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Once again a big controversy has arisen in West Bengal regarding Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana (PMAY). Angered by the alleged rigging in the name of providing government accommodation in Anandpur area under Coke Oven police station area of Durgapur, women surrounded the local Trinamool Congress (TMC) leader in the middle of the road. It is alleged that the scheme was shown as ‘successful’ in the online records in the name of poor families, whereas the ground reality was that these families neither got a single brick of a pucca house nor did any installment of any financial assistance reach their bank accounts.
When the families, who had been hoping for a solid roof for years, got wind of this digital fraud, the women’s patience broke completely. A huge crowd of angry women surrounded local TMC leader Vishwajit Majhi (aka Bishu Majhi) in Anandpur and bombarded him with sharp questions. Within no time the dispute escalated to such an extent that the women broke eggs on the leader’s head several times and took him around on foot in the entire locality and raised slogans. After this unexpected incident, huge tension spread in the entire area and an atmosphere of chaos was created on the spot.
The protesting women and local villagers allege that some time ago TMC leader Bishu Majhi had met many poor and economically weak families. He had claimed that he would get permanent houses sanctioned to everyone under the housing scheme of the Central and State Government. In this name, copies of Aadhar cards, ration cards, bank passbooks and other necessary documents were collected from the villagers. Villagers waited for months for approval of their houses, but when no work moved forward, some youths checked the list of beneficiaries on the government portal.
As soon as the online records were checked, a shocking truth came to light. The process of house allotment was shown as ‘Completed/Success’ against the names of those poor women on the portal. Seeing this, people were shocked, because in reality they were still forced to live in dilapidated huts and mud houses. The villagers alleged that the housing scheme funds were embezzled by misusing their documents and the house construction was fraudulently shown as complete on the papers.
As soon as TMC leader Bishu Majhi reached the area on Sunday, dozens of women surrounded him from all sides with sticks and slogans. The women raised a direct question that when they did not get a house to live, then who got ‘Successful’ stamped in front of their names in the government records and why? After the initial altercation the atmosphere became very heated. The women took out eggs from their bags and threw them on the head of the TMC leader.
According to eyewitnesses, Netaji kept apologizing with folded hands and declaring himself innocent, but the anger of the women did not subside. The angry mob paraded him through the streets of Anandpur area and raised slogans of ‘thief-thief’ and demanded that he be held accountable. During this time, nearby people were seen making video of the entire incident from rooftops and balconies, which is now going viral on social media. As soon as information about the incident was received, the police team of the local police station reached the spot and after a lot of effort, brought the leader out safely from the clutches of the mob.
After this incident, there is panic in the political circles of Durgapur and surrounding areas. The victimized women have demanded from the local administration and the District Magistrate to conduct an impartial and high-level investigation into this entire matter. Local residents have mainly put three sharp questions before the administration: First, if the genuine beneficiaries did not get even a single rupee, then how did their names get registered in the category of successful beneficiaries on the government portal? Second, had the government released any construction money or subsidy in the name of these beneficiaries? And third, if funds were released, to which bank account was it transferred and into whose pocket the money went?
Villagers say that this is not a matter of just one area, but many grassroots leaders of Trinamool Congress are involved in this game of housing scheme and cut-money. They have warned that if the administration does not register criminal cases against the culprits and do not give their rights to the real beneficiaries, they will launch a massive agitation by blocking the national highway.
The issue of corruption in Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana and MNREGA (100 days work) in West Bengal has been a cause of conflict between the central investigating agencies and political parties for a long time. This latest incident has given the opposition Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) another big weapon to attack the Trinamool government in the state. The opposition alleges that TMC middlemen and Panchayat level officials are usurping the funds sent by the Central Government for the welfare of the poor.
The opposition has demanded that physical verification of digital records and ground situation of Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana should be done in the entire state so that the syndicate that is robbing the rights of the poor can be exposed. On the other hand, the local TMC leadership has distanced itself from the issue, saying that no one has the right to take the law into their own hands and if there is any technical error in the scheme or irregularities at the local level, appropriate steps will be taken after an administrative inquiry. At present, in view of the tension in Anandpur area, police patrolling has been increased.