Bengal govt to provide funds to 2.8 million families to build houses by 2026
The Bengal government has launched Banglar Bari scheme to provide financial assistance to families in rural areas to build houses
West Bengal chief minister Mamata Banerjee said on Tuesday that with the Centre stopping funds to the state under the Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana (PMAY), the state government would provide funds to 2.8 million families in rural areas to build houses before 2026, when the state assembly elections are due.
“We have identified around 2.8 million beneficiaries. For now, we have released funds to 1.2 million households. If the Centre doesn’t release the funds, we will provide the funds for the remaining 1.6 million households by the start of 2026 in two phases,” Banerjee said during the launch of Banglar Bari scheme at the state secretariat.
With the Centre stopping funds to the West Bengal government under the PMAY, the state government launched Banglar Bari to provide financial assistance to families in rural areas to build houses.
Under the Banglar Bari scheme each household would get ₹1.2 lakh in two installments of ₹60,000 each to build a pucca house in rural areas.
“For three years the people of West Bengal have been deprived. In these three years, the Centre sent at least 69 teams. We had replied to all their queries and provided all documents. But despite that, funds were not released,” she added.
Earlier the Centre provided 60% of the funds under the PMAY while the state shared 40%. But massive allegations related to nepotism and financial irregularities surfaced in 2022 following which the Union government stopped releasing funds to the state. This prompted the state government to launch Banglar Bari with its own funds.
In October this year protests broke out again in various districts over allegations of corruption and nepotism when the state government was preparing the list of beneficiaries for the Banglar Bari scheme.
There were protests in Purulia, West Burdwan, Hooghly, South 24 Parganas and Birbhum. Villagers staged demonstrations outside BDO and panchayat offices alleging that names of deserving beneficiaries were being dropped to include those having close links with local Trinamool Congress leaders.
“The chief minister ordered a re-verification. More than 27,000 teams conducted a survey of 3.5 million families and came up with a draft list. Thereafter a final list of 2.8 million beneficiaries was prepared,” said an officer.
The next state assembly elections are scheduled to be held in 2026. In the 2024 Lok Sabha polls the BJP had stepped up attack against the TMC-government over corruption in government schemes while the TMC had hit back alleging that the BJP-led Centre was depriving the state by stopping central funds.
