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Regular-article-logo Tuesday, 01 July 2025

Glare on housing scheme officials in Assam

The Public Accounts Committee of Assam Assembly has pointed out unauthorised expenditure incurred by the department and misappropriation of funds

Our Special Correspondent Published 07.10.18, 07:51 PM
Foundation stone of a housing scheme being laid in Assam’s Tezpur

Foundation stone of a housing scheme being laid in Assam’s Tezpur Telegraph archive picture

The Public Accounts Committee of the Assam Assembly has asked the state panchayat and rural development (P&RD) department to fix responsibility on officials for irregularities in execution of Indira Awaas Yojana (IAY) and other schemes in the state.

The committee, headed by Congress MLA Rajdeep Goala, in its 150th report recommended that the department should ensure better monitoring in all development blocks in the state so that such lapses do not happen in the future.

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The committee prepared the report after perusing the audit reports of the Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) on the P&RD department, which pointed out unauthorised expenditure incurred by the department and misappropriation of funds.

The committee was of the view that the department should verify the matter physically before the execution of the project. “Responsibility may be fix-ed on the guilty officials and submit an action taken report to the committee,” the report said.

During the course of examination of the audit report, the committee observed that the executive officer of Barkhetri Anchalik Panchayat and Borigog Banbhag Anchalik Panchayat in Nalbari incurred unauthorised expenditure of Rs 3.08 crore towards allotment of 751 IAY houses earmarked for Scheduled Caste/Scheduled Tribe beneficiaries to non-SC/ST beneficiaries between 2009 and 2011, thereby violating the IAY guidelines and prevented the corresponding benefits from reaching the intended beneficiaries.

The department, in its reply, said during 2009-10 and 2010-11 SC/ST beneficiaries under the BPL category were not available and hence IAY houses were sanctioned to 338 numbers of non-SC/ST beneficiaries.

The committee during the course of its discussion with the department representatives observed that the block development officers (BDOs) of Gobordhana and Bordoloni development blocks in BTAD incurred unauthorised expenditure of Rs 75.44 lakh in 2009-10 by disbursing the money to 221 ineligible beneficiaries in contravention of the IAY guidelines and deprived targeted beneficiaries from the benefits of the scheme.

It found that the chief executive officer of Lakhimpur Zila Parishad and BDOs of Karunabari and Bihpuria development blocks incurred unauthorised expenditure of Rs 64.15 lakh by providing financial assistance to ineligible beneficiaries in violation of the guidelines of National Family Benefit Scheme (NFBS).

Selection of beneficiaries under NFBS is done by the BDOs and subsequently it is approved by the district-level committee of National Social Assistance Programme.

The committee observed that the chief executive officer (CEO) of Nalbari zila parishad withdrew Rs 65.58 lakh from the bank between April and December, 2010, by issuing 27 self cheques containing only his signature. The money was meant for different works like contingent expenditure and procurement of computers.

They found that the CEO violated the executive instruction and failed to produce records of utilisation and whereabouts of Rs 62.35 lakh.

The committee recommended the P&RD department to recover the money from the then CEO of Nalbari zila parishad and deposit the same in the state exchequer.

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