PMAY bribe racket busted in Allahabad, 33 booked

The district administration lodged FIR against 33 people, including seven gram pradhans, earlier this month after an enquiry revealed that they took cut from the beneficiaries of Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana (PMAY) in different blocks of Allahabad district.

The enquiry, ordered by Allahabad chief development officer (CDO) Samuel Paul N last month after he received complaints in this regard, revealed that gram pradhans and other office bearers of several gram panchayats took cut ranging from ₹10,000 to ₹40,000 from 97 people for including their names in the list of PMAY beneficiaries.

While confirming the enquiry and the lodging of the FIR, project director, Gram Vikas Abhikaran, KK Singh said, “The CDO has also issued orders for realising the embezzled funds from the guilty persons.”

According to rules, the fund made available to a beneficiary under the scheme is in three instalments in their bank accounts. The first instalment is of ₹40,000 while the second and third instalments are of ₹70,000 and ₹10,000 respectively.

During the enquiry it came to fore that in Ghatampur gram panchayat of Kaudihar development block, the secretary, block assistant and computer operator of the gram panchayat had got funds, allocated under the scheme to 13 beneficiaries, transferred to the bank accounts of other persons in collusion with some bank staff.

In Pannupur gram panchayat of the same block, it was found that the gram panchayat officer had got funds of some beneficiaries transferred to the bank accounts of some other persons. Similarly, in Baharia development block’s Dalipur gram panchayat, the gram pradhan, the village development officer and another person had embezzled two instalments of a beneficiary.

Similar cases of embezzlement of funds of PMAY beneficiaries were also detected in several other gram panchayats of different development blocks, including Baharia, Meja, Koraon, Pratapur, Holagarhm, Soraon, Koraon and Kaundhiara.

The enquiry also revealed that in Kaudihar development block, 15 ineligible people had received first instalment of ₹40,000 under the PMAY.