Fraudsters swindle Indira Yojana funds
Audit shows benefits went to non-existent people
Kochi: The Indira Awaas Yojana, meant to provide housing to the rural poor, has become a milch cow to fatten the vested interests, reveals the 2013-14 audit report submitted by the Local Fund Audit (LFA) department to the state government.
By forging documents, providing benefits to the ineligible and non-existent people by violating norms, the unscrupulous have siphoned off lakhs of rupees from the scheme, says the audit report.
As per the procedures, the grama sabha has to identify the beneficiaries in the respective area and the panchayat administrative committee has to approve the list. After this, the beneficiaries can receive the amount for house construction from the block panchayat directly or via the respective panchayat offices.
However, without the approval of grama sabha and panchayat, many got the benefit by influencing the block panchayat. A total of Rs 35, 540, 72 was siphoned off in this way.
Many entered the beneficiary list with forged approval letter from the grama sabha and panchayat administrative committee. A sum of Rs 12, 490,59 has been siphoned off by ineligible beneficiaries.
Hundreds of non-existent persons received the benefits. The village officers concerned have issued stage certificates and the beneficiaries received lakhs of rupees.
They include Mymuna Muthiri from Ernakulam, Sabna Kizhakkeparambil from Kazhakkoottam, Jeevan George, Sreekumari and Sudha, all from Malappuram, and they exist only on paper. Lakhs of rupees have gone down the drain this way.
Those who have livable shelter cannot get the money but hundreds of people, who have decent shelters, have become the beneficiaries.
Many received the money twice which came to light when the LFA team examined the list. A sum of Rs 8,000, 31 was misappropriated this way.
As per the guidelines, the size of houses under the scheme must be between 30 and 60 square metres but should not exceed 60 square metres.
However, the audit report finds that as many as 161 houses constructed under this scheme are of over 60 square metres. This has caused a loss of Rs 26, 923, 60.