‘Benefitting Blue-Eyed People’, All Cases To Be Scrutinized: ACD Baramulla
Zaffer Iqbal
Uri, Mar 15 (GNS): Scores of homeless inhabitants putting up in sheds across Uri in north Kashmir’s Baramulla have alleged the authorities of neglecting them under (Pradhan Mantri Awaas Yojana – Gramin (PMAY-G) an initiative of the Indian government which aims at providing affordable housing solutions to the rural poor.
A delegation of locals told GNS that the authorities have been selecting such people as beneficiaries under the scheme who are otherwise well-off or ineligible. “The Panchayat bodies are resorting to favoritism and benefitting the blue-eyed people for their own interests,” they alleged.
The delegation members from villages which included from Batgran, Thajal, Hathlanga, Mothal, GharKote, SultanDaki, DahniSyden, Badian Boniyar, DaraKujan Boniyar, Pasadan Boniyar said they were selected as beneficiaries under the scheme after a survey was conducted in year 2017-18 by Rural Development Department (RDD).
“As per the list, we see the actual beneficiaries have been omitted for unknown reasons,” they said adding “now we can clearly see the panchayat bodies are benefitting the undeserving people,” they said.
Manzoor Ahmad Awan, a resident of Thajal said that his name was included in the survey list for homeless people but the Panchayat has omitted me from the preference list now. “I am a labourer with a family of nine members which include six girls living in a shed,” Awan said.
“There seems no one coming forward to help me out when I am being deprived of the house despite approval by the authorities themselves,” he said.
Mohammad Rafiq Awan, also belonging to Thajal village, said he is a laborer and lives in a makeshift shed with his family. “The local Panchayat body has neglected our family and did not include us in the priority list,” he said.
Mohd Ashraf Sheikh, a resident of SultanDaki said that RDD department officials conducted survey in his village multiple times and on each occasion he said he was priortised to get the house under the scheme. “Despite that, I am being deprived of a house again”, he said adding that even all the people and the Panchayat members know this that I live in a shed.
“Why this injustice is meted with me”, he lamented.
Syed Abbas Hussain, a resident of DahniSyedan said he is an unemployed person with his family living in a temporary shed. “Despite the central government providing houses to the homeless people under the PMAY-G scheme, however the local Panchayat body is creating hurdles, even after my name has been included in the survey list,” Hussain said.
He urged SDM Uri to personally intervene in the matter.
Nazir Ahmed Chachi of Gharkote (B) said, “I am a poor person and have no source of income. I have not received any aid under any government scheme so far. Despite deserving, I am being neglected and the local Panchayat body told me that my name was not there in the survey list.”
The aggrieved person has appealed to SDM Uri to visit the spot and ‘provide justice to the deserving people.’
A widow, Aamina Begum, a resident of Garkote (A) said that her husband’s name (Abdul Majeed Chak) was selected under the scheme. “However the panchayat body is refusing to grant us help after the death of my husband,” she said if the scheme is for homeless people then why is she being deprived despite living in a temporary shed.
Gulshan Begum, a resident of Pasadan Boniyar said that their family of twenty members is putting up in just two rooms. “Despite knowing our ordeal, the panchayat has been refusing to provide us with a house,” she said.
Similar complaints are being received from other villages of Uri and Boniyar tehsil from where the inhabitants have been alleging the authorities concerned of ‘depriving them of their right’.
The delegation members have alleged that there were several cases wherein families have given up their houses on a temporary basis just to avail the benefits under the scheme.
The delegation members have urged the higher-ups to conduct a fresh and impartial survey to select the actual and deserving beneficiaries under the scheme.
Assistant Commissioner Development (ACD) Baramulla, Yar Ali Khan told GNS that all the cases will be scrutinized. “Our teams have started visiting the ground and verifying the genuine cases. They also get geo-tagged photos done from the spot,” he said.
“Those cases that would be found ineligible will be removed from the list,” Khan said.
He said that if a person in the survey list but has passed away and is as such survived by his wife or any other family member whose details were entered during the survey, the nominee will automatically get benefit under the scheme.
It is pertinent to mention here that the target of providing 722 houses for five blocks of Uri has been fixed. Rupees 1,60,000 will be provided to a deserving family per house for construction under this scheme. (GNS)
