Central team visits villages in West Bengal

The team led by Deputy Secretary Shakti Kanti Singh of the Union Rural Development Ministry visited Kaliachak block 1 in Malda district during the day.

“A Central team looking into allegations of irregularities in the allotment of houses under Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana (PMAY) on January 6 visited various villages in West Bengal’s Malda district,” officials said.

The team led by Deputy Secretary Shakti Kanti Singh of the Union Rural Development Ministry visited Kaliachak block 1 in Malda district during the day.

“The team is visiting villages and conducting field inspection. The team members spoke to villagers. Officers of the district administration are accompanying them,” a district official said. “The Central team stationed at East Midnapore district led by Shailesh Kumar is also scheduled to visit villages in the district,” the officials said.

The two teams had arrived on Thursday and sparked off a political slugfest with Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee accusing Delhi of sending officers to check on “trivial matters” while denying MGNREGS funds to the State.

TMC spokesperson Kunal Ghosh on Friday said the visit is an attempt to malign the State as "The State government has already taken action in cases where there was any wrongdoing". BJP national vice-president Dilip Ghosh dubbed the allegations as "baseless" and founded on "vendetta politics".

"Why is the TMC so terrified if it is not involved in the PMAY scam? There has been a scam which is why the Centre has sent teams to the State," he asserted.

Ms. Banerjee, a vociferous critic of the BJP, had lashed out on Thursday and said "The Centre is sending teams to Bengal for trivial matters — even if there is an incident of cracker being burst, it sends teams."