take very serious action,” Naidu told the women present in large numbers calling the number as `Parishkara Vedika.,’’
In all pattas were given to 21,232 beneficiaries for 13,33,793 square yards of land worth Rs 8,369 crore.“This is my happiest moment of life as I could give free lands to more than 50,000 people in an urban area like Visakhapatnam where the prices have gone manifold. This is a history for the State,” the Chief Minister said.
On the request of Pendurthy MLA Bandaru Satyanarayana Murthy, Naidu said he would soon solve the land problem of Panchagramas which was locked in court cases. He said the government found solution the legal issue and would soon issue pattas to 12,149 beneficiaries.
By KMP Patnaik
