Post News Network
Jeypore, Jan 4: Indira Awas Yojana (IAY), a Centrally-sponsored scheme that aims at providing free housing for the underprivileged, is plagued by an inept administration that has failed to reach even the halfway mark of its annual target in the 2015-16 fiscal in Koraput district, according to official figures.
While the target was to construct 9,346 houses by the end of the 2015-16 fiscal, only 3,512 houses have been completed, with 5,812 houses still be built and only two more months left in this fiscal.
It is an arduous wait for beneficiaries in the meanwhile as they run from pillar to post hoping to coax a laggard administration out of its slumber; they are sent back with promises of quick action – promises the beneficiaries say are hardly kept.
The lethargy is however reserved only for the poorest of the poor, say villagers. Gram sabhas have been known to act with swiftness in cases where money changed hands, the villagers alleged.
According to official records, of the 14 blocks of the district, 135 houses have been completed in Bandhugaon against a target of 573, 328 against 902 in Boipariguda, 428 against 1,151 in Borigumma, 175 against 636 in Dasamantpur, 339 against 904 in Jeypore, 231 against 529 in Koraput, 367 against 790 in Kotpad, 159 against 543 in Kundura, 134 against 436 in Lamtaput, 420 against 605 in Laxmipur, 263 against 704 in Nandapur, 83 against 434 in Narayanpatna, 243 against 595 in Pottangi and 207 against 544 in Semiliguda. Given such a dismal rate of progress, the project won’t be completed even by 2022, sources said, adding that scores of beneficiaries in the district from the BPL category continue to live in thatched houses in a precarious state.
Though review meetings at all levels starting from panchayat-level to district-level have become a regular affair, they hardly achieve anything concrete, locals alleged.
When contacted, PD-DRDA Samarth Verma said work is on in full swing and expressed confidence that the target would be achieved by the end of January or February.