The grounding of houses as part of the ‘Pedalandariki Illu’ scheme was undertaken in Anantapur and Kurnool districts on a massive scale on Thursday, but at the same time, the fear of scarcity of building material and the impending rise in the cost worried the beneficiaries.
Dharmavaram MLA Kethireddy Venkatarami Reddy appealed to the construction material dealers and middlemen to cooperate with the beneficiaries and not resort to hoarding.
Sand supply
While getting sand for construction of 31,200 houses in Anantapur district and 46,000 houses in Kurnool district in the first phase of the scheme will be a major challenge, the district administration has been doing its best to ensure there is no scarcity of material in the rainy season.
“During the COVID-19 pandemic, there was no work for the daily wagers. With the launch of the scheme, there is a handful of work for many now. The progress of work should not be derailed by hoarding of construction material or sudden increase in the wages,” Mr. Venkataramireddy said.
Anantapur Collector Nagalakshmi Selvarajan participated in the grounding programme at Pothula Nagepalli Layout on the outskirts of Dharmavaram town, while her Kurnool counterpart G. Veerapandian launched the programme at Pyalakurthy village layout in Kodumur Mandal.
Ms. Nagalakshmi said 90 mandays of work would be attached to the construction activity undertaken as part of the the housing scheme and steps had been been to ensure it. “Every beneficiary must take interest to get their houses completed as early as possible and monitor the progress daily, while the officials will keep an eye on them. More houses will be grounded on July 3 and 4 in the district,” the Collector said, adding that cement, water, sand, and power would be provided by the administration at the construction site.
Kodumur MLA J. Sudhakar said that the progress of the work would be uploaded to the government website and each house would be tagged for everyone to check and ensure early completion.
