Pradeep Gupta, Kawardha. A case of big fraud has come to light under the Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana in Kawardha district of Chhattisgarh. Where the officials uploaded the pictures of the government building and withdrew the amount without constructing the house and now after the matter has come to light, the officials have started covering it up.

This entire matter is of Village Panchayat Lakhatola of Janpad Panchayat Sahaspur Lohara. Where in the year 2019, a house was sanctioned in the name of Binda Bai father Laxman and the first installment of Rs. 25 thousand was released and the beneficiary was ordered to build a house. But citing his loneliness, the beneficiary did not build a house in the village and migrated to his son-in-law’s village. Here, the responsible officer of the Janpad Panchayat uploaded the photo in a fake manner and deposited the entire amount of Rs. 1 lakh 30 thousand in the beneficiary’s bank account.

On the other hand, the Gram Panchayat opposed this and did not give permission to build a house in any other Panchayat. The Sarpanch’s husband says that the beneficiary has not built any house and has migrated to another Gram Panchayat and is living in her son-in-law’s house. The CEO was informed about this but the housing department officials arbitrarily released the amount to the beneficiary.

There is a provision to provide wages for 95 days under MNREGA scheme for the construction of the said house, regarding which the employment assistant of the Gram Panchayat said that the house was not constructed by the beneficiary at the approved place and information about it was also not given. Due to this, the muster roll was not issued. It is clear from this that the officers have connived with the beneficiary to withdraw the amount. Not only this, the block coordinator of Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana uploaded the photo of the meeting hall built in the district panchayat premises instead of the beneficiary’s house and released the final amount.

Now in this entire case, District Panchayat CEO Sandeep Agarwal says that the female beneficiary had applied that no one lives in this village and she wants to build a house in her son-in-law’s village. Because her proposal was passed by the Gram Sabha. After which she has built a house there. He said that there is a provision that the beneficiary can get a house built anywhere in the village where he is eligible.