Badausa village, Banda district. On 2 September, almost 50 residents of Banda’s Badausa village in Naraini block voiced their grievances against the village head. They alleged that he had been allocating free housing under the Indira Awaas Yojna, to people who are not on the list of eligible families.
At the Atarra Tehsil Diwas, which was presided over by the District Magistrate, residents of Badausa accused the village head Lal Chandra of duping Below Poverty Line (B.P.L.) families in the villages. They have alleged that Lal Chandra makes entries and adds an alias alongside names of genuine beneficiaries. This allows him to allot housing to whosoever he pleases.
Siyasakhi, Ram Kaliya, and Chanda from Badausa have all fallen victim to this trick. Siyasakhi said, ‘I was allotted a house under the scheme but Lal Chand put someone else’s name as an alias in front of my name. As a result, someone else now has a house and I don’t.’ Ram Kaliya added, ‘This rigging is a conspiracy against all of us by the village head, the Secretary and even the Block Developmental Officer (B.D.O.). We’ve told the village head a number of times that our name is on the list but he says it’s not there.’After many complaints submitted to the Block Developmental Officer and at various other Tehsil Diwas, this time the villagers decided to approach the District Magistrate.
In his defence, village head Lal Chand claimed this was a political matter and said, ‘Right now the Vidhan Sabha bypolls are about to happen and that’s why the villagers are deliberately accusing me. They think their names are on the list. But tell me, can’t there be more than one person in the village with the same name?’
Additional Development Officer (A.D.O.) of Naraini block, Lalita Devi said that it was difficult to comment on the issue immediately as the matter was being investigated. Atarra Sub Divisional Magistrate (S.D.M.) Manoj Kumar said that a list of 20 fake allotments had already been forwarded to the District Magistrate who would institute an enquiry into the matter.
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