E-Paper
LDA babus leave 400 Ashrayaheen!
LUCKNOW DEVELOPMENT Authority?s Jankipuram housing scheme is proving to be a can of worms. Already reeling under the ripples created by the suspension of its 14 officials, the department has been hit by yet another scam. The only difference this time round is that those at the receiving end of the devious ways of the development agency are poor and underprivileged sections of society, who have been taken for a ride for a roof over their heads.
LUCKNOW DEVELOPMENT Authority’s Jankipuram housing scheme is proving to be a can of worms. Already reeling under the ripples created by the suspension of its 14 officials, the department has been hit by yet another scam. The only difference this time round is that those at the receiving end of the devious ways of the development agency are poor and underprivileged sections of society, who have been taken for a ride for a roof over their heads.
The lid was blown off the property racket after the authorities ordered an inquiry following a barrage of complaints from the allottees stating that the house allotted to them under Ashrayheen Yojana belonged to someone else. The word soon reached the mandarins in the housing department. But, an inquiry in the matter was already underway when special secretary GP Mishra wrote to LDA Vice Chairman BB Singh on January 31, seeking a detailed report within 15 days.
It is different matter that none of these officials had anticipated such a scandalous outcome.
Instances abound in which one single-room unit was allotted to as many as five persons! Sounds unbelievable? Sample this. House number 1/64 in Sector J of Jankipuram housing scheme on Sitapur Road was first allotted to Kalika Prasad on January 29, 2002. Thereafter by March 7, 2003, the same house was again allotted to Usha, Shyam Misra, Pratibha and Asha Gupta by officers’ in-charge of the scheme without following any laid down procedure or caring to crosscheck whether the property in question was vacant.
Obviously, some of these thick-skinned unscrupulous babus, suspended several times over in reaping such frauds and again got reinstated, were more interested in counting the moolah than to care for such nittygritty. Hence, for every Usha, who lives in house number 1/64, there are at least four other claimants for the property. Today, hundreds of such Pratibhas, Ashas and Mishras continue to run from pillar to post in search of that elusive dwelling that was simultaniously allotted to them. Take another example. Dildar occupies house number 1/69 in the scheme. He was allotted this house on August 4, 2004. But between January 29, 2002 and August 2004, this same house was allotted to one Ramnath Yadav, Maya Devi, SC Yadav and Ankit Kumar, who armed with their respective allotment letter, are knocking at the doors of the officers to gain possession of the only piece of property they own.
“We have scrutinized property records of 1149 Ashrayheen/LIG houses in the scheme so far. Our findings reveal that there are at least 400 people, who have been fraudulently allotted an already allotted property by babus looking after the scheme,” said an LDA officer supervising the probe. He said only 642 out of these 1,149 houses were allotted through a lottery draw and the remaining 507 properties were allotted directly.
“Five lottery draws for 527 applicants and 115 people (read encroachers) dislodged from Gaushala and Raidas Mandir were held between July 31, 2002 and April 29, 2003,” he added. Though the probe report is ready, its findings for reasons best known to LDA bosses are still being kept under wraps.
