Odisha Govt Depriving Poor Of PMAY Houses Due To Favouratism, Alleges BJP

Bhubaneswar: Dubbing the BJD government in Odisha as ‘anti-poor’, opposition BJP on Sunday accused it of depriving the eligible beneficiaries of houses under Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana (PMAY) by delaying allotment.

Addressing a press meet in Bhubaneswar, state BJP general secretary Prithviraj Harichandan lashed out at the Naveen Patnaik government for delay in allotment of houses under PMAY to the genuine beneficiaries.

Accusing the state government of misleading the poor people of Odisha, the senior BJP leader further alleged that ruling BJD leaders have taken Rs 20,000 from ineligible beneficiaries for which they are now unable to delete such names.

Asking the state government to start allotment after preparing list within 15 days, Harichandan said Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) will hit the streets if houses under PMAY are not allotted to the beneficiaries before the rainy season.

Hitting out at BJD leaders for criticising Union Minister Giriraj Singh for recently raising the issue of irregularities in PMAY in Odisha, the senior BJP leader accused the state government of resorting to favouritism in allotment of PMAY houses.

Alleging that irregularities took place starting from preparation of list of beneficiaries, he said deserving beneficiaries are getting deprived of the benefits of PMAY.

Claimiing that Central funds for rural housing had increased three times during BJP government, he said during UPA rule, Harichandan 9.59 lakh PMAY houses sanctioned by the Centre are yet to be given to the beneficiaries due to large scale irregularities in the state.