After Chhattisgarh, the Central team of Rural Development Ministry, has flagged several irregularities in the functioning of the Pradhan Mantri Aawas Yojna (Gramin) scheme in Odisha too.
These range from anomalies in the list of beneficiaries, as many as 37 per cent, discrepancies in uploading data on Awas-soft website, fudging in beneficiaries bank account numbers, transfer of funds to non-eligible persons and denying benefits to legitimate individuals.
This was pointed out by Union Minister of Rural Development and Panchayati Raj, Giriraj Singh during his meeting with Odisha Minister of Panchayati Raj and Drinking Water Pradip Kumar Amat recently to discuss progress in the implementation of the central flagship.
The (PMAY-G) has been implemented from April 1, 2016, with an objective of providing "Housing for All" by March 2024. Union Minister of Education and Skill Development and Entrepreneurship, Dharmendra Pradhan was also present in the meeting. Giriraj Singh also raised serious objections to the change of logo of the PMAY-G which is against the scheme guidelines, said an official from the Ministry.
The Union Rural Development Minister called for effective monitoring of the PMAY-G scheme in the state saying that social audit of the Panchayats needs to be undertaken.
He also emphasized on effective convergence of the scheme with Swachh BharatMission for construction of toilets, Saubhagya scheme for power connection to every household, Har GharNal Se Jal for tapped water and Pradhan Mantri Ujjwala Yojana for LPG/Gas connection.
“The convergence is still a paltry 20-25 per cent, he said,” according to the official. Giriraj Singh said his Ministry, together with the State Government, has a target to provide houses to the more than 8 lakh beneficiaries in Odisha. The tribal and backward districts should be accorded priority, he said.
The official shared that it was agreed in the meeting that anomalies pointed out by the Central team will be resolved and punitive action will be initiated against fraudulent beneficiaries and complicit officials. Last week, the Union Rural Development Ministry had also cautioned the Congress-led Chhattisgarh government that it "shall be compelled to reconsider its support to its other core schemes" if it fails to duly implement the rural housing scheme. ?
In a letter to Chhattisgarh Chief Secretary Amitabh Jain, Rural Development Secretary Nagendra Nath Sinha had mentioned that the state government has not shown satisfactory progress despite several letters and meetings in this connection.
"If the state is unable to implement PMAY-G..., the ministry shall be compelled to reconsider its support to other core Rural Development (Ministry) schemes/programmes," Sinha said in the letter.
He had said despite several rounds of communication from "various levels of the Union Ministry to the Chhattisgarh government, it has neither shown satisfactory progress nor released the due state share of Rs 562 crore, as a result of which the work of PMAY-G has come to a standstill in state, a situation, which you are well aware of".