BHUBANESWAR: Union Rural Development and Panchayati Raj Minister Narendra Singh Tomar on Saturday assured Union Minister of State for Petroleum and Natural Gas Dharmendra Pradhan of probe into the alleged irregularities in the allocation of houses under Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana-Gramin (PMAY-G) in Mahanga block of Cuttack district.This was in response to Pradhan’s letter in which he drew Tomar’s attention to the alleged irregularities in selection of beneficiaries for rural housing.
The petitioners had alleged that the local Block Development Officer (BDO) and Panchayat Extension Officers (PEOs) are selecting ineligible persons for housing assistance under the instruction of the ruling party MLAs and through corrupt means.Pradhan had requested Tomar to direct officials concerned for an inquiry into the matters. “Directions have been given to the Chief Controller of Accounts to send an internal audit team to Odisha for conducting a specific inquiry in the matter and furnishing the report. I assure you that appropriate action would be taken on the findings of the report,” Tomar wrote to Pradhan in his letter.
Noting that the identification of beneficiaries is based on the housing deprivation parameters as per Socio-Economic and Caste Census (SECC) 2011 data, Tomar said houseless families and households living in zero, one and two room kutcha houses subject to exclusion criteria are provided assistance under PMAY-G.“At present, there is no provision of addition of households to the permanent waiting list of beneficiaries prepared on the basis of SECC-2011 data,” he said.