'Mandal, village Nirmitha' cetres helping 'Indiramma' scheme

Ananthapur, Feb 28 (UNI) The Andhra Pradesh government's new concept of setting up Mandal Nirmitha Kendras(MNKs) and Village Nirmithi Kendras(VNKs) to produce building materials was helping speedy construction of Houses under the first and the second phases of 'Indiramma' housing programme in this district, District Collector N Sridhar said.

Severe shortage of building materials, mainly sand cement bricks was seen after the launch of 'Indiramma' Phase-II programme. And to bridge the gap between demand and supply, building material production centres were established through village orgnisations like Self Help Groups(SHGs), he told reporters here.

He said the main objective behind the establishment of such centres was to meet the requirement of sand cement bricks for the houses.

Each 'kendra' was set up at a cost of Rs 5 lakhs with financial aid from banks and the housing corporations, besides contribution from the beneficiaries of the scheme, he said.

He said the centres were set up through SHGs of 'Indira Kranthi Patham', 'Rajiv Yuva Shakti' group and Scheduled Caste unemployed groups in the district.

He said 54 such centres were established and the group leaders of the 54 village organisations were trained in manufacturing sand cement bricks and maintaining cement stocks for being supplied to the houses constructed in their villages.

UNI BR VV 1351