Fact Check: Eenadu Misleads People on Navaratnalu–Pedalandariki Illu Scheme

A news report in the Eenadu newspaper on 17.02.2023 suggesting that the government has excluded the poor people of the rural areas in its flagship Navaratnalu Pedalandiriki Illu scheme is misleading and reeks of factual errors. 

Seeking to clear up the confusion due to the newspaper report, the concerned department said the Andhra Pradesh government is committed to provide Pucca Houses to all the eligible Households in the State including Rural areas. As such “Pedalandariki Illu” scheme has been included in the “Navaratnalu” scheme. 

It said the YS Jagan government has issued 30.65 lakh house site pattas worth of Rs 56,102 crore and possession certificates to all the needy and eligible beneficiaries which is first of its kind in the country. 

These house sites are spread across 17,005 layouts across the state. Nearly 3,117 crore has already been spent on these layouts to make them suitable for construction of houses. It is planned to sanction houses in phases under Navaratnalu-PedalandarikiIllu Programme, it added. 

So far, 15.60 lakh and 2.63 lakh houses have been sanctioned under Phase I and Phase II respectively.     Out of 18.63 lakh houses sanctioned so far 17.22 lakh Houses were grounded and the construction of the houses is in good progress. 

It may be noted here that wherever, the houses have been sanctioned but construction was not taken up due to issues like court cases, death of the beneficiary, permanent migration – only in such cases have been kept in abeyance and alternate allocations made to willing candidates. And, to report that beneficiaries were removed from the list at random is not proper. 

The sanctioned houses are being constructed in convergence with Government of India schemes like Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana (Urban) and Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana (Gramin). The beneficiaries are provided 20 Metric Tonnes free sand. They are also being provided with various materials for construction purposes at lower than market prices. 

This is further augmented by provision of 35,000/- loan per beneficiary supported by Banks/SHG’s. This raises the existing unit cost from 1.8 lakh to 2.5 lakhs. In addition to these, the layouts are being supplied with infrastructure like water supply, drainage, CC roads and electricity supply and this infrastructure costs around Rs 32,909 crore.

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