The death of seven children due to the caving in of mud houses during the recent floods has brought into focus the alleged shoddy implementation of housing schemes, with the Opposition Bharatiya Janata Party and the Congress questioning the execution of Prime Minister Awas Yojana in Odisha.
A 10-year-old girl and a six-year-old boy died when a portion of wall fell on them while they were asleep at Raidiha village under the Udala block in Mayurbhanj district on Monday. Their mother and a sibling had a miraculous escape in the incident. Villagers retrieved the bodies trapped under the debris.
A child succumbed to injuries when their mud house collapsed at Bholabeda village in the Bisoi block of Mayurbhanj district. The parents who were seriously injured were admitted to hospital at Rairangpur.
A nine-year-old student at the PHD Colony of Koraput died following the collapse of bathroom wall. There was report of another death of child in wall collapse at Baridpada, the district headquarters town of Mayurbhanj. Apart from seven children, two adults had died under similar circumstances.
Odisha is among the top five States having highest number of thatched houses. As per the Socio Economic Caste Census (SECC)-2011, as many as 6,39,784 households in Odisha had thatched houses. Bihar, Uttar Pradesh, Assam and West Bengal had higher number of households having thatched houses.
The BJP and the Congress have long been raising the issue of irregularities in the implementation of the Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana in the State. Opposition leaders alleged that while eligible beneficiaries were deprived of houses under the Central scheme, rich people affiliated to the ruling Biju Janata Dal have managed to corner PMAY-G houses.
Several irregularities
When Odisha’s Panchayati Raj and Drinking Water Minister Pradip Kumar Amat met Union Minister for Rural Development and Panchayati Raj Giriraj Singh this month, the latter expressed concern over the several irregularities flagged by the Central team of the Rural Development Ministry that visited the State to review the status of the PMAY (G) scheme.
“There were as many as 37% anomalies in the list of beneficiaries, discrepancies in uploading data on Awas-soft website, fudging in beneficiaries bank account numbers, transfer of funds to non-eligible persons and denying benefits to legitimate individuals,” the Centre had pointed out. The Union Minister said the Centre had a target to provide houses to more than 8 lakh beneficiaries in Odisha.
As Odisha is reeling under flood situation, thousands of people continued to stay under polythene roofs on river embankments fearing wall collapse.
‘Government to blame’
“The deaths have exposed how the Odisha government has dilly-dallied in making PMAY houses available to needy households in the State. Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik has been in government for 22 years. If so many people are dying due to wall collapses, the government must own responsibility for the mess,” said BJP leader Sajjan Sharma.
Congress leader Satya Nayak too lashed out at the BJD government saying, “If people are dying inside their home due to wall collapse, nothing can be shameful than this. It shows the State government has not surveyed the housing requirement of people.”
“Moreover, the shoddy implementation of the housing schemes has left many needy beneficiaries in the lurch. The deaths were waiting to happen as PMAY houses were allotted on the basis of their affiliation to the ruling party,” Mr. Nayak alleged.
