Group sniffs scam in PM's housing scheme

The Anti-Corruption Youth Power (ACYP), Assam alleged that the Prime Minister Awas Yojana-Urban, a central government housing scheme, has failed totally in the state with not a single house being completed. The organisation alleged the scheme was started in Assam only in 2017 while it was rolled out in other states of the country in 2015. Of the 55,634 applicants selected, only 1,445 were given the first instalment, ranging from Rs 35,000 to Rs 65,000. ACYP president Dharmakanta Gogoi said, "The central scheme has failed completely in the state and it is in cold storage now. The office is defunct, the post of mission director is lying vacant and the employees have not been paid since December, 2017. The scheme had four components and only the beneficiary-led construction scheme is being implemented in Assam. He also slammed the state government for not paying attention to the implementation of the scheme while it has been saying that it would safeguard the people, land and home of the people in the state. A CBI inquiry has been demanded.