HYDERABAD: Telangana Revenue, Housing, and Information and Public Relations Minister Ponguleti Srinivasa Reddy has directed district collectors to operate in alignment with the government’s vision and priorities. He emphasised the importance of the prestigious Indiramma housing scheme and the implementation of the Bhoobharati Act, urging collectors to pay special attention to both.
On Tuesday, the Minister conducted a video conference with collectors from the state secretariat alongside Chief Secretary Santhi Kumari. The discussions covered the Bhoobharati Act, Indiramma housing, and the Layout Regularisation Scheme (LRS), among other topics. He stated that the Bhoobharati Act, designed to address longstanding land issues, must be implemented earnestly and that collectors are responsible for its effective enforcement. He instructed them to study the Act in depth and engage with the public to raise awareness.
Minister Reddy shared that revenue meetings were held from 17 April in 16 of the 56 revenue villages across four pilot mandals under the Bhoobharati project. So far, a total of 5,905 applications related to land issues have been received—1,076 in Nelakondapalli (Khammam), 233 in Maddur (Narayanpet), 810 in Lingampet (Kamareddy), and 3,786 in Venkatapur (Mulugu).
Collectors have been instructed to complete revenue meetings in these pilot mandals by 30 April. Based on the experience gained, the Bhoobharati Act will be extended in the first week of May to one mandal each in the remaining 28 districts, excluding Hyderabad. Prior to this, tahsildar-led teams from the initial four mandals will conduct workshops for officials, including tahsildars and deputy tahsildars, in the new locations. Awareness programmes have already been conducted in 159 out of 605 mandals. The Minister also directed that pending Dharani applications at the CCLA level should be addressed during these meetings.
Indiramma Housing Beneficiary Selection on War Footing
With the monsoon approaching, Minister Reddy has instructed that the selection process for Indiramma housing beneficiaries be completed by the first week of May to expedite construction. Each constituency is to identify 3,500 eligible beneficiaries, with one gazetted officer overseeing every 200 applications. The Minister stressed that officers would be held accountable if ineligible individuals were selected.
He added that houses must be built with a minimum of 400 square feet and not exceed 600 square feet to qualify for funding. Payments to beneficiaries should be made directly to their bank accounts every Monday, based on the stage of construction.
To provide construction materials at lower costs, the Minister announced that a meeting would soon be held with industry owners, alongside Minister for Industries Sridhar Babu. He expressed dissatisfaction with the beneficiary selection progress in 11 districts, including Adilabad, Jagtial, Nizamabad, Wanaparthy, Mancherial, and Gadwal.
No Extension for LRS Deadline
Minister Reddy reiterated that there would be no extension of the Layout Regularisation Scheme (LRS) deadline, which ends on 30 April. He urged applicants to utilise the 25% concession provided by the government within the remaining one-week window. He also commended the collectors for their commendable work in implementing LRS.
The meeting was attended by Stamps and Registration IG Jyothi Budda Prakash, MA&UD Principal Secretary Dana Kishore, Housing Corporation MD V.P. Gautam, CCLA Director Makarand, and other officials.
