SLOW PACE: Construction of a house under Indiramma programme going on at Komatilanka in Kolleru area.

ELURU: `Indiramma' hardly charms the fishing communities in Kolleru area. Integrated Novel Development in Rural Areas and Model Municipal Areas (Indiramma), an ambitious housing project proposed to be undertaken by the Congress Government in the name of its slain leader Indira Gandhi with a slogan to provide shelter to the poor, weathers many a storm in the Kolleru villages.

Faced with the typical problem of non-availability of land and also gravel for land filling, the programme seems to fail to overcome the teething troubles while sending the target-bound officials into jitters. To quote a Mandal Revenue Officer, there will be virtually no inch of land in the lake, which looks like a basin with a vast expanse of water and scores of fishponds. In case, the Revenue personnel find a piece of land for the programme with a great difficulty, it is so low-lying that levelling it is almost an impossible task. In addition, gravel is not available within the reach for levelling. According to an official source, the land has to be levelled by 6-8 feet anywhere in the lake to make it fit for house construction. Gravel for levelling has to be transported to the housing sites from places not less than 20 km away.

An official, actively engaged in implementing the scheme, said almost all the lands identified for the housing programme in Kolleru were so low-lying that it required at least 7,000 truck-loads of gravel per acre for filling. He estimated that the transport cost per acre for filling alone would cross Rs 22 lakhs, which means an additional burden for the beneficiaries at the rate of Rs 50,000 per unit. However, the Government offers a meagre sum of Rs 5,000 for land filling per unit.

Model villages scheme

The revenue authorities in most of the mandals falling under the lake in West Godavari district reportedly expressed their inability to the Collector on acquisition of land for implementing the scheme. In Bhimadole mandal, for instance, five villages were chosen under the Indiramma Adarsa Gramalu scheme— three in bed and two in belt villages of Kolleru. Ironically, in all these villages, the Revenue personnel failed to find vacant lands. As a result, the programme is still a non-starter in these areas.

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