Husbands land in trouble after wives fled with PMAY installment

Barabanki district administration issued notice to five people for not starting their construction under Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana (Urban) even after receiving Rs 50000 as first installments but only to find that their wives have fled with the money leaving them at the mercy of law.

Barabanki: In a strange incident, five cases have been registered separately at Barabanki district in Uttar Pradesh, where the wives have fled with the first installment of the Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana (Urban) leaving their husbands in trouble, forcing them to face legal action because they failed to start the construction work even after receiving the first installment of the Rs 50000.

According to the district administration, the applicants are supposed to receive 2.5 lakh in three installments. "Initially they will be given Rs 50000 for the starting of the work and after inspection two more installments worth 1.5 lakh and 50000 respectively will be disbursed. After the construction is over they will have to produce a certificate pertaining to the completion of the work. This is the procedure," a senior district official said.

"Few days before we had received five complaints separately from Satrikh, Zaidpur, Banki, Fatehpur and Belhara Nagar Panchayats that the applicants even after receiving the money didn't start the work. Accordingly we had served notice to the applicants because if they don't start the work we will have start the process of recovering the money," Project Officer, Duda Saurabh Tripathi said.

"Surprisingly enough, the respective applicants came to us and told that their wives have withdrawn the money and fled with their lovers. They also requested us not to release the next two installments because they suspect that the wives might withdraw the rest of the money too," Tripathy added.

Senior district officials are of opinion that as the project is in the name of the wives the can withdraw the rest of the amount even. "We have asked them to register a complaint with the police and are trying to find out the truth in the whole incident. We also need to knwo whether these people are telling the truth or nor," a senior district official said.