The Hindu : Andhra Pradesh News : Houses ready for tsunami-hit

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Thursday, May 29, 2008
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Andhra Pradesh

Andhra Pradesh

Houses ready for tsunami-hit

Staff Reporter

BAPATLA: Tsunami-affected families in Bapatla mandal of Guntur district finally have a permanent house in Pandurangapuram village.

Some 251 houses built by the Guntur Diocese Social Welfare Organisation were opened by Women Child Welfare Minister N. Rajyalakshmi on Wednesday.

Dedicating the units to the beneficiaries, the Minister told people that it was the vision of Chief Minister Y.S. Rajasekhara Reddy to provide houses to the poorest of the poor in the State, which had led to the construction of several lakhs of houses in the past four years. These houses were given to the genuinely eligible persons without any discrimination on the basis of caste, creed or party affiliations.

Classrooms

She also inaugurated four additional classrooms built at a cost of Rs. 8.5 lakhs, and a cement road laid in the same village at a cost of Rs. 6 lakhs.

“Women taking the help of ‘Pavala Vaddi’ scheme are scripting a success story for their families while saving just Re.1 per day,” she pointed out. Additional nutritional supplements were being provided to pregnant women and lactating mothers throughout the State through 74,000 anganwadi centres, she said.

People who benefited from government welfare schemes must compare the welfare measures implemented during the last four years with that of the previous regime and try to tell other villagers about the benefits of joining these welfare schemes.

Unit cost

For the 251 houses built in the village, the government invested Rs.40,000 on each unit while the welfare organisation invested another Rs. 50,000, Bapatla MLA Gade Venkata Reddy said at the meeting in the village. Out of the 3,200 tsunami houses sanctioned for the district, some 1,800 were built by the organisation at Repalle, Nizampatnam and Pandurangapuram, he added.

District Collector B. Venkatesham said that the total number of houses being built in State was four to five times more than that witnessed in other states and the SHGs were being given Rs.5 lakhs as loan from banks if they participated in thrift activities.

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