BERHAMPUR/BALANGIR: Allegations of massive irregularities have started pouring in after the list of beneficiaries for distribution of Prime Minister Awas Yojana-Gramin (PMAY-G) houses was published at the gram panchayats (GPs) leading to serious discontentment across the district.
The list published on January 20 allegedly had the names of homeless and deserving people dropped triggering resentment. Meanwhile, it was also reported that names of people who possessed three to four pucca houses, have found mention in the list.
While many from the deprived lot took to the streets, the list became a cause of family fight too. Following the resentment, the district administration ordered the GPs to hold gram sabha to make a fresh list besides removing names of the ineligible persons from the lists.
Accordingly, 431 GPs held gram sabha and approved the eligible beneficiaries’ list. The rest 72 GPs sought time till January 30, official sources said. “A fresh list was prepared following the direction of the district administration in accordance with the PMAY guidelines.
However, names of many eligible beneficiaries have still been left out. Efforts will be made to provide them with the facility later on,” said panchayat samiti member of Kukudakhandi block Kanhu Charan Patra adding out of the 37,556 names enlisted in the previous PMAY scheme, around 2,900 names were alleged to be ineligible.
“We, however, found 500 ineligible names as per the PMAY guidelines. They will be deleted from the list and names of deserving beneficiaries added,” Patra informed. Chief development officer, DRDA Ganjam V Keerthi Vasan said, “After receiving allegations of irregularities in the list of PMAY beneficiaries, the GPs were advised to verify and eventually weed out the names of ineligible persons. They will finalise the lists by the end of January.”
Meanwhile, in Balangir, the sarpanch sangha of the district refrained from conducting any gram sabha on Thursday. The district has 317 GPs but gram sabha could not be organised in a single panchayat.
Talking to mediapersons, executive president of the sarpanch sangha Baladev Sahu said the administration prepared the list of beneficiaries for the rural housing scheme and the sarpanchs have no role on that. “Hence, we didn’t conduct any gram sabha on January 26,” added Sahu.
Project director DRDA of Balangir Sushant Singh said the beneficiary list was prepared during 2019 basing on the socio-economic survey of 2011. “We are still verifying the list. Some newly-elected PRI representatives are demanding to add new names. Later, a special gram sabha will be organised,”
added PD.