Raipur: Members of the opposition BJP on Thursday accused the Congress government in Chhattisgarh of "snatching" houses of the poor to which they were entitled and staged a walkout from the state Assembly.
Even the state panchayat and rural department minister had to quit the portfolio after being disappointed with the state government's reluctance in releasing funds for the implementation of the Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana (PMAY), they claimed to refer to T S Singh Deo. On July 16, Singh Deo had given up charge of the panchayat department citing various reasons, saying he was unable to fulfill the department's targets as per the vision of the Jan Ghoshna Patra (poll manifesto), given the "current scenario".
In his letter to Chief Minister Bhupesh Baghel, the minister had claimed not a single house was built for homeless people under the PMAY as funds were not allotted despite "repeated request". Singh Deo continues to hold four other portfolios, including the state health department. Raising the issue during the Question Hour on the second day of the monsoon session of the Chhattisgarh Assembly, former chief minister Raman Singh claimed the PMAY implementation was pathetic in the state where the Baghel government was not giving its part of the share and as a result, targets allotted by the Centre were withdrawn.
Singh Deo in his letter (to CM while giving up the panchayat department) had said funds were not released under the scheme, as a result of which houses could not be constructed for eight lakh people, BJP leader Raman Singh said. The former CM sought to know how many houses were sanctioned under the scheme in 2019-20, 2020-21, 2021-22, and 2022-23 and how many of them have been completed.
