A total of 15 officials, including six Block Development Officers who served in Pudukottai district, have been booked on charges of swindling funds meant for the construction of houses for the poor under the Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana – Gramin (Prime Minister’s Rural Housing Scheme).
Acting on a vigilance report, the Directorate of Vigilance and Anti-Corruption registered a case against the officials, including some who were retired or were dismissed from service, for processing fake documents to show as if houses were built for nine beneficiaries and misappropriating funds to the tune of ₹17.70 lakh.
PMAY-G is a scheme jointly funded by the Centre and the State government, under which beneficiaries get ₹1.7 lakh each for constructing a house. Implemented through the Department of Rural Development and Panchayat Raj, the scheme provides for Block Development Officers to identify beneficiaries on the basis of the Socio-Economic Caste Census.
While ₹1.2 lakh would be disbursed in cash, construction materials like cement, steel and wooden doors, worth ₹50,000, would be provided in four stages. To ensure proper utilisation of the funds, the Block Development Officer, the engineers and other supervisory officials have to inspect the construction site and upload photographs of the construction in different stages on the Awas mobile app.
According to the vigilance report, the accused officials fabricated documents to claim that the houses were constructed in the names of nine beneficiaries, though no such construction was carried out. In one case, a beneficiary was sanctioned funds under two housing schemes, and the funds were withdrawn.
Though the scheme is implemented through panchayat presidents, the BDOs acted as Special Officers since the local bodies elections had not been held. Fake documents were submitted to claim that cement, steel and wooden articles were purchased under the scheme for the beneficiaries.
However, it is not clear whether the suspects used the Aadhaar Card, the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme job card, mobile phone number, etc. for availing themselves of the scheme and later cheated the beneficiaries. Also, how they managed to update the Awas mobile app with photos from the construction site is under investigation.
The DVAC has booked the accused officials under various provisions of the Indian Penal Code and the Prevention of Corruption Act, 1988, and has also sent a report to the Rural Department and Panchayat Raj Department and the Pudukottai District Collector on the issue.
