Meghalaya villagers meet CS over alleged diversion of PMAY funds

TURA: Villagers of Nongchram I village Employment Council (VEC) in East Garo Hills district of Meghalaya, along with local NGO leaders, on Wednesday, met the State's Chief Secretary, seeking redressal of the complaints regarding the alleged diversion of funds meant for beneficiaries of Pradhan Mantri Away Yojana (PMAY).

The delegates alleged that the Dambo Rongjeng C&RD Block officials were less concerned over diversion of funds from the said scheme.

“There has been a diversion of funds from genuine beneficiaries to bogus ones. This has been going on for many years but has gone unnoticed. These irregularities have been brought to the notice of the concerned authorities but to no avail,” one of the victims, Niben Sangma said.

According to the complainants, Rs 52,000 was given to the bogus beneficiaries in the first term of the financial year 2019-20.

They also provided a list of 'ghost beneficiaries' only in their village, Nongchram in East Garo Hills.

“The names of the beneficiaries in the list are either non-existent or dead. Even the names of the beneficiaries on the list appear as letters like JVUUHV, JZSDCG NJGJDCS and even 'unknown'. On the contrary, PMAY ids and work code that appear are the ones of the genuine beneficiaries,” added another victim, Pobing Momin.

They further added that the family member names of the ghost beneficiaries matched the ones with the real beneficiaries.

It was informed that the details of such anomalies were found after cross-checking the PMAY – G and other related apps which showed that the persons who received the first instalment were not even on the list.

The complainants added that with PMAY and MGNREGS being convergent schemes, signatures of beneficiaries are being taken in the name of wage payment under muster roll to transfer money, to bogus accounts.

The complainants have sought a thorough investigation into the matter.

Meanwhile, Officials from the C&RD Block office could not be reached for comment.

(Edited by Gabriel G Momin)