Kendrapara: Greed knows no bounds. In a bid to grab government doles under housing scheme, a woman went to the extent of forging documents to claim a house by projecting her brother-in-law as her husband.
The allegation was made by none other than former Aul MLA Debendra Sharma (Congress) before Kendrapara District Collector.
Sharma alleged that large-scale corruption prevailed in the housing scheme in his area. He cited the example of Rukmani Behera, wife of Haladhar Behera of Bansaria village under Koranda panchayat of Rajkanika block, who got a pucca house sanctioned under Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana (PMAY) in 2016-17.
She applied for another house under the scheme, but her application was rejected as her husband was enlisted as a beneficiary. Subsequently, in order to grab a pucca house under the PMAY she applied again by tampering with documents.
She allegedly mentioned the name of her elder brother–in-law, Balaram Behera, as her husband and produced a photo that had Balaram beside her. Later, she applied for a house under PMAY.
Surprisingly, she managed to become a beneficiary in 2019-20 by submitting fake papers and managed to get Rs 20,000 as first instalment. Meanwhile, Debendra Sharma demanded a thorough inquiry and action against the beneficiary along with the government officials involved in the scam.
When contacted, District Collector Samarth Verma said he would order a probe into the incident.
