50 TN officers booked in PM housing scam

THE Directorate of Vigilance and Anti-Corruption (DVAC) has booked cases against 50 officials of the rural development and panchayati raj department on the charge of misappropriating funds in the implementation of Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana (PMAY-G), a central housing scheme for rural poor, in Tamil Nadu between 2016 and 2020.

-  SIDDHARTH PRABHAKAR

Under the scheme, each beneficiary is eligible to receive ₹2,77,290 in cash, material and manpower. While 62% of the money is sanctioned by the state government, the union government funds the rest. Hundreds of poor beneficiaries across the state may have been hit by the multi-crore scam, sources said pletely or to beneficiaries who already had own houses and are ineligible under the scheme. A few people, who are unrelated to the scheme, had also received lakhs of rupees, sources said. Four of these seven cases were booked in the last six months.