Centre approves Rs 4,000 cr for rural projects in Bengal

Kolkata: Centre has approved the construction of 10 lakh houses under the Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana (PMAY) in Bengal, while sanctioning total funds of Rs 4,000 crore for rural roads, pensions, rural employment schemes and agriculture development.Of this, Rs 1,700 crore will be for agriculture development. Announcing this on Tuesday, state panchayat & rural development minister Dilip Ghosh said, "CM Suvendu Adhikari had a meeting with Union agriculture minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan on Monday, and he agreed to allocate Rs 1,700 crore."Sources said Centre has approved Rs 1,000 crore for rural roads, and Rs 600 crore for rural pension schemes.State govt restarted the work under rural job schemes from Tuesday. Relaunching the programme from Uluberia, Ghosh said that Centre had already allocated Rs 700 crore for the project. "Work under rural job schemes was stalled for four years, and we have taken some pending MGNREGS work this month. VB-G RAM-G will start from July in the state and 125 days' work will be guaranteed under that," he added."Nearly 91 lakh names were deleted during the SIR. Some of them could be genuine voters, and the rest will be kept out of the welfare measures," Ghosh said, indicating a special survey in the next three months.Centre will also start a survey to identify eligible households in rural Bengal for construction of houses under PMAY-G and funds will be allocated for that. The survey, Awaas Plus 2024, will be completed by June 25.The PMAY allocation to Bengal assumes significance as rural housing had become one of the most contentious issues between Centre and the Trinamool govt. In 2022, Centre suspended allocation of housing funds to Bengal, citing widespread allegations of irregularities and corruption in beneficiary selection. Although around Rs 8,200 crore had been earmarked for the construction of nearly 11.5 lakh houses, the release of funds was later halted.Following the suspension of central assistance, the then Trinamool govt accused Centre of discrimination and proceeded to sanction nearly 28 lakh houses from the state exchequer over the next two financial years.Construction and maintenance of rural roads had also slowed down considerably in recent years, prompting the previous Trinamool government to launch its own Pathashree scheme. However, that programme too faced allegations of irregularities and delays in implementation. Centre has now approved Rs 1,000 crore under Pradhan Mantri Gram Sadak Yojana.Ghosh said that toilet projects will also be brought under rural job schemes.