Barely a month before West Bengal holds panchayat elections, the CPM-led Left Front Government faces a severe indictment from the state’s Accountant General for alleged corruption and fraud in the manner in which it has implemented the Indira Awaas Yojana (IAY) — housing for Scheduled Caste, Scheduled Tribe families below the poverty line (BPL).

The latest audit report of Panchayati Raj institutions placed in the Assembly is based on a nine-month performance audit of all 20 districts of the state by 50 teams from the AG’s office. It has alleged a sweeping range of irregularities: from allotment of IAY houses to non-BPL families, absence of any action plan for allotment and distributing ownership titles to only men when the scheme mandates that it be given to women or couples. About 70% of the 3354 Gram Panchayats in the state are controlled by the CPM.

When contacted, Panchayat and Rural Development Minister Surjya Kant Mishra said: “The report will be discussed by the Public Accounts Committee and only then can we initiate action.” Prinicipal Secretary M N Roy said: “I don’t believe that there are large-scale irregularities. I have asked for a detailed report.”

The audit covered all Zilla Parishads (the upper-most tier of the PRI), Panchayat Samitis (middle tier) and Gram Panchayats (lowest tier) for the years 2004-05. The Centre funds 75 per cent of the cost and the state the rest. Consider its key findings:

• Rs 37.67 crore was spent on building pucca dwelling units and upgrading huts in as many as 1,573 Gram Panchayats where not a single beneficiary was from a BPL family. This despite clear guidelines that beneficiaries be chosen from the BPL list prepared on the basis of priority criteria, such as SC/ST, victims of atrocities, SC/ST households headed by widows and unmarried women and SC/ST households affected by natural calamities like riots, physically and mentally challenged persons.

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