More than 300 beneficiaries of the PM Awas Yojna housing scheme in the district will have to return the initial amounts granted to them for failing to start construction within the stipulated time period.
The district urban development agency, which gives away grants on behalf of the government, has identified 305 such beneficiaries and have already collected amounts from 190 of them, officials said.
Families with an annual income of upto Rs 3 lakh become eligible for the housing scheme if they own at least 30sqm of land. A sum of Rs 2.5 lakh is given to such beneficiaries in three instalments – Rs 50,000, Rs 1.5 lakh and another Rs 50,000.
Sanjay Pathariya, project officer at the development agency, said the second instalment was disbursed only after an inspection of the construction work had been carried out.
“It was found that 305 beneficiaries had failed to construct even the foundation of their houses after accepting the first instalment. A total of Rs 1.5 crore had been disbursed to these beneficiaries. We have been able to recover some Rs 95 lakh from 190 of them so far. The process to recover the remaining amount from the others is underway,” he added.
Those who refuse to return the amounts to the government may even face an FIR, Pathariya said.
According to records, the government has so far received 36,170 applications for PMAY funds. Of them, 34,655 have been given the first instalment of Rs 50,000. The second tranche has been availed by 30,590 people while the final instalment has been taken by 21,800 beneficiaries.
The government has a three-step verification to stop irregularities and ensure money availed under the scheme is not used for other purposes.
The first step involves the scrutiny of forms by an agency hired for the job from Lucknow. In the next stage, local bodies carry out an inspection of the plots and families. The urban development agency also carries out a survey of the progress of construction after 15 days. It is at this stage that beneficiaries are asked to return the money if they fail to carry out construction.
Irregularities have come to the fore in earlier cases amid allegations that officials and the agency tasked with the job of inspection are hand-in-glove.
In February 2020, many beneficiaries were found to have fudged details to become eligible for the scheme. Some 200 people had been issued notices. In June 2019, seven Arthala residents were served recovery notices when it was found that they were given PMAY grants worth Rs 50,000 but the land they showed in records were encroached by them.
