Legacy derailed
With the West Bengal Transport Minister, Snehasish Chakraborty, announcing, in end-September, the virtual closure of trams, Kolkata’s heritage transport system is now facing an existential crisis.
The Calcutta High Court on Tuesday directed the District Magistrate (DM) of South 24- Parganas to initiate a probe in the alleged irregularities in the implementation of the Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana (PMAY) scheme.
The Division Bench the court’s Chief Justice TS Sivagnanam and Justice Hiranmay Bhattacharya passed this order while hearing on a PIL in the matter which alleged that the eligible individuals entitled for the benefits under the PMAY scheme were denied and instead the same were granted to those who are, by norms, not eligible.
It was also alleged that funds under the scheme were transferred to the same accounts multiple times, while many eligible beneficiaries did not receive the money despite their names being enrolled. The Bench directed DM to examine each and every charge and submit a report to the court on this count.
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Previously, the court had sought a report from Kandi Municipality in Murshidabad district over similar allegations of irregularities in the PMAY scheme. In April this year, the state government announced that it will conduct an audit of the implementation of the scheme in the state during the financial year 2022-23, amid rising complaints of irregularities and the Centre holding back funds.
In the same month, the state government sent an action taken report to the Centre detailing the steps it took to remove irregularities. The Union government had sent a team to tally the contents of the report with their own experiences in the course of inspection.
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