Ineligible beneficiaries weeded out

The Rajiv Gandhi Rural Housing Corporation has identified 84,852 ineligible beneficiaries in Basava, Indira and Vajpayee housing schemes for the poor, a move that has resulted in saving Rs 609 crore to the State Exchequer.

The Corporation has weeded out ineligible beneficiaries based on four parameters. The savings, by way of withdrawn subsidies, will be channelled back to provide amenities to eligible beneficiaries. As per the Corporation guidelines, beneficiaries cannot utilise more than the subsidy of Rs 1.2 lakh for constructing houses, they cannot utilise the amount for renovation or repair of existing houses and constructed houses cannot be utilised for non-residential purposes.

All beneficiaries should have proper sanction letter for constructing houses. It was found that as many as 9,704 ‘beneficiaries’ had spent Rs six to Rs 20 lakh to construct houses. It was felt that these beneficiaries, who could spend such a huge amount, cannot be considered poor.  Another 21,000 beneficiaries were found to have already owned houses, 845 had utilised their houses for non-residential purposes, 47,224 failed to submit proper documents and 6,079 had submitted old documents.