The Dhubri district unit of the Scheduled Caste & Tribes Unemployed Association, Assam on Monday staged a sit-in demonstration for three hours against alleged gross anomalies in preparation of the beneficiaries’ lists under the Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana-Gramin (PMAY-G).
The sit-in demonstration, which started at 11 in the morning in front of the office of the Deputy Commissioner, Dhubri, was attended by more than three hundreds villagers including women from Asharikandi village and shouted slogans against the corrupt officials of the District Rural Development Agency, Dhubri and demanded their arrest with immediate effect.
Later, the Association also submitted a memorandum to the Deputy Commissioner of Dhubri.
In the memorandum, signed by Nirmal Sarkar and Pintu Sarkar, president and general secretary of the Association respectively, they alleged that Asharikandi Gaon Panchayat under Devitola Block of Dhubri district has been declared as a model village for Scheduled Caste as the maximum population belongs to SC community but it has been observed that “during the preparation of beneficiaries’ lists for the PMAY-G scheme, the Panchayat secretary and president included the names of the persons, who are financially sound whereas most of the BPL families and needy people’s names have been excluded from the lists.”
As per allegations, only 52 beneficiaries, belonging to the BPL, were selected out of total 407 beneficiaries list of which was allegedly prepared by the secretary and president of the Asharikandi Gaon Panchayat.
Nirmal Sarkar, president of the Association told Northeast Now that despite a number of allegations and lodging of an FIR (661/2017) at the Gauripur Police Station against the alleged ‘corrupt’ Panchayat secretary Pran Krishana Das and president Sahaneyaj but the authorities concerned have failed to take any action against the duo.
“In this context, on May 4, 2018, we had also submitted a complaint to the Deputy Commissioner, Dhubri to conduct a fair inquiry into the matter but though one-and-half months have passed, no initiative has been taken against the allegedly corrupt persons, which ultimately forced us to stage this sit-in demonstration today,” added Sarkar.