Nearly 50% of applications received by the Guntur Municipal Corporation (GMC) for grant of house sites have been rejected by the civic body.
It cited state government rules while rejecting the applications and now the hundreds who thronged the GMC office in past several weeks, filing their applications, are pleading with the newly-recruited ward volunteers to help them out.
Sources said that GMC has rejected 66,704 of the 1,39,903 applications it received till last week. With the scheme being declared ‘open-ended,’ people are reportedly filing multiple applications with a hope to get at least one approved. GMC had in fact conducted special ward sabhas to receive the applications. While it received nearly 20,000 applications in ward sabhas, about 7,000 were found ineligible.
Meanwhile, people are complaining that their applications are being rejected on technical grounds without proper verification of actual status. Sources said that the applications of those whose names were not found on Praja Sadhikara Survey, those with domestic power connections, and property tax-payers are being rejected.
Some applicants are arguing that they owned small thatched houses in the past and sold them. Since the new owners have not changed the names in the property tax and power connection papers, records continue to show the earlier names.
Rules say that having household electricity connection means that the person has a house and hence he is not eligible to get the house site, said a GMC official.
“We are taking every possible care to include all eligible people in the list. Many are missing out due to various reasons including owning houses in the past. We need fresh guidelines to resolve the issue,” said a senior official.
