The Mamata Banerjee government has decided to get the beneficiary list of the rural housing scheme verified by police, the decision raising questions on whether Nabanna is relying more on the men in uniform than the three-tier panchayat system.

During a video conference with the district magistrates on Friday, chief secretary H.K. Dwivedi informed the DMs that in each gram panchayat, the list of PMAY beneficiaries will be verified by a team led by the police.

“The chief secretary said during the meeting that the decision has been taken by the chief minister herself. The verification team will include Asha and ICDS workers led by the police. The verification report will have to be ratified by the local OCs before these reach the tables of district authorities,” said a DM who attended the meeting.

The move, officials said, is considered to be significant in many ways.

First, this gives an impression that the chief minister is very careful about ensuring that the actual poor get dwelling units.

“Complaints often come up that the actual beneficiaries are deprived and ineligible people get a list of beneficiaries over their political allegiance. During the Left Front era, such complaints were a regular feature. The chief minister appears to be very careful to avoid a similar situation considering she would have to face the rural polls and Lok Sabha polls in the next two years,” said a source.

The move has come at a time when the Centre has sanctioned a sum of Rs 8,200 crore to construct 11 lakh dwelling units under the PMAY in the current financial year. The Centre had earlier frozen funds under the scheme citing that Bengal had changed the scheme’s name.

Second, the move has raised several eyebrows as the Centre made it clear that the list of beneficiaries has to be ratified by gram sabhas in each gram panchayat area.

“Now, it appears that the state government isn’t having faith in the gram sabhas where common villagers are made aware of the beneficiaries and they can register their grievances if any against any of the names. If the police start verifying the beneficiary list, the role of gram sabhas will be very limited,” said a bureaucrat.

An official said he was not sure if this move would court controversy. “This is ideally in the domain of the three-tier panchayat system. The Centre has also asked to involve the gram sabhas. There is no role of police in this system,” he said.

Another bureaucrat explained that the police could not verify the beneficiary list in the panchayat system.

“Police can come with the civil officials when they visit villages for the verification of beneficiaries to provide security to the officers. As the Centre shoulders 60 percent expenditure under the scheme, it can raise further questions before releasing funds (in case of any offbeat moves),” said another official.

Third, the state government has decided that the police will inquire why an ineligible person was included in the list, if any.

“This means the chief minister will not spare the Trinamul-run gram panchayats too in case of irregularities. This will definitely help the ruling party recover from the damage that it suffered over complaints of irregularities into the recruitment of teachers in schools,” added another bureaucrat.