Around 40,000 names were deleted from the prospective beneficiaries’ list of the central housing scheme in Malda district during verification survey, including those of 800-odd elected representatives of panchayats.

Over the past few weeks, the Bengal government has initiated a statewide exercise in rural areas to find out if each person in the list is eligible for Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana (PMAY).

The Centre has specific guidelines, including economic parameters, to identify beneficiaries for the scheme.

Administrative sources said the PMAY list had 1.67 lakh names.

“After the survey conducted by Asha workers and others, around 40,000 names, almost 25 per cent of the total, were struck off as those people don’t match the criteria. As of now, there are around 1.25 lakh names in the list that will be scrutinised further,” said a source.

In all 15 blocks of the district, names of 800 elected representatives were included in the list, mostly from Trinamul, but also from the BJP and the Congress.

In Englishbazar block, there were 53 members as prospective beneficiaries. In Baishnabnagar, 34 members made it to the list.

“Their names were deleted and inspection is on,” the source added.

Elected representatives have come up with clarifications.

Rakhi Roy, the pradhan of Sovanagar panchayat of Englishbazar block, who has a concrete house, said: “My name was included by mistake. I have ensured it is deleted.”

Ashraful Sheikh, a Congress leader of Motiharpur panchayat in north Malda, said: “It was a conspiracy to malign my image. I don’t need any house under PMAY. The moment I came to know about it, I asked surveyors to strike off my name.”

The surveyors found out that teachers, traders and government employees were included as beneficiaries, along with many others with concrete houses and multi-storey buildings.

A senior official said after the survey, a gram sabha (village-level meeting) will be held in all the villages under every panchayat. At the meeting, the list of beneficiaries will be publicly announced.

“If villagers object to any name, an inspection will be done to find out if their objection is valid. In such cases, there may be more deletion of names,” said the official.

Malda DM Nitin Singhania said they had sent a report to the state government and were awaiting further instructions.