After the roof collapse at Jhanjeri village in Mohali on Friday. (Express Photo)

It took the death of a husband and wife in a roof collapse at Jhanjeri village to jolt the panchayat into action and release funds for repairing houses to 16 residents of the village who had applied for the same but were waiting.
Ranjeet Singh and Manjeet Kaur had died on Friday after the roof of their house collapsed in the late hours of the night. Ranjeet Singh had applied for a grant under the Pradhan Mantri Gramin Awas Yojana as he wanted to get the roof repaired. Making repeated rounds to the sarpanch asking for the grant, he was reportedly told that the same would be released shortly.

Now 16 villagers who had applied under the scheme got their first instalments of Rs 30,000 out of the Rs 1.20 lakh they will get for building their houses in three instalments. The villagers are now asking questions as to how the grant was released immediately after the death of the couple and why it was delayed earlier. The Kharar Sub-Divisional Magistrate (SDM), Vinod Bansal, said he would inquire into the matter as the funds could not be disbursed by the panchayat as it had been dissolved.

Speaking to Chandigarh Newsline, the villagers who received the first instalment of the grant said that Surmukh Singh, a panch of village and husband of the sarpanch, Amarjit Kaur, informed them on Saturday the first instalment of their grant to repair the houses had been deposited in their bank accounts. Darshan Singh, one of the beneficiaries of the scheme, said that the entry of the deposited money was made in his passbook on Saturday. Two other beneficiaries, Krishna Devi and Gurmeet Kaur, also confirmed receiving the grant.

“My parents died demanding the release of the grant so that they could repair the roof. They met the sarpanch and her husband many times but the sarpanch always made excuses and told them that the panchayat had been dissolved so he could not help them,” said Harpreet Singh, son of the deceased couple. He added that his parents’ lives could have been saved had the grant been released in time.

The SDM said that since panchayats had been dissolved, the funds transaction could not have been made. He added that it was a serious issue if the panchayat did not release the grant to the couple and now suddenly 16 people got the first instalments. “I shall inquire into the matter and see what the lapses were. Action shall be taken against the erring people,” the SDM said.

Kharar MLA Kanwar Sandhu also demanded a time-bound inquiry into the issue. He said that if the grant was released to the couple in time then the incident could have been prevented. He said that a case of culpable homicide should be registered against the village sarpanch and the supervisory officers.