The Centre has asked the West Bengal Government to file a fresh action taken report (ATR) within November 30 on the usage of PM Awas Yojana funds in the state after finding “inadequacies” in the report sent earlier.
The Rural Housing Division of the Centre’s Ministry of Rural Development issued the letter on November 13 pointing out loopholes in the Bengal government’s action taken report (ATR) sent in March.
It asked the state government to rectify the shortcomings identified by the Central teams in the Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana (PMAY) and asked the state government to send another report by November 30. “It is informed that the senior officers’ team had found deficiencies in the ATR submitted by the state government in three districts namely, Nadia, Kalimpong and South 24 Parganas… The state government is, accordingly, requested to share the ATR within 15 days of the date of letter to this Ministry i.e. by 30th November, 2023,” reads the letter issued by the Deputy Secretary in the Union Ministry of Rural Development on November 15.
The letter mentioned that the team of senior officers had found that the survey for the PMAY was not carried out properly and the State Government was not following the exclusion criteria for PMAY in rural areas in Nadia district since people having motor cycles or two-wheelers were included in the list of beneficiaries.
“Further the team found that the name of the scheme is being changed by state government officials in their communications, which was also observed by the NLM (national level monitoring) team,” reads the letter.
In the case of Kalimpong district, the Centre pointed out that the logo of the PMAY was not found on three dwelling units out of seven houses visited by the NLM team. In one unit, the logo of the Housing Scheme for Urban Areas was pasted. The logo of the scheme could be found on four units out of seven units visited by the team, which was a “deviation”.
In the case of South 24-Parganas, the team found that a beneficiary was sanctioned the dwelling unit though he was living in a semi-kutcha house, which was also a deviation and not permitted. Apart from these three districts, the Centre separately sent its observations on the deviations found in districts such as East and West Midnapore, East Burdwan, Murshidabad and Darjeeling.
Sources in the State Panchayat Department however said they have already addressed these issues in their ATRs. “If they want a fresh reply, we will send another ATR,” said a senior State Government official.
Sources in the State Panchayat Department said they have already mentioned that recommendations for all the beneficiaries were sent by the Gram Sabha in accordance with the direction of the Centre.