UP orders probe into irregularities in PM housing scheme

Lucknow, Oct 31 (IANS) The Uttar Pradesh government has ordered a probe into the works undertaken in 16 districts of the state under the Prime Minister's rural housing scheme and MNREGA, an official said on Tuesday.

The investigation would be conducted by Rural Development Commissioner Parthasarthi Sen Sharma based on complaints received by the state government.

Local officials have been asked to certify the work done so far. Orders have also been issued to ensure that the probe is completed by November 13 and a report is sent to the state government.

Minister of State (Rural Development) Mahendra Singh informed that the department is flooded with complaints of gross irregularities in central government aided schemes during the previous governments.

"We want to know complete details of job cards, employment day, physical verification of quality of work done."

The state has also received serious complaints of fake allotments of houses to rural and urban poor and hence verification of the beneficiaries was being done.

The districts where the investigation will take place include Sultanpur, Gonda, Sitapur, Hardoi, Ambedkarnagar, Rae Bareli, Unnao, Basti, Fatehpur, Ghazipur, Kushinagar, Kheri, Allahabad, Kanpur rural, Mirzapur and Azamgarh.

The Rural Development Commissioner has asked all officials to extend cooperation in the probe and ensure that the report is submitted to the state government within the set deadline.

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