The Chhattisgarh Assembly on Tuesday witnessed unruly scenes over the allocation of houses under the Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana (PMAY), leading to adjournment and suspension of opposition BJP members.
BJP MLAs alleged that the State Government failed to provide its quota of fund and allot houses to the poorest of the poor.
The ruling Congress Government contested and said the State was due to get a huge amount from the Centre.
Under PMAY, a mass housing scheme for the poor, the Centre provides 60 percent of the funds while remaining 40 percent is contributed by the state.
Former Minister and BJP legislator Ajay Chandrakar, who raised the issue, quizzed why the state was not taking a loan for the housing scheme. He asked if the state would return all the schemes to the Centre in which it had to contribute 40 percent of the funds.
Panchayat Minister T.S. Singh Deo said the state had sought time from the Centre to share its contribution but the request was not entertained. In the current year, the target allotment was also withdrawn. The state’s total due is around Rs 20,000 crores for different schemes.
Singh Deo admitted that 2.74 houses were incomplete. On receipt of Rs 762 crores due to the state under the scheme or a loan approval, they would be completed.
The opposition accused the state government of poaching houses meant for the poor. As the treasury members refuted this, pandemonium broke out in the House.
Eleven BJP members and one from the Janta Congress Chhattisgarh (JCC) were suspended for entering the well of the House. The House was adjourned for two minutes. As chaos continued, Speaker Charan Das Mahant adjourned the House till Wednesday morning.