Bhubaneswar: A vigilance probe is on into the dubious ‘percentage’ system in the implementation of the rural housing schemes in Orissa funded by the state and the Centre separately, and investigators are spreading out to various blocks on instruction from Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik to identify the culprits.
Officials have reportedly collected bribes from almost all beneficiaries covered under the two schemes, the Biju Pucca Ghar Yojna (BPGY) and the Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana (PMAY), and this has come as a major embarrassment to the government. The state and the Centre are spending `3,000crore a year for implementation of the rural housing schemes in the state. About 11,80,000 houses have been constructed in the past three years under these schemes while another 25 lakh houses are to be built by 2019.
As per reports from various blocks, some 10 to 12 per cent of the total funds for the two schemes was pocketed by the officials and members of Panchayat Raj institutions(PRIs). This means about `300crore or more of the total sanctioned funds went as ‘’percent” commission each year.
Starting from Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik to state panchayati raj minister and several MLAs, many top government functionaries have gone on record to say block and panchayat level officials are extracting money by dubious means in the process of selection of beneficiaries for the housing schemes. A matter of serious concern is also that no one is promising recovery of the public money that has already gone into the pockets of officials and others.
Panchayati raj secretary DK Singh said that the government has issued show cause notices to seven block development officers (BDOs) so far while the Bhadrak BDO has been suspended. An FIR has been lodged against the Sarpanch and ward member of Kakatpur.
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