Central team to probe PMAY irregularities in Odisha

Bhubaneswar: Union Rural Development and Panchayati Raj Minister Narendra Singh Tomar today assured Union Petroleum and Natural Gas Minister Dharmendra Pradhan of probe into the alleged irregularities in the allocation of houses under Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojna (PMAY) in Odisha’s Cuttack district.

This comes after Pradhan drew Tomar’s attention in which Sarpanch of Barahipur gram panchayat under Mahanga Block in the district had petitioned the former regarding largescale irregularities in selection of beneficiaries. The Sarpanch Kishore Kumar Rout and villagers of Gokan gram panchayat under the same block had alleged that ruling party MLAs, BDO and PEOs are engaged in huge scale corruption soliciting bribe and including ineligible beneficiaries.

“Directions have been given to the Chief Controller of Accounts to send an internal audit team to Odisha for conducting a specific inquiry in the matter and furnishing the report. I assure you that appropriate action would be taken on the findings of the report,” Tomar wrote to Pradhan in his letter.

Notably, the identification of beneficiaries is based on the housing deprivation parameters as per Socio-Economic and Caste Census (SECC) 2011 data.Houseless households and households living in zero, one and  two room kutcha houses subject to exclusion criteria are provided assistance under PMAY-G.