Rayagada: The Centre sponsored housing scheme Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana (PMAY) has allegedly gone haywire in the tribal-dominated Rayagada district as over 862 beneficiaries have failed to build a house despite receiving work orders. The unavailability of land for the beneficiaries is said to be the chief cause behind this. The Union government launched the PMAY housing scheme in 2015 to provide pucca houses to poor households in the country.
Officials said the Centre has been conducting surveys in rural areas to identify poor to very poor people and bring them under the housing scheme. Villagers of Haladipada in JKPur alleged that the actual beneficiaries have failed to get the benefits of the scheme while work orders for the construction of houses are issued to only those who pay bribe. Moreover, many beneficiaries have received work orders but they are unable to carry out construction due to unavailability of land.
Reports said as many as 862 beneficiaries were identified in 2021 and work orders were issued but they are unable to proceed as land is not available. As per government norms, the District Rural Development Agency (DRDA) which manages and oversees the implementation of various anti-poverty programmes identifies the landless and submits the list to the tehsil office. The beneficiaries construct their houses after the tehsildar reviews the list and provides government land for the purpose, an official of the DRDA said. He, however, said that they are regularly writing letters to the tehsil office but without any success. When contacted, Nihar Ranjan Kanhar, executive officer of DRDA and Rayagada Zilla Parishad said that there were 2,868 landless beneficiaries in the district before he took charge. However, the number has come down to 862 after he repeatedly raised the issue in Revenue Department meetings and wrote to the tehsildars to expedite the matter.
Similarly, many PMAY houses are only halfway through their construction. A total of 38,180 beneficiaries have been identified and issued work orders in 11 blocks of the district in last six years from 2016-17 to 2020- 21. However, 36,204 houses have been completed while the rest 1,976 houses remain incomplete. A maximum of 595 houses are incomplete in Kashipur, 378 in Muniguda, 204 in Kalyansinghpur, 108 in Chandrapur, 224 in Bissam Cuttack and similar numbers in other blocks.
Similarly, 26,647 beneficiaries have been issued work orders in 2021-22 FY. However, 13,643 houses have been completed while 13,004 are incomplete. A maximum of 1,951 houses have remained incomplete in Kalyansinghpur block, 152 in Bissam Cuttack, 652 in Chandrapur, 752 in Gudari, 870 in Gunupur, 1,206 in Kashipur, 1,510 in Kolnara, 1,530 in Muniguda, 710 in Padmapur, 550 in Ramnaguda and 1,553 in Rayagada. It has become a difficult task to transport building materials to the hilly regions in the district, DRDA executive officer Kanhar said. “However, we are regularly conducting meetings and making efforts to complete the houses in the given time period,” he added. Rayagada MLA Appalaswamy Kadraka alleged several beneficiaries in rural areas have been deprived of a house under PMAY.
People are being harassed during transfer of money for construction while funds are not being released to the actual beneficiaries within the time frame. He however, assured to take up the matter with concerned officials and raise the issue in the state Assembly