Shimla, September 2: The Himachal Pradesh government will conduct an internal audit of the Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana-Gramin (PMAY-G) to assess the construction of houses and utilisation of funds under the scheme, Chief Minister Sukhvinder Singh Sukhu told the Assembly on Wednesday.
Replying to a question raised by BJP MLA Bikram Thakur, Sukhu said the audit would examine whether eligible families had received the sanctioned amount, whether construction had progressed proportionately and whether delays in releasing instalments had resulted in houses remaining incomplete.
The issue of the implementation of the scheme in the Paragpur area and possible discrepancies in beneficiary surveys also came up during the discussion. MLA Chandrashekhar alleged that several eligible families had been left out of the scheme due to lapses by officials and sought fresh verification to include genuine beneficiaries.
Panchayati Raj Minister Anirudh Singh said that 87,710 houses had been sanctioned across Himachal Pradesh during the past three years up to July 31. In the Paragpur development block, 1,108 houses have been approved.
He said beneficiaries are verified through the Government of India’s geo-tagged Awaas Plus app. Eligible people left out of the survey can be re-verified through the Gram Sabha or the Block Development Officer (BDO), and efforts would be made to include those found eligible in the following year’s list.
Responding to a question from MLA Sukhram Chaudhary about completed and incomplete houses, the minister said funds under the scheme are released in three instalments after the required formalities are completed.
The proposed audit will also examine whether the release of instalments corresponds with the actual progress of construction, the minister said.
New panchayats to get ₹50,000 for furniture
The government has also approved ₹50,000 per new panchayat for furniture in newly established panchayat buildings. In addition, MLAs will be allowed to contribute up to ₹50,000 from their MLA funds for purchasing furniture for panchayat offices.
Replying to MLA Balbir Singh Verma, Anirudh Singh said at least 10 biswa of land in the department’s name is mandatory for construction of a panchayat building. He urged legislators to facilitate the transfer of preferably more than one bigha of land so that additional government buildings and schemes could be accommodated on the same premises in the future.
