The Mamata Banerjee government has decided to write to the Union government seeking to know what observations 10 central teams had made after visiting Bengal in the last week of March to take stock of the rural housing scheme named after the Prime Minister.

The Centre has stopped the release of funds to Bengal under the Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana (PMAY) citing anomalies in the list of 11 lakh beneficiaries prepared by the state. The Centre had allocated Rs 8,200 crore under the scheme for Bengal.

“The state is confident that the list of beneficiaries that has been finalised following a four-step verification is foolproof. If the central teams found any irregularities, it should be shared with the state. The state will rectify the loopholes. But funds under the scheme cannot be stopped without a valid reason,” a bureaucrat said.

Sources in the state administration said funds under several development schemes had stopped over alleged irregularities, but this was the first time the Bengal government had chosen to go on the offensive.

So far, the state had been sending action-taken reports to Delhi in response to the Union government issuing recommendations on the basis of the findings of alleged anomalies by central teams. But this time, the Centre did not send any recommendation even after the teams completed their visit more than 45 days ago.

“We are confident that the teams did not find any major irregularity. This is the reason why we want to know the observations of the central teams. We want to know why the funds have not been released yet,” a source said.

Many in the state administration said that if the Centre failed to point out any irregularities in the list of beneficiaries of the rural housing scheme, it would become clear that the funds were being withheld for political reasons only.

The rural housing scheme is important for the Trinamul government as villagers in remote areas believe that gram panchayats provide funds for it.

“It is hard to make them believe that the funds come to the panchayats from Delhi. As most of the panchayats are run by the ruling party, the rural housing scheme has become very important for us. This is the reason why the state decided to mount pressure on the Centre,” said a minister.

The ruling party is set to face the panchayat polls within a couple of months and soon after that the campaign for the Lok Sabha polls will start.

“The state has been carrying out maintenance work on rural roads by launching the Pathasree scheme. But managing the rural housing scheme without central funds is almost impossible as the Union government will have to release Rs 8,200 crore,” said an official.