Patna, May 13: Block development officers (BDOs) in Bihar will now have to select the beneficiaries of Indira Awas Yojana (IAY) in one go. This is being done to rule out the possibility of any favouritism while selecting the beneficiaries from the lists prepared in each block.

Earlier, the process of selection of beneficiaries was slow and scattered and people used to complain that the block level officials used to demand money in lieu of putting their names in the list of selected beneficiaries for a given year.

“We have received several complaints in this regard. Beneficiaries used to complain that cut money was being demanded from them. Selection of beneficiaries in one go would rule out such possibility as names would be picked on the basis of waiting list of beneficiaries and a copy of it would also be available with us, thus ruling out any possibility of favouritism at any level,” rural development minister Nitish Mishra told The Telegraph.

The rural development department has also introduced a new system under which funds to the district for IAY has been rele- ased in one go. Earlier, funds used to be released in phases leading to delay in disbursement of funds among benefi- ciaries.

Apart from one-time allocation of funds, the department has also fixed targets for all the districts as far as number of dwelling units for a given district is concerned.

For the current fiscal (2011-12) a fund of Rs 3335.9 crore has been sanctioned to districts and a target of constructing 7,37,486 dwelling units have fixed for the year. Out of this fund, the Centre has contributed Rs 2501 crore while remaining fund has come from the state’s share.

Directives have been issued to identify the beneficiaries latest by June 30 this year and also to ensure delivery of acceptance letters to beneficiaries before this date.

Districts have also been asked to ensure complete adherence of IAY guidelines while selecting beneficiaries which say that out of the total funds earmarked for IAY and number of dwelling units, 60 per cent of the benefit should go to those falling under SC/ST categories, 15 per cent to those belonging to minority community and 3 per cent to physically challenged ones.

“We have done our job by disbursing funds to districts and setting the annual target, now the department would keep a close vigil on the implementation of the scheme so that beneficiaries don’t have to suffer due to laxity on part of block offices,” Mishra said.

The rural development department has decided to do the ranking of districts on the basis of achievements made in implementing the IAY and well performing districts would get special awards.

To ensure the seriousness on part of the officials concerned, it has also been decided that achievements made in utilising funds and achieving physical targets in implementing the IAY would be taken into account while making entries in the annual confidential reports of deputy development commissioners and block development officers.