The Union rural development ministry has decided to send two teams to Bengal to take note of the ground realities over the implementation of the Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana (PMAY), said a source at Nabanna.
The two teams will visit East Midnapore and Malda and submit reports to the ministry.
The visits of the teams assume significance amid complaints that the process to verify the eligibility of 11.36 lakh beneficiaries being carried out by the state government has been faulty.
The reports of the central teams are very important for the state which is scheduled to get nearly 50 lakh homes ready for rural people by 2025.
“Any adverse report may create trouble for the state to get the funds. Release of funds under the 100-day job scheme is still suspended based on the reports of central teams. That is why the state is careful about implementing rural development schemes,” said a source.
According to the scheme, the beneficiaries, approved by the state government based on a list drawn up in 2018, would get Rs 1.20 lakh each to construct houses in rural areas in the 2022-23 financial year.
“The Centre had earlier suspended the release of funds for eight months under the scheme alleging that the name of the scheme was changed in Bengal. While releasing the funds under the scheme in November last year, the Centre had made it clear that if ineligible beneficiaries got the allotment, the Centre may stop the release of funds again. Against this background, the visit of the teams holds significance,” said a senior official.
Although the visit of the central teams has become a political issue with state BJP leaders claiming that the Union government may consider pressing a pause button on the flow of funds from Delhi, sources in the panchayat department said they were confident about the way the PMAY was being implemented.
“We have checked the eligibility of each of the beneficiaries. So, we are sure that the central teams will not find any irregularity this time,” said a senior official.
According to sources in the panchayat department, the state government had found nearly 1 lakh ineligible beneficiaries during the three-step verification.
“Of them, 30,000-35,000 people’s eligibility could not be verified as they did not have land to build homes. The state government has decided to allot land to them. The Centre has allowed the state to complete the process by March 31,” said a bureaucrat.
The BJP leaders have been claiming that the names of ineligible persons have been included in the list of beneficiaries and that is the major reason behind the Centre’s decision to dispatch officials to check the ground reality.
“Despite several pressures from political parties, the grassroots workers have completed the survey properly. Based on their findings, two steps of the verification process were carried out. So, the department is confident about the verification process,” said another official.