The Bengal government released the second installment of ₹60,000 for the Banglar Bari scheme last week, but nearly 30 per cent of the 12 lakh beneficiaries have not completed construction of their dwelling units up to lintel level — a criterion for getting the next installment.
In civil construction parlance, lintel is a horizontal support of timber, stone, concrete or steel across the top of a door or window.
Last week in Siliguri, chief minister Mamata Banerjee announced the release of the second installment.
A state panchayat and rural development department report suggested that only 72.1 per cent of 12 lakh beneficiaries, who received the first installment of ₹60,000 in December, built their dwelling units up to the lintel level.
“Usually, further installments are not released until a beneficiary constructs his or her dwelling unit up to the lintel level under a housing scheme. But the state government decided to release the second installment for all beneficiaries as it does not want to delay the project,” said a source.
A section of bureaucrats questioned if the decision to release the second installment would lead to misappropriation of funds.
“If beneficiaries who did not spend the first installment to build their houses get the second installment, there’s no guarantee that they would spend the fresh sum on building their units. This is why further installments are usually not released until dwelling units are built up to lintel level,” said an official.
The panchayat department officials said the entire process was being monitored very seriously to rule out any misappropriation of funds.
Panchayat department officials have conducted visits to 98.69 per cent dwelling units, which are being constructed or supposed to be built with the first installment. During their visits, they identified that no construction had started for 1.04 per cent dwelling units. In 0.53 per cent cases, construction materials had been procured but work was yet to start.
“The department is keeping a close watch on the entire scheme. Each dwelling unit is being monitored closely. So, it can be assured that no misappropriation of funds will take place. The second installment was given to all only because the state government does not want to put a brake on the scheme,” said an official.
Sources said that the department stressed the completion of construction of homes up to the lintel level at the earliest so that the project could be completed before the 2026 Assembly polls.
The report drawn up by the panchayat department suggested that in South 24-Parganas, 50.19 per cent of 1.63 lakh beneficiaries could not complete construction up to the lintel level.
Districts like South Dinajpur, Cooch Behar, Murshidabad, Malda, Birbhum and North 24-Parganas also fared poorly under the scheme. These districts stood below the state average of 72.1 per cent in completing units up to the lintel level.
In Nadia and West Burdwan, more than 90 per cent of the dwelling units were completed up to the lintel level before the release of the second installment.
Sources said that the state government wanted to complete the project at the earliest as it was eager to release the first installment to another 16 lakh beneficiaries before the 2026 Assembly polls.
The Mamata government decided to shoulder the entire onus of building homes for 28 lakh people in rural Bengal since the Centre stopped the release of funds under the Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana to the state over the past three years.
The state government has already released ₹14,400 crore to give benefits of the scheme to 12 lakh people. Another ₹9,600 crore would be spent on the first installment for another 16 lakh people.
“Bengal’s ruling party would like to use the scheme to counter the BJP in the Assembly polls. This is why the ruling establishment has to be very careful to ensure that no funds misappropriation charges crop up,” said a source.
