BHUBANESWAR: The BJP on Tuesday, December 7, 2021, ridiculed the demand of BJD for opening of the Aawaas+ app window for a month to give an opportunity to people of western and southern regions to register their names under Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana-Gramin (PMAY-G) terming it an example of inefficient government.
Rajya Sabha MP Sasmit Patra had made this request to MoRD through a special mention in the Upper House reiterating the earlier request of Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik to Prime Minister Narendra Modi for inclusion of six lakh identified eligible households under PMAY-G in respect to districts not affected by cyclone Fani.
BJP State general secretary Golak Mohapatra in a press conference here said that the timeline of the Aawaas+ window was extended four times following the request of the State government between 2017 and 2019. “Asking for more time is ridiculous as it proved the inefficiency of the government,” he remarked. The Ministry had found that 5.6 lakh of the 8.22 lakh beneficiaries registered in the Aawaas+ are eligible. In July last year, the Centre asked the State to verify the eligibility of the remaining 2.62 lakh applicants.
Accordingly, Panchayati Raj Principal Secretary DK Singh wrote to all district collectors to verify the eligibility of the applicants rejected by the Centre and submit a revised list to the department. But the revised list has not been uploaded on the department website till date. He alleged that the list could not be finalised as many of the rejected applicants belong to the ruling BJD.