Mamata Banerjee on Tuesday released the first instalment of funds for the rural housing scheme for 12 lakh beneficiaries and said her government would give money to nearly 28 lakh eligible families to construct homes under Banglar Bari before 2026 if the Centre refused to allot grants for the project.

“Through a detailed house-to-house survey, we have found that there are 28 lakh families who are eligible to get funds under the rural housing scheme. As the Centre did not release funds under the scheme over the past three years, we are releasing the first instalment under the scheme to 12 lakh people this time. In two phases, in June and December next year, we will give funds to the remaining 16 lakh people,” said the chief minister while inaugurating the disbursal of funds by handing over allotment letters to 42 beneficiaries at Nabanna Sabhaghar.

The beneficiaries of the rural housing scheme (Banglar Bari) will get ₹1.20 lakh each to construct concrete houses. In the first instalment, each beneficiary will get ₹60,000. After the beneficiaries spend the first tranche, the state government will release the remaining amount as the second instalment.

The state started transferring funds to the beneficiaries' bank accounts on Tuesday and it could take about a week to send the amounts to all the 12 lakh families.

“We will have to spend about ₹14,773 crore for 12 lakh people to build houses.... If the Centre does not release funds under the scheme, we will give cash to the remaining 16 lakh beneficiaries before 2026,” Mamata said.

The chief minister said eight lakh beneficiaries would be given funds in May-June next year and another eight lakh beneficiaries by December 2025.

She said her government had carefully examined the list of beneficiaries through door-to-door surveys carried out by 27,000 teams.

“The names of 40 lakh beneficiaries were on the list in 2022. We conducted surveys again and found that there are 28 lakh actual beneficiaries. All of them will get homes by the end of next year,” said Mamata.

Sources said the ruling establishment was all set to use the disbursal as a weapon to counter the BJP ahead of the 2026 Assembly polls.

“If the state gives homes to 28 lakh poor rural people, the BJP will face questions about why the Centre deprived the needy in Bengal,” said a senior state government official.

The chief minister also made it clear that she would harp on the Centre's decision to stop the release of funds under rural development schemes, including one for building homes.

“We are supposed to get ₹24,000 crore from the Centre under the rural housing scheme. But we did not get anything in the past three years as they alleged misappropriation of funds. A total of 69 teams visited the state to inquire about the issue and we have replied to all the questions they raised. But still, they did not release funds,” she said.

Mamata said the state was yet to get ₹1.77 lakh crore from the Centre under various development schemes.

“We did not get funds under the scheme to build rural roads or the 100-day job scheme. We have constructed rural roads on our own and given jobs to job card holders using the state exchequer. We keep our promises,” said Mamata.