Rural Development Trust (RDT), a Spain-based NGO that has been operating from Anantapur, offered to construct pucca houses for Chenchu families living under Timmapur and Polepally Gram Panchayat limits of Chandampet mandal in Nalgonda.
The families were given house land by the district administration some 25 years ago, but pattas are yet to be issued to them.
Representatives of RDT have said that Chenchus fall under Particularly Vulnerable Tribal Groups (PGT), and having a land patta is mandatory to start the construction of houses as per their organisation guidelines.
A dozen Chenchu tribes arrived at the District Collectorate on Monday to submit a memorandum to the District Collector, appealing to him to issue land pattas for house sites allotted to them.
District Collector T. Chiranjeevulu instructed Revenue officials to issue land pattas to these tribes immediately. Meanwhile, the Collector also asked the housing project director to provide houses to these families on a war footing.
Speaking to The Hindu , Dasari Anjaiah, a tribal from Chenchugudem of Thimmapur panchyat, said they simply wanted pucca houses, and that they would opt for either RDT or government houses, depending on which one was constructed first. The Chenchugudem habitation in Thimmapur Panchayat had 52 families. The government had provided pucca houses to some of them 25 years ago, but over time, they became dilapidated. Meanwhile, the number of families increased. Now, all these families need pucca houses.
At the Chenchu habitation under Polepally Gram Panchayat limits, the government had constructed 33 houses in 1992, but the number of families increased by 65. About 100 of these families now need pucca houses. “These families have appealed to the government to conduct a survey in the village to register the number of beneficiaries besides issuing pattas . “If the government is really committed to extending support to us, they should start the housing project within a month, another tribal woman, Chirra Lingamma, whose 12-member family lives in a two-room dilapidated house, said.
