Date:15/03/2008 URL: http://www.thehindu.com/2008/03/15/stories/2008031551820300.htm

Andhra Pradesh

Cycle yatra ‘exposes’ chinks in government welfare schemes

Correspondent

‘BPL families could not complete Indiramma houses’

Dharna staged seeking increase in unit cost
NREGP implementation tardy in Minister’s village

VIZIANAGARAM: The cycle yatra that the Kula Vivaksha Vyathireka Porata Sangham and the A.P. Vyavasaya Karmika Sangham launched at Kurupam on March 4 reached here on Friday.

In debt trap

They staged a dharna at the Collector’s office demanding that government increase the unit cost of house sanctioned under the Indiramma programme to Rs. 80,000. Addressing the gathering, M. Krishna Murty, vice-president of the Kula Vivaksha Vyathireka Porata Sangham said during the cycle yatra in 100 model villages in 19 mandals, it was found that dalits, artisans and other BPL families could not even complete the houses sanctioned under the two phases of the programme. “They now are homeless because the huts they lived in have been demolished,” he added. That apart, they were pushed into a debt trap, as the amount sanctioned was insufficient to complete the house.

At Kuntinavalasa village, a beneficiary sold his farmland to complete the house. Moreover, some of those who were unable to face moneylenders were migrating to Tamil Nadu in search of jobs, Mr. Krishna Murty, who is also CPI(M) district secretary, said. On land distribution, barring Gopalarayudupeta in Bobbili mandal where13 people were each given 81 cents, in all the remaining 99 villages no one received land during the distribution programme. In fact, even pattas to those who had been tilling the lands for years were not issued, he said.

With regard to the NREGP, he said people of Kantubukthavalasa in Mentada mandal alone were provided 100 days work in a year. In the other villages, the days varied from two to 50 days. At China Merangi in Jiyyammavalasa mandal, the native village of S. Vijayarama Raju, Minister for Forests, the people were provided work only for two days and paid Rs. 30 on the first day and Rs. 40 on the second, he added.

‘Chalo Hyderabad’

Under the Rajiv Yuva Shakti programme, not a single unit was sanctioned in the 100 model villages, he said and called upon the people to participate in the ‘Chalo Hyderabad’ programme on March 19. M. Srinivas, KVPS district president, D. Appala Raju, APVKS president, and others spoke.