Political slugfest over visit of Central teams on PM Awaas in West Bengal continues

The villagers blocked roads when the team went from place to place

The political slugfest over the visit of the Central teams in West Bengal continued for the second consecutive day on Friday. On Thursday, a group of villagers held protests and blocked roads in the State’s Purba Medinipur district before a Central team which had come to investigate allegations of irregularities in the PM Awaas Yojana.

Referring to the development, the Bharatiya Janata Party’s (BJP) national vice president Dilip Ghosh said such incidents maligned the State of West Bengal.

“Why is the Trinamool Congress 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,” Mr. Ghosh said.

On the first day, a team led by the deputy secretary of the Ministry of Rural Development Shakti Kanti visited Kaliachak I block in Malda district. Another team in the State’s Purba Medinipur district led by Shailesh Kumar, also went to the villages in the district.

Members of the team spoke to the people who had got houses under the PM Awaas Yojana and also to those who had not. Trinamool Congress spokesperson Kunal Ghosh said the visit was an attempt to malign West Bengal. “The State government has already taken action in cases where there was any wrongdoing,” Mr. Ghosh asserted.

A communication from the Ministry of Rural Development to the State government said that two teams would visit the Malda and Purba Medinipur district for “field inspection and rapid check of PMAY-G houses”. Allegations of irregularities in the housing scheme had come from several districts and locals had protested on the issue.

Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on Thursday hit out at the Union government accusing it of sending “politically motivated” teams to the State. This is the second time that a scheme had faced allegations of corruption in the State. The Centre had not released funds for MGNREGA in the State since December 2021 in West Bengal on account of irregularities in the implementation of the scheme. The Chief Minister had raised the issue of non-payment of MGNREGA wages in the State on several occasions and in personal meetings with Prime Minister Narendra Modi.