JAGATSINGHPUR: Residents of villages under Naugaon panhayat of Jagatsinghpur district have resented re-branding of houses allotted to them under central schemes Indira Awas Yojana (IAY) and Pradhan Mantri Gramin Awas Yojana (PMGAY) as Biju Pucca Ghar Yojana (BPGY), which is a state-run housing scheme. Locals said despite their resistance, block officials on Saturday pasted stickers of BPGY at Osakana gram panchayat.
The houses however were constructed under the Central housing schemes. Not only are the houses being rebranded, the stickers being pasted on the houses state that the residents have received a grant of Rs 35,000 under BPGY. Beneficiaries of IAY and PMGAY in the panchayat were given Rs 25,000 under the schemes in 2008. As many as 120 villagers were sanctioned houses under IAY in 2008 but now BPGY stickers have been pasted on 68 houses. For the rest, records were unavailable online.
Local Congress leader Kartik Chandra Mallick slammed the BJD for hijacking IAY to promote BPGY using block officials. “The two housing schemes are different and funds should be allocated to the beneficiaries accordingly. It is unfair to re-brand a house and cheat villagers,” he said. Local BJP leader Sampad Swain said his party will soon launch an agitation to protest the irregularity.
In villages under Mangarajpur panchayat of Kujang block, dwelling units constructed under PMGAY too are being re-tagged. Sarpanch Purnima Tripathy said the block officials also assured beneficiaries that maintenance and repair of their houses would be borne by the State government. As many as 84 houses were re-branded as BPGY in the panchayat, she said.
Kujang BDO Amiya Panda said the State government had supplied BPGY stickers to be pasted on houses of beneficiaries but no instruction was issued to stick them on houses constructed under any other scheme. “It was done without my knowledge and action will be taken to remove the stickers,” he said.