Chief Minister Y.S. Jagan Mohan Reddy virtually laid the foundation stone for the construction of the Girijana Super-Speciality Hospital for tribal people at Buttaigudem village in the district on Friday.
Mr. Jagan performed the ‘bhoomi puja’ for the hospital, which will be built on 11 acres of land, from his camp office in Tadepalli via video-conference.
The 123-bedded hospital, estimated to come up at a cost of ₹50 crore, will have all the latest facilities, Integrated Tribal Development Agency (ITDA) Project Officer R.V. Suryanarayana said.
Later, Women and Child Welfare Minister Taneti Vanitha, Information and Public Relations Minister Perni Venkataramaiah (Nani), Eluru MP Kotagiri Sridhar, Polavaram MLA Tellam Balaraju and Chintalapudi MLA V.R. Eliza distributed Recognition of Forest Rights (RoFR) pattas to tribal people on the occasion of Gandhi Jayanti.
Tribal women welcomed the Ministers and other guests by performing Kommu, a traditional dance, at the ITDA office. Beneficiaries from Kukunur, Velerupadu, Buttaigudem, Polavaram, Jeelugumilli, T. Narsapuram and Chintalapudi attended the programme.
The ITDA Project Officer said that 1,273 tribal people were given lands for 2.207 acres under RoFR. Pattas have been issued on the names of heads of the families, Mr. Suryanarayana said.
Joint Collectors Himanshu Shukla and Venkataramana Reddy, Eluru Revenue Divisional Officer Panabaka Archana, officers and Girijana Sangam leaders participated in the programme.