Vizag slums to get priority housing, says Minister P. Narayana
Municipal Administration and Urban Development Minister P. Narayana on Monday said Visakhapatnam, which has the highest number of slum settlements in the State, will be given priority for housing construction for displaced families.
He said Chief Minister N. Chandrababu Naidu has directed officials to begin work immediately and that special action plans are being readied to address long-pending housing issues.
During his visit to the city, the Minister inspected the Velampeta Lakshmi Nagar slum area in the South Constituency along with Mayor Peela Srinivasa Rao, Deputy Mayor Dalli Govindaraju, South MLA Vamsikrishna Srinivas, GVMC Commissioner Ketan Garg, VMRDA Commissioner N. Tej Bharat, and senior officials.
Mr. Narayana interacted with residents, who said they have lived in the area for nearly five decades and depend largely on daily wage labour. They appealed for early sanction of houses, pointing out that 177 families face acute hardship, especially during the monsoon, due to unsafe housing and lack of basic amenities.
Reviewing the living conditions, the Minister described the situation as distressing and said families were living in extremely cramped spaces. He assured residents that the Velampeta slum would be taken up as a special project for comprehensive development. He said the matter would be placed before the Chief Minister and that housing construction would be expedited.
South MLA Vamsikrishna Srinivas Yadav said the area’s problems had remained unresolved for years. While internal road works had been completed, he said housing remained the key pending issue, adding that resolving the Poorna Market issue would significantly improve the constituency.
Mayor Peela Srinivasa Rao also highlighted local concerns and sought the Minister’s intervention.