Bengal’s rural housing scheme runs into fresh trouble, discontent over ‘missing names’ on lists

“No one here has heard of Dholapada Haldar. I’m sure his name is the reason why my husband’s name did not appear in the awas yojana (housing scheme) list. Look at our house — it is falling apart,” says Jahanara, who shares the cramped quarters with her aged in-laws.

Akbar Mollah with his wife Roshanara at their mud house in Mirpara, Raidighi, South 24 parganas district. Despite application and surveys every year after storms and cyclones, they are yet to get a Bangla Abas Yojana house. Express Photo by Ravik Bhattacharya

The implementation of the flagship rural housing scheme, consistently dogged by allegations of irregularities in the state, has run into fresh trouble. With the state government announcing that the 2017-2018 list of beneficiaries — the last such list to be drawn up – would get their first installment by December, in October, a statewide survey was started to update and finalise the list. But the Block Development Officers (BDOs), who are carrying out the survey, were met protests across the state – in South 24 Parganas in October, followed by demonstrations in villages across North 24 Parganas, Purba and Paschim Bardhaman, Birbhum, West and East Midnapore, Malda and Murshidabad, among other districts.

The protesters alleged several irregularities in the list, including ghost beneficiaries and allotment of funds to people who already own concrete houses.

“No one here has heard of Dholapada Haldar. I’m sure his name is the reason why my husband’s name did not appear in the awas yojana (housing scheme) list. Look at our house — it is falling apart,” says Jahanara, who shares the cramped quarters with her aged in-laws. Express Photo by Ravik Bhattacharya

The scheme has been at the centre of a tussle between the state and the Centre. In December 2020, acting on complaints of irregularities, the Centre decided to withhold the funding for the 2017-2018 state list of beneficiaries – under the PMAY-G scheme, the Centre allocates 60 per cent of the funds, while states contribute the remaining 40 per cent.

In July this year, an angry Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee announced that the scheme would continue under a new name, Bangla Awas Yojana, and that the state would fund it entirely on its own.

An investigation by The Indian Express in January 2023 had revealed a collusion between the local administration, which prepares and approves the list, and homeowners, who use PMAY-G funds to build extensions to their existing pucca houses.

Erad Mir sitting in his mud house Mirpara in Raidighi, South 24 parganas district. Despite storms damaging his mud house every year, he is yet to get a Bangla Abas Yojana house even after appealing many times. Express Photo by Ravik Bhattacharya

The 2017-2018 list, which names 11.36 lakh beneficiaries who would each receive a total of Rs 1.20 lakh in installments, was finalised by the West Bengal Panchayat and Rural Development Department.

In Katwa Subdivision in Purba Bardhaman district, BDO officials struggled to find a certain ‘Sudeshna Roy’, whose names features multiple times — as the beneficiary of two houses in Musthuli village, three in Amdanga village and one in Jagadananda Pur village. “In each case, the recipient’s name was Sudeshna Roy but the name of the head of the family was different. We visited all six houses, but were told that there was no one by that name in the family. A probe is on,” says an official.

On November 13, Debashish Mukherjee, a resident of Raghunathpur village in Purulia district, filed an FIR alleging that while his name was on the list of beneficiaries, he had been informed by the municipality that someone else had withdrawn Rs 3.05 lakh using his name.

Erad Mir sitting in his mud house Mirpara in Raidighi, South 24 parganas district. Despite storms damaging his mud house every year, he is yet to get a Bangla Abas Yojana house even after appealing many times. Express Photo by Ravik Bhattacharya

As The Indian Express visited some of the villages in districts that saw protests over the scheme, many complained about not making it to the list despite being eligible. Like the Central scheme, those with BPL cards (annual income less than a lakh) and who don’t own pucca houses are eligible for the Bangla Awas Yojana. However, the state allowed a few concessions, including allowing those owning motorbikes and with a concrete boundary wall on one side of the house, to apply.

In Konkon Dighi village in South 24 Parganas district, five minutes from Jahanara’s house, is a kutcha house belonging to Akbar Mollah, 58, and Roshana Bibi, 50. “We had applied for a house long ago, but nothing happened. During (the cyclonic storm) Dana (in October), some officials came here and spoke to us. Once again, nothing happened. None of our four boys made it to the list either,” says Akbar.

Metres from Akbar’s house is Erad Mir’s kutcha house. The 64-year-old, who says he has applied for a house thrice — after the cyclones in 2019 and 2020, and the storms last year. “After Dana, I was told that I qualified for a tarpaulin but the babus (BDO officials) told me that it was out of stock,” says Mir, a daily-wage labourer.

Kalipada Malik with his wife Minati sitting at their mud house in Bakultolla, Jamalpur in Purba Bardhaman district. Kalipada says his name once had come in the list of Bangla Abas Yojana but was cancelled for reasons unknown to him. This year during Dana cyclone a portion of his house fell. Express Photo by Ravik Bhattacharya

To a query by The Indian Express on these allegations, Nazir Hossain, BDO, Patharpratima block II, says, “The list was put on hold after we received such complaints. The complaints have been forwarded to the state government. We will investigate the matter and prepare the final list after receiving instructions from the government.”

In Purba Bardhaman’s Jamalpur block, Kalindi Soren, 84, from Ushumpur village points to a fallen portion of her house.

“Officials took note of the portion, which fell after Dana. However, my name is still not on this year’s list. I had applied in 2017-2018 too and a survey was done in 2018. In 2021, I was told that my name was on the list, but was removed,” says Kalindi, who lives in the house with her elder son, a daily-wage labourer.

Amalendu Das, panchayat samiti member, Jamalpur, says, “As far as I know, after the survey in 2018, their names (the Maliks and the Sorens) were on the list in 2021. But I don’t know why they were rejected or their names disappeared.”

When asked about these allegations, Partha Sarathi Dey, BDO, Jamalpur, says, “We can’t talk about the awas yojana right now. We were asked to survey the names on the list. We did that and sent a report to the higher authorities.”

Besides tweaking norms to allow more people to apply for houses under the scheme, CM Banerjee and state Chief Secretary Manoj Pant had in October this year convened a meeting with district officials to address protests on the scheme.

State Panchayat and Rural Development Minister Pradip Majumder, who is currently on a state-wide tour to look into the allegations against the housing scheme, told The Indian Express over phone, “This (2017-2018) list was prepared six years ago. It is possible that some families became affluent in the meanwhile and built pucca houses. We are surveying to remove their names from the list. Those who are affluent, but have kutcha houses will be excluded from the list. Those who applied for a house under BAY will get a house after a survey, as will those who lost their houses due to a natural calamity.”

To a query on the protests, he claimed those were being “orchestrated” by the Opposition.