Alot: Dalit man accuses admin of depriving him of PMAY benefit

Alot (Madhya Pradesh): A Dalit person from Alot village of Ratlam district has accused the local administration of helping influential people to deprive him of getting the benefit of Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana (PMAY) and encroaching on his land.

Complainant Kaniram, son of Dhanna Harijan, a resident from Ram Singh Darbar Idgah Road claimed that despite him getting approval to construct a house on the patta (which he got earlier) under the PMAY, one Rahul Oswal from Jaora town stopped his construction levelling false accusation on him.

Kaniram, who is earning his livelihood by selling firewood in the village claimed that after getting a patta from the state government, he constructed a shanty on it. Thanks to Prime Minister Narendra Modi, he has got approval to construct a house on this land under the PMAY. He even got the payment for construction in his bank account. However, when he started the construction, Rahul Oswal objected and lodged a complaint with the sub-divisional officer (revenue) Manisha Waskale and the chief municipal officer Chandrashekhar Soni. Following this, the local administration stopped the construction.

Kaniram claimed that Rahul is developing a colony. He accused me of erecting a shanty on government land, but the fact is that Rahul himself has encroached on government land and the colony which he is developing is illegal, Kaniram added.

Kaniram said, after he stopped construction, I approached the district collectorís office and tabled my grievances. Over this the district collector directed the CMO to get the above work started, however, despite this, my construction work is not being done.

When contacted SDO (revenue) Waskale admitted that the work was stopped by the administration after the coloniser applied for demarcation of land and no work will be allowed till the demarcation is done. Meanwhile, an attempt to contact CMO Soni failed as he was not available in his office.