The CPI staged a dharna at the Visakhapatnam Rural Tahsildar’s office and the Tahsildar offices at Seethammadhara, Maharanipeta, Mulagada and Gajuwaka mandals on Monday, demanding that the NDA government should keep its election promise to provide 2 cents of land to the poor in cities.

The participants in the dharna also sought immediate implementation of the ‘super six’ promises. Addressing the gathering, CPI State Council member M. Pydiraju and district secretary Sk. Rahaman said that it was the duty of the government to provide the poor a roof over their heads.

They recalled that the previous YSRCP government had also failed to implement its promise of construction of 35 lakh houses for the poor in the State. The previous government had deceived the people by allotting one-and-a-half cents in rural areas and one cent in urban areas to the poor. The CPI has been organising struggles since then that it was not possible to build a pucca house in one cent. It had demanded allotment of two cents in urban areas and three cents in rural areas, apart from the government taking up house construction with its own funds.

The CPI leaders recalled that Chief Minister N. Chandrababu Naidu had promised before the elections to allot 2 cents in urban areas and 3 cents in rural areas to the poor, if the Alliance government was voted to power. He had also promised that the government would take up construction of houses with ₹4 lakh each. They said that the CPI had collected petitions from the beneficiaries all over the State and submitted them at the respective Tahsildar offices. The State government had released a G.O. three months ago for the allotment of land to the poor.

They sought that the State government should prepare the list of eligible beneficiaries and take up allotment of land and house construction without any further delay.

CPI leaders M. Manmadha Rao, CN Kshetrapal, K. Satyanjaneya, K. Satyanarayana and K. Vanajakshi were among those who participated in the protest.