Thousands of urban poor families in Hyderabad edged closer to owning a home on Thursday, August 13, 2026, as the Chief Minister's Office of Telangana announced that Chief Minister Revanth Reddy laid the foundation stone for Indiramma Indlu towers in the KPHB Colony, Kukatpally — and used the occasion to personally guarantee relief for landowners trapped in the state's dreaded prohibited-land list.

A guarantee for 22A landowners — and what it actually means

The loudest moment of the event was not the groundbreaking. It was the Chief Minister's direct address to residents anxious about Section 22A of the Registration Act — the 'prohibited list' that blocks registration of properties flagged as encroached, court-disputed, or government land. Entire survey numbers have been placed on the list, sweeping in legitimate private plots alongside contested ones.

Revanth Reddy told the gathering: 'If your land has entered 22A for any reason, the plots of rightful buyers will not go anywhere. I guarantee it. Survey numbers with court cases have had all land under them placed on the prohibited list. We are setting aside only the court-contested portions and issuing by-numbers to the rest — resolving the problem. No one needs to worry about this.'

The proposed fix — issuing bai-numberllu (by-numbers), essentially sub-survey identifiers that carve legitimate private holdings out of a blocked survey number — is a procedural workaround that, if implemented, would allow thousands of title-holders in Hyderabad's older colonies to finally register and transact their properties. The watch item now is the pace of actual implementation across affected constituencies.

Eleven acres in Kukatpally, towers for the city's poorest

The foundation stone was laid on 11 acres of land in KPHB Colony, described by the Chief Minister as worth hundreds of crores, within the Core Urban (CURE) zone of Hyderabad. Ministers Ponguleti, Sridhar Babu, and Ponnam were present at the bhumipuja (ground-breaking ceremony) alongside elected representatives.

The Indiramma Indlu scheme — a Congress-era name that echoes the original Indiramma housing programme from united Andhra Pradesh — targets the urban poor where they already live, rather than relocating them to the city's periphery. Revanth Reddy stated the government's intent plainly: 'Wherever the urban poor are living in the city, we want to give them homes right there.' The first phase covers high-density, migrant-worker-heavy areas including Kukatpally, Quthbullapur, Medchal, Cantonment, LB Nagar, and Uppal.

On the cost structure, the Chief Minister said the land is provided free; beneficiaries contribute five to six lakh rupees toward construction costs, giving them the right to inspect progress at any stage. He also directed ministers on the spot to waive registration charges on homes built for the poor.

Welfare scoreboard: what the CM put on the record

Using the public platform, Revanth Reddy laid out a welfare ledger his government is staking its two-year record on. He cited distribution of 6 kg of fine rice per person to 3.28 crore Telangana residents, 200 units of free electricity, LPG cylinders at Rs 500, and one crore Indiramma sarees distributed to women. He added that free travel on TSRTC buses saves commuters six to seven thousand rupees a month, with the state having already paid Rs 12,000 crore to the corporation.

On employment, he claimed 70,000 government jobs filled across departments within two years. On women's self-help groups, he cited Rs 65,000 crore in bank linkages and Rs 2,500 crore in interest payments. He also announced a 1,000-megawatt solar plant opportunity for women's groups and a 3.5-acre Indira Mahila Bazaar at Shilparamam for women artisans from across Telangana.

The CM drew an explicit contrast with the previous administration, telling residents: 'Compare what welfare schemes were run then and what we have added in these two years. Not a single scheme from the previous government has been stopped.'

Kukatpally gets a direct promise

Turning to the local constituency, Revanth Reddy told the audience they had the right to demand roads, flyovers, lake restoration, schools, colleges, and industries — and instructed Minister Sridhar Babu from the stage to treat Kukatpally as a priority zone. 'The chance to repay this area's people has come,' he said, in a pointed acknowledgement of the constituency's political weight.

He also announced the establishment of the Cyberabad Commissionerate to reduce bureaucratic friction for residents who previously had to navigate panchayat, municipality, and corporation offices for routine civic work.

If the by-number mechanism for 22A lands delivers and the Indiramma towers rise on schedule, Kukatpally could become the template for how Telangana resolves its twin urban crises — contested land titles and a housing deficit — simultaneously. The clock is now running.