Telugu Desam Party(TDP) former Ministers and party cadres turned out in large numbers at a protest rally in the city on Monday to oppose the collection of ₹10,000 from people of poor backgrounds for the house sanctioned to them decades ago and gave a call to the poor not to pay the amount.
Former Ministers Kalava Sinivasulu, Paritala Sunitha, Palle Raghunatha Reddy, Public Accounts Committee Chairman Payyavula Keshav, former Anantapur Mayor Madamanchi Swarupa, and party Hindupur district president B.K. Parthasarathy participated in a long march from the old city to the District Collector’s office and held a sit-in in front of the main gate when they were not allowed to go into the Collectorate complex.
Mr. Keshav questioned the rationale behind collecting money for the houses constructed by the past governments and allocated to the beneficiaries. “If you do not withdraw the One Time Settlement scheme, people will not vote for you,” said Mr. Keshav asking Chief Minister Y.S. Jagan Mohan Reddy to stop the collection of money forthwith and register houses ‘free-of-cost’.
Despite the best efforts of the district administration, only 50,000 out of 5.3 lakhs beneficiaries had paid the amount, and that too when they were threatened with discontinuation of all social welfare schemes, said Mr. Kalava Srinivasulu.
Telugu Desam Party activists staged demonstrations in South Coastal Andhra Pradesh also on Monday in protest against the One Time Settlement scheme. The activists organised rallies in cities and towns in Prakasam and SPSR Nellore districts and raised slogans against the Jagan Mohan Reddy government for allegedly “fleecing” people falling under below poverty line(BPL) category who had been distributed houses by the previous governments.
Leading the protest in Ongole after paying floral tributes to the statue of NTR on the arterial Kurnool road, TDP State vice-president Damacharla Janardhana Rao alleged that Chief Minister Y.S.Jagan Mohan Reddy, who came to power seeking one chance from the electorate, would turn out to be a one-time Chief Minister if his government was bent upon collecting charges from housing scheme beneficiaries.
