Itanagar: Faulty list of beneficiaries left many families deprived of the Indira Awas Yojana (IAY) benefits while there were instances that non-BPL households gained from the scheme, the Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) said in a report.
“IAY waitlist was faulty as a many eligible beneficiaries were left out as highlighted in the National level monitor’s report. There were also instances of non-BPL households being extended benefits as noticed during joint field verification,”the CAG said.
Among the non-eligible beneficiaries were “government employees like teachers and peons and others having annual income above the Below Poverty Line (BPL) list,” said the report tabled in the just concluded budget session of the Assembly.
The report covering IAY accounts from April 2008 to March 2013 said the state’s BPL census was conducted in 2002 and it was not updated in the past 11 years.
It revealed that due to short release of the state’s share, the Union Rural Development ministry had deducted central assistance to the tune of 40.98 lakh.
“An amount of Rs 56.25 lakh received from the Centre as natural calamity fund under the scheme was neither allotted to the districts by the government nor utilisation of the amount was shown at the state level, but the fund balance was shown as ‘Nil’. The actual utilisation of fund for the purpose for which it was allotted remained doubtful,” the report said.
It pointed out that an inadmissible payment of Rs 113.50 lakh was made by District Rural Development Agency (DRDA) of Anjaw district while an unauthorised expenditure of Rs 5.52 lakh was incurred by DRDA, Papum Pare district.
The report also highlighted that a total of 3,032 beneficiaries were deprived of the full benefit of the scheme in West Siang district as the DRDA distributed lesser quantity of CGI sheets to them amounting to Rs 1.63 crore.
If the assistance had been limited to IAY guidelines, at least 3,344 more beneficiaries could have been covered under the scheme, it said.
The report said, the IAY beneficiary failed to avail loan under DRI (differential rate of interest) scheme with marginal interest due to lack of awareness programme undertaken by the state government.
As per the IAY guidelines, in addition to the assistance provided, a beneficiary can avail a loan up to Rs 20,000 per housing unit under DRI scheme at an interest of four per cent per annum.
“In absence of convergence and dovetailing of central sector schemes like total sanitation campaign (TSC), Rajiv Gandhi Gramin Vidyutikaran Yojana (RGGVY) and National Rural Water Supply Programme (NRWSP) with IAY, the beneficiaries were deprived of the intended benefits of these schemes,” the CAG report highlighted.
“Most of the officers dealing with the IAY and its beneficiaries remained unaware of various disaster-resistant features which ought to have been adopted in the construction of IAY houses,” the report added. (PTI)
