Balasore: There were allegations of large scale irregularities in execution of Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana (PMAY) in Bardhanpur panchayat of Sadar block in Balasore district.
The block administration investigated the charges and declared that there was no misappropriation of funds. But it admitted that the names of beneficiaries were changed in some cases with the consent of their families.
ABDO Rabinarayan Behera inquired about the beneficiaries and found that those who were allotted housing units had built houses. He also checked details of people who had received housing funds.
“Some beneficiaries have same names while in other cases housing units were allotted in the names of the kin of beneficiaries after taking the consent of families,” the ABDO added. The names of beneficiaries were approved at panchayat meetings, he added.
There were allegations that some middlemen had managed to misappropriate funds allotted to 38 beneficiaries without their knowledge.
Villagers had demanded a Vigilance probe into the irregularities. In other cases, the construction of houses was not completed even after withdrawal of all sanctioned funds.
Vigilance officials had investigated the irregularities, but they did not find anything wrong. Bardhanpur Sarpanch Pratap Jena recently dismissed the allegations of fund misappropriation.
A similar allegation had been raised in Garsang panchayat of Khira block a few months ago. In 2017-18, the panchayat was allotted 75 houses under PMAY, but most of the houses are incomplete. Middlemen are at play exploiting beneficiaries on various pleas and assurances.
Kousalya Ghose, a beneficiary of Garsang, said that a person took Rs 600 from her for writing detailed data on a plaque of her house. The same allegation was raised by Arati Mahuri of the village.
Pala Singh of Adivasi Sahi had alleged that a contractor botched up the construction of his house.
PNN
