Herald: Goa: Monday, March 30, 2015.
In a sharp attack on the Tribal Welfare Department (TWD), a resident from Canacona taluka has accused the department of extending financial assistance under Atal Asra Yojna for illegally constructed houses in Gaondongrim-Canacona.
In a letter, Ramkrishna G Dessai stated that TWD had sanctioned 195 cases of repairs to houses and 8 cases of reconstruction of houses in Gaondongrem.
“As per condition No 4 of your department to sanction the financial assistance, an NOC of landowner or ownership documents is a must…While giving sanction to repair the houses under Atal Asra Yojna Scheme, you yourself have violated condition No 4, thereby giving scope for illegalities and helped in committing irregularities,” alleged Dessai, who claimed to have obtained details under the RTI Act.
Dessai, who claims to be a component of the Comunidade of Gaondongrim, insisted that the Comunidade of Gaondongrim had not issued any NOC to provide financial assistance under the scheme to the illegal constructions at Karvem-Gaondongrim or other properties owned by the comunidade.
Dessai then went on to allege that the TWD’s sanction was “under undue political pressure.”
He also claimed that one house had been divided into two houses with two house numbers, to get double benefits to one and the same family.
“Most of the cases are bogus and beneficiaries have not utilized the assistance for the purpose it has been obtained (no houses are repaired),” said Dessai.
Dessai further alleged that 75 per cent of the eight cases of reconstruction and 195 cases of house repairs were bogus cases and demanded an inquiry into the misuse of public funds.
“If the financial assistance given to the beneficiaries is not in tune with the law, it should be recovered with interest,” he insisted.
When contacted, Tribal Welfare Minister Ramesh Tawadkar denied any illegality in grants provided under Atal Asra Yojna in Gaondongrim or anywhere else.
According to Tawadkar, applications are approved as per the prevailing guidelines and procedures of the scheme.
When informed about specific points raised by the complainant, Tawadkar said, “Ancestral houses do not need any NOCs from landowners under the scheme. BDOs are the nodal officers who scrutinize every aspect of the applicant and in certain issues the scheme being financial assistance to weaker section can be granted minus any documents.”
“Even if it’s a one family house, but if there is a partition within the family, both families in the household are separately eligible under the scheme,” Tawadkar stated on the allegation of one house had been divided into two houses with two house numbers to get double benefits to one and same family.
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