BHUBANESWAR: Union Education and Skill Development Minister Dharmendra Pradhan on Friday targeted the Odisha government for its failure to complete survey for identification eligible families, geo-tagging of households, inclusion of eligible families and exclusion of ineligible beneficiaries to provide houses to the poor under the Pradhan Mantri Awaas Yojana-Gramin (PMAY-G).
“It is sad to note that of the allocated target of 8,17,513 houses from finalised Awaas+ lists in 2021-22 financial year, Odisha government has deliberately and disproportionately concentrated in districts where the ruling party had a strong vote-share,” Pradhan said in a letter to Union Minister for Rural Development and Panchayati Raj Giriraj Singh.
Pradhan said only 6,648 houses have been allotted under the scheme to beneficiaries in Bargarh, Balangir, Boudh, Kalahandi, Koraput, Nabarangpur, Rayagada, Gajapati, Kandhamal, Deogarh and Sonepur districts, while Sambalpur, Sundargarh and Jharsuguda districts have zero allotment. Pradhan alleged that investigations by the Ministry of Rural Development in February 2021 and February 2022 have brought up serious concerns in implementation of PMAY-G in Odisha.
These also included exclusion of eligible people from the waiting list, duplicate entries in AwaasSoft, tampering of PMAY-G logo on many houses and issues related to transfer of funds to the beneficiaries and disproportionate allocation of houses among the districts, he added.“Despite this, the State government is claiming that around 7 lakh families have been excluded from the scheme,” he said.
Stating that families affected by cyclones and floods in coastal districts of Odisha are still waiting for their inclusion under the housing scheme, Pradhan alleged that many families in southern and western Odisha are yet to get houses under PMAY-G due to delay in geo-tagging and other technical issues.