Over 5 lakh houses under Awaas+ ineligible: Odisha government

BHUBANESWAR: The State government has admitted to the Centre that over five lakh households registered under Awaas+ for assistance under Pradhan Mantri Awaas Yojana (PMAY) were ineligible for the scheme.

In its compliance report to the findings of a team from the Ministry of Rural Development that conducted physical verification of BJP’s allegations of gross irregularities in selection of beneficiaries, defalcation of funds and other lapses in the flagship rural housing scheme, the State government said all the beneficiaries registered in Awaas+ will be verified before issue of work order.

Union Minister of State for Rural Development Sadhvi Niranjan Jyoti on Tuesday, December 21, 2021, informed the Lok Sabha that Odisha had registered 13,20,945 households under Awaas+ survey of which only around 7,46,422 households remain eligible after due verification by the State.

The Central team had detected that most of the ineligible households in the Awaas+ list have pucca houses. Earlier, the State Panchayati Raj Secretary DK Singh had submitted a compliance report before the Ministry, admitting,  “The State has detected 5.05 lakh ineligible beneficiaries from the Awaas+.” 

Acknowledging the Central team’s finding that incomplete houses were shown in Awaassoft, Singh said, “Two beneficiaries in Ghasipura block had roof cast their houses but did not fix doors and windows.’

The Central team’s observation that dedicated cooking area with kitchen platform and toilet were found missing in two cases and in some cases the funds allocated for housing and toilet were misutilised for other purposes. 

The State government said the beneficiaries will be sensitised. The Central team visited the State for three days from Febru ary 9 to 11 this year following a directive from the then Union Minister of Rural Development Narendra Singh Tomar.

Seeking recovery of funds released to ineligible beneficiaries and criminal proceedings against officials responsible for committing fraud and swindling government funds, Ministry of Rural Development Secretary Nagendra Nath Sinha had shot off a letter to Chief Secretary SC Mahapatra to ensure that perpetrator of the fraud and their collaborators are dealt with sternly.