Andhra Pradesh Bags Best Performing State Award, AP Makes A Mark In Housing

Amaravati: Chief Minister YS Jagan Mohan Reddy participated in Prime Minister Narendra Modi's video conference  to lay foundation stone for six light house projects under GHTC (Global Housing Technology Challenge) -India  and distribution of PMAY- urban and  ASHA - India awards virtually here on Friday.

Andhra Pradesh has secured third in the ‘Best Performing State’ category in the annual awards. The State has received awards in  'project monitoring tools’ and ‘innovative construction technology’ under the ‘special award’ category and also Visakhapatnam has received  an award under the ‘best performing municipal corporation’ category. The Chief Minister received the Awards from the Prime Minister virtually.

During the interaction, the Chief Minister extended New Year greetings to the Prime Minister and others on behalf of people of Andhra Pradesh.The Chief Minister wished that the New Year would bring joy and prosperity in the lives of 130 crore Indians  and  India  would regain its momentum and the country as a whole  would completely recover from the adverse impacts of the Covid-19  pandemic.

The Chief Minsiter said the Prime Minister has envisioned "Housing for All by 2022", by which year, the nation would complete 75 years of its independence. The programme is of particular relevance to the State of Andhra Pradesh, which is vulnerable to natural disasters like cyclones, heavy rains and floods due to its 974 km long coastline. Due to the vagaries of nature, it is the poor who suffer the most, in the absence of a permanent house.
The Chief Minister said Andhra Pradesh has taken the lead in the country in the implementation of PMYA (Urban). Andhra Pradesh has taken a special drive to provide house sites to 30.75 lakh poor people throughout the state and 68,677 acers of land, including 25,433 acers of government land, has been plotted and distributed to the eligible poor families.

"16,098 EWS Housing Colonies are being developed urban areaz and it is the endeavor of the Government to provide required infrastructure in terms of Roads, Drains, Water and Electricity along with necessary social infrastructure for the Housing colonies. It is estimated that an amount of Rs. 12,410 crores is  required for providing the necessary infrastructure in thecolonies", he said.

Over 20.21 lakh houses were sanctioned so far to the State under the scheme. The Government will ensure that all the houses are completed as per schedule before 2022. "The houses and house sites are being registered in the names of the women beneficiaries only. We are sure that this would go a long way in promoting women empowerment and in ensuring financial security for women", the Chief Minister said.

Construction of such a large number of houses within the stipulated time frame is difficult without the adoption of new construction methodologies, innovative thinking and planning. The State Government has procured the entire land required, so as to avoid any hiccups in the grand endeavour.

The Chief Minister thanked the Prime Minister for encouraging the state in that regard and also congratulated him for launching Global HousingTechnology Challenge- India for identifying sustainable, ecofriendly and disaster resilient technologies from across the globe for housing and construction sector.

"At this crucial juncture, of the Covid-19 construction of the houses at this mammoth scale will give a huge boost to the economy besides providing employment to people belonging to over 30 occupational categories like masonry, carpentry, plumbing and the like contributing to post-Covid
economic revival", he said.

The state government has travelled a great distance towards achieving this goal of " Housing for all " by 2022 by distributing housing plots to all 100% eligible poor families and sanction of houses to 67% of all eligible poor families. Additional sanction of 8.95 lakh houses
by Ministry of Housing & Urban Affairs and the sanction of soft loans of Rs. 12,410 Crores by HUDCO or other Financial Institutions will help the Government to complete its journey towards achieving the goal of Housing for all.

The Chief Minister said it is previlage and honour for the state of Andhra Pradesh to be selected as one of the best performing states in the country in the implementation of PMYA (Urban).

Deputy Chief Minister Dharmana Krishnadas,  Municipal and Urban Development Minister Botsa Satyanarayana, Housing Minister Cherukuvada Ranganadharaju, MP Balashouwry, Chief Secretary Adityanath Das,  Land Administration Chief Commissioner Neerabh Kumar Prasad, Housing secretary Ajay Jain, Municipal Administration Principal Secretary Srilakshmi and other officials were present in the video conference.