The Centre has allowed the Bengal government three months to allot land to 30,000-odd beneficiaries so that they become eligible for funds under the Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana (PMAY).

The decision to give more time to the state to allot land is significant as declining the state’s request would have meant the deletion of these 30,000 names from the list of beneficiaries of the rural housing scheme as possessing land is a precondition for getting funds under the PMAY scheme.

“The Centre had been taking a tough stand on eligibility related to the Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana (PMAY). The Centre had earlier stopped the release of funds for nearly eight months under the scheme in Bengal under the pretext that the name of the scheme was changed here,” said a source.

Against this backdrop, New Delhi has been “significantly lenient” now, said a source in Nabanna.

“We had sent a proposal to the Centre to allow us to give land to the people whose names could not be finalised in the list of beneficiaries of PMAY as they didn’t possess land... The Centre agreed to the proposal and we have to allot land to these people by March 31,” said a senior state government official.

The state government had appealed to the Centre to allow it to give land to the beneficiaries who don’t have land and relax the December 31 deadline to finalise the names of beneficiaries for these people.

In Bengal, names of nearly 10 lakh beneficiaries have been finalised by Saturday evening after three-step verification carried out at the gram panchayat, block and district levels.

“Primarily it appears that nearly 1 lakh beneficiaries could not be approved under the scheme by the end of the deadline which is December 31 midnight. There are multiple reasons behind the ineligibility of these people. One of the major reasons is that many of them don’t own land for dwelling units,” said an official.

Sources explained that it will take some time to ascertain the exact figure of ineligible persons and the reasons behind their ineligibility as compiling a detailed survey reports will take some time.

Giving land to set up dwelling units under the PMAY scheme is not new in the state. Over the past two years, the state government had given land to nearly 15,000 people in a phased manner so that they can construct houses under the rural housing scheme.

But giving land to nearly 30,000 people at one go in three months is unprecedented, said a source.

“The ruling party is in trouble for several reasons like alleged irregularities in recruitment of teachers in state-aided schools. If the state can give land to so many people to set up homes, it will send a positive message to the rural populace and may help the ruling party in the panchayat and Lok Sabha polls,” said a source.