Undeserving names have come out among beneficiaries from Ranchi for Union Government’s Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana. Ranchi Municipal Corporation ward councillors drew attention towards several discrepancies in the ambitious housing scheme.
For the first phase of PMAY, applications were invited from those who live in mud houses on their own land plots. Out of the 27,000 applications received, 4,776 were being verified following Department’s approval.
“Names of well-to-do individuals were added to the list of beneficiaries approved by Urban Development Department. This was done during physical verification of beneficiaries by PMAY Cell Team leader Ramendra Prasad, City Manager Shahid Hasan and team of surveyors,” stated Mayor Asha lakra during a press conference on Thursday.
She accused them of forcing Ward-11 Councillor Kulbhusan Dungdung to approve the botched up list, which he denied. Even the rectified list prepared after striking off four names, which he signed later, had a person who does not live in Ward-11, added the Mayor.
lakra also disclosed letters from ward councillors Sunita Tirkey (Ward-1), Basanti lakra (Ward-3) and Ashok Khalkho (Ward-6) stating that respective beneficiaries’ list for their wards had their forged signatures, again assigning blame on Prasad and Hasan. “In Ward-1, a person was listed as a beneficiary under PMAY despite being a affluent one. From Ward-3, merely three out of seven beneficiaries conformed to the standards set for first phase,” said the Mayor.
She had written to Municipal Commissioner Prashant Kumar and Urban Development Minister CP Singh to cross-check the list of approved beneficiaries and taken stringent action against those behind the irregularities.