Agrievement has been raised about money received as a benefit under the PM Awas Yojana is being illegally collected from beneficiaries in the Dhamtari district of Chhattisgarh. Villagers have gone to the district collector and submitted a grievance asking for an impartial investigation to be held into the matter.
The alleged incident was when beneficiaries of houses under PM Awas Yojana were allegedly pressurised to pay money in Koliyari Gram Panchayat of Kurud, the complaint said.
This has led the villagers to accuse panchayat member Chinta Ram of allegedly taking ₹15,000 in cash from various beneficiaries. They also claimed that Awas Mitra Chunendra Sahu withdrew ₹6,000 from one of the beneficiaries.
The villagers said that the issue had been discussed during the Gram Sabha and Basti Panchayat meetings before. The reason why, according to the villagers, the people involved received the money they agreed to do so in the meeting.
In addition to that, the winners demanded that the information regarding alleged transactions be given in writing as part of their claim. They have called for the construction of a “fair” investigation and firm retribution on anyone found guilty of the collection of illegal funds from beneficiaries.
However, District Collector Abinash Mishra told the villagers that the charges would be investigated. No lack of politeness would be observed in the execution of the housing plan, he added.
Responding to the loopholes, Mishra has said that necessary measures would be adopted in case someone is found guilty after the investigation.
The claims have sparked worries about the implementation of the welfare schemes at grassroot level. The result of the administrative inquiry will decide on whether the accused was engaged in any un authorised collection from PM Awas Yojana beneficiaries or not.