Guwahati: Cracking the whip on tainted officers, the Panchayat and Rural Development Department on Wednesday suspended Block Development Officer (BDO) of Manikpur Development Block in Assam’s Bongaigaon district, Manjushri Ghosh citing allegations of a number of discrepancies and irregularities in the allocation of houses under Pradhan Mantra Awas Yojana-Gramin (PMAY-G).
The suspension order was issued by the Panchayat and Rural Development Department as per provision of Rule 6(1) of the Assam Service (Discipline & Appeal) Rules, 1964, pending departmental proceedings against her after a thorough investigation unfolded several discrepancies and irregularities in the allocation and construction of houses under the scheme during the tenure of Manjushri Ghosh as BDO.
The order further stated that Ghosh shall be allowed subsistence allowance as per rules and will not leave headquarters without prior permission of the competent authority.
As per the suspension order, the following are the findings that were revealed after the thorough probe into the matter:
- It was found that the beneficiaries of PMAY-G scheme already had Pucca houses on the same property raising questions on the necessity of providing additional housing under the scheme
- It was found that many houses, marked as ‘completed’ in the AwaasSoft portal, were physically found to be incomplete during field inquiries, which includes missing doors and windows, indicating that the completeness of construction did not meet the program’s requirements for marking completion on the AwaasSoft portal
- Instances were found where multiple members of the same family received separate PMAY-G houses, raising concerns about equitable resource distribution and whether these families genuinely required multiple houses
- Job card-related issues, such as incomplete or missing job cards, discrepancies in payments, and issues related to the issuance of job cards, were identified in certain cases. This suggests potential irregularities in the maintenance of job cards and the payment process
- No completed houses are displayed with the PMAY-G logo, which indicates non-compliance with programme requirements
- Some beneficiaries proceeded with construction beyond the plinth level, even though not all installments had been released. This indicates that timely inspections were not conducted even after several months had passed since the release of the first installment
- Despite apparent separations within families, it was noticed that multiple family members continued to share kitchens or live in close proximity to Pucca houses, suggesting irregularities in the scrutiny of family arrangements and eligibility
- Some beneficiaries raised concerns, including allegations of solicitation for money and the collection of personal information