More than 50 women agitated in front of the block development office in Chanchal-I block of Malda on Tuesday, alleging that deserving families were not included in the beneficiary list of the housing scheme, now funded by the state government.

The demonstration continued for over an hour till the elected members of the Trinamul-run panchayet samiti and the administrative officials of the block accepted their applications for inclusion of their names as beneficiaries of the housing scheme and assured them that they would look into their demands.

Rinki Khatun, Suma Khatun, and some other women agitators, who live in villages under Matiharpur panchayat of Chanchal-I block, alleged that although they are financially underprivileged and did not have proper houses, their names were not included in the list of prospective beneficiaries.

“Surprisingly, many families with concrete houses have been enrolled as beneficiaries. This is sheer corruption and genuine beneficiaries like us are being deprived. That is why we resorted to the agitation,” said Rinki.

Zakir Hossain, the deputy head of the TMC-run Chanchal-I panchayat samiti said they were verifying the list.

“We understand their point and assured them that only genuine beneficiaries would remain included and names of all ineligible applicants would be dropped," he said.

The block officials will also check out the applications that the agitators submitted today, said T.P. Bhutia, the BDO.

In Jalpaiguri, an administrative team headed by Mihir Karmakar, the block development officer of the Sadar block, had to face protests on Tuesday.

As Karmakar and some others reached the Karala Valley tea estate on the outskirts of Jalpaiguri town, a section of residents resorted to protests.

“In 2018, some of us were included in the list of beneficiaries for the housing scheme but to date, we didn’t get a penny. Instead, some others with pucca houses got the assistance,” said a resident who joined the protests.

Karmakar spoke with them to pacify them and listen to their grievance. He then inspected the households of prospective beneficiaries whose names have been included in the current list and checked their documents and other details.

“The inspection was conducted to confirm that not a single person who is ineligible is included,” said a source in the administration.