The Andhra Pradesh high court on Thursday issued a stay order on the housing programme in R 5 zone in Amaravati. The three-member bench consisting of Justice D V S S Somayajuly, Justice Ch Manavendranath Roy and Justice Ravinadh Tilhari, directed the state government to stop construction of houses in the zone.

The Amaravati farmers have challenged the construction of houses in Amaravati. They have earlier opposed the distribution of house sites for the weaker sections in the R 5 zone. However, the state government secured clearance for the house sites distribution from the Supreme Court.

On July 24, chief minister Y S Jagan Mohan Reddy laid foundation stone for the construction of 50,000 houses here. The house sites were given to the eligible poor from the NTR and Guntur districts, even as the farmers opposed it.

The house sites in the R 5 zone were created by the present Jagan Mohan Reddy government to provide housing for the poor and weaker sections spread over Tadikonda and Mangalagiri Assembly constituencies. The government had allocated 1402 acres for the house sites in the R 5 zone.

The farmers and the Dalit Bahujan Welfare Association of Rayapudi approached the high court seeking cancellation of the house sites given to the 50,000 families in the R 5 zone. They have also appealed to the high court to cancel the construction of the houses, which was started by Jagan Mohan Reddy on July 24.

The state government had planned to construct all the 50,000 houses and hand them over to the beneficiaries. As the court had kept the orders aside and directed the government to stop construction of the houses, it is to be seen what the government would do now!