Loisingha: Irate villagers of Murasunda under this block in Bolangir district Thursday detained the sub-collector near the village temple alleging irregularities in allotment of Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana (PMAY) houses in the village.
Sub-collector Sanjay Kumar Mishra was on a visit to the village to conduct an on-the-spot probe on the charges levelled by the residents.
However, the villagers alleged that the official visited only a few houses and ignored the requests of other villagers to examine the authenticity of the PMAY beneficiaries. They alleged that he is trying to cover up the corrupt instead of taking them to task. They refused to leave him till the district Collector arrived at the spot and listened to their grievances.
The villagers including women forcibly took him and detained him near the village temple when he was trying to leave the village. The sub-collector was in the village for a probe after a woman ward member Jambabati Pradhan lodged a complaint on the irregularities with the Collector October 11.
She had alleged that houses under PMAY are not being allotted to the beneficiaries as per the serial list but on the whims of the panchayat authorities. She also alleged that people who have not dug up foundations or constructed till plinth level are being paid full bills. The beneficiaries who have constructed their houses are yet to receive their payments. Moreover, funds have been usurped by showing others’ houses to have been constructed under the Central scheme, she stated in her complaint.
On being informed, Loisingha IIC Lalita Lekra and tehsildar Binod Bihari Nayak reached the spot following which Mishra went around the village and visited a house to conduct the probe. He assured the villagers that action will be taken against the illegal beneficiaries and corrupts following which the villagers released him from detention at 5 pm.
After getting information, police reached the spot and pacified the irate villagers. Later the sub-collector was released from the village temple.
“The local BDO is trying to hush-up the matter,” said a local.
When contacted, the sub-collector said he had been to the panchayat office and the complainant’s house for probe on the alleged irregularities but the villagers refused to listen to him and held him captive.