Chief minister Mamata Banerjee on Tuesday instructed the panchayat department to check afresh whether those whose names were deleted as beneficiaries of the rural housing scheme had actually failed to meet the criteria.

Her instruction, sources in the government said, assumed significance as it came in the backdrop of stiff resistance in parts of Bengal to survey teams checking the eligibility of the 11.36 lakh beneficiaries under the rural housing scheme.

“The chief minister today (on Tuesday) asked the panchayat department to ensure that no eligible person is left out of the rural housing scheme for which the state will release funds in December. She asked the department to take up a fresh reconfirmation survey to ensure that no genuine beneficiary was left out,” said a senior official.

Sources said the state government recently decided to undertake a fresh survey to check the eligibility of the 11.36 lakh beneficiaries whose names were short-listed following a three-step verification about a year ago. As the Centre did not release its share of nearly Rs 8,000 crore to Bengal, citing irregularities in the scheme here, the state government decided to release funds from its own coffers.

“The state will release the first installment in December. Ahead of its release, a survey is being held to check if all the beneficiaries have fulfilled the criteria. But the way people are agitating over being left out, the chief minister has been forced to order a reconfirmation survey so that no genuine beneficiary is left out,” said a source.

Another source alleged that the rot went deep.

“A fresh survey will not resolve the issue. It appears that the last year's list was not prepared properly. The only option is a rigorous exercise to prepare a fresh list by omitting names that furious villagers claim are ineligible but on the list,” said a source.

Agitations were witnessed on Monday and Tuesday in Birbhum's Rampurhat, Murshidabad's Domkal and Mathurapur in South 24-Parganas. Several TMC panchayat samiti members faced allegations of nepotism and favouritism as villagers alleged that dwelling units were allocated to relatives of ruling party leaders who did not fulfill the criteria while genuine claimants were left out.

TMC insiders said the rural protests had embarrassed the ruling party at a time when the Mamata Banerjee government was facing a tough time in the wake of large-scale urban agitations following the RG Kar crime.

The BJP has also sensed that the rural protests could be used to put the ruling party on the mat.

“The entire survey process has been compromised. A group of TMC leaders has made arrangements with survey teams to allot dwelling units to their own people. The actual poor, who need houses badly, are failing to make it to the list,” said Suvendu Adhikari, the BJP's Nandigram MLA and leader of the Opposition in the Assembly.

The CPM said favouritism was only to be expected from Trinamool.

“We demanded houses for everyone but here only those with Trinamool will be allotted houses. This is a corrupt regime. The Centre and state are all the same. If the central government believed that there had been malpractice in Bengal in the 100 days' job scheme, why did they not take action? However, now people have understood that they have to fight for their rights,” CPM state secretary Md Salim said.