BHUBANESWAR: Union Minister Dharmendra Pradhan on Saturday hit out at the state government for the slow progress of Central schemes especially the rural segment of Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana (PMAY).Launching a blistering attack on the BJD government for large-scale corruption in the selection of beneficiaries and distribution of houses at the Sankalp Samavesh rally held at Athagarh, the union minister said only 17.56 lakh houses have been constructed in the state against 27.5 lakh sanctioned by the Narendra Modi-led government at the Centre.
The Centre has set a target to convert all kucha houses to pucca under ‘Housing for All’ scheme by March, 2024. On average, the state needs to construct around 9,000 houses a day to complete the balance of over 9.82 lakh houses. However, only 32 houses are being constructed in a day.
After the Modi government came to power in 2014, it had selected 41.71 lakh beneficiaries for housing assistance as per the 2011 socio-economic caste census. However, the state government removed 14,08,574 beneficiaries from the list of 41.72 lakh and selected 27,64,146.
Citing a few gross irregularities in the selection and allotment of houses under the scheme, Pradhan said Kamala Sahu of Lingapada villages under Mancheswar panchayat passed away in 2014 but A PMAY house was sanctioned in her name in 2016.
Similarly, a house was sanctioned in the name of Panchei Dei of Khuntakta village in 2023, four years after she passed away in 2019. In another case, Tuna Malik, a PMAY beneficiary of Kumarpur village, found out that housing assistance released in his favour was withdrawn without his knowledge.
Even people who have no homestead land or bank account have been issued work orders which shows how the government is functioning in the state. The union minister said the state government has mastered the art of misusing Central schemes by pasting the official logo of BJD.
“It is a matter of concern that the state government has not been able to construct a single cold storage anywhere in the state including Athagarh sub-division which is considered the vegetable basket of Cuttack district,” he said. The state which had received only Rs 3 lakh crore during the Congress-led UPA government has received more than Rs 18 lakh crore in the last nine years. While there is no visible progress in Odisha, the youths of the state are migrating in large numbers to other states in search of work.