Srinagar, Sep 28 (KNO): The Jammu and Kashmir government has said that no eligible household or individual has been deliberately and officially rejected or deleted from the Awaas+ database under the Pradhan Mantri Awaas Yojana-Gramin (PMAY-G), while 42,540 system-flagged cases have been recommended for deletion after verification at the Block and District levels.
The issue was raised by Kangan MLA Mian Mehar Ali through a question seeking details about the rejection or deletion of deserving and eligible households during the Awaas+ 2024 survey and subsequent scrutiny and verification process under PMAY-G 2.0.
In its reply, the Department of Rural Development and Panchayati Raj, as reported by the news agency—Kashmir News Observer (KNO), said that PMAY-G aims to provide pucca houses with basic amenities to eligible rural houseless households and households living in kutcha and dilapidated houses, in accordance with the prescribed guidelines of the Government of India.
The government said no eligible household or individual has been deliberately and officially rejected or deleted from the Awaas+ database at this stage. However, it said some deserving households have reported not appearing in the draft Permanent Wait List (PWL), apparently due to the automated scrutiny and validation and eligibility checks undertaken through the prescribed system.
Since the final PWL has not yet been generated, the department said, non-inclusion of a household in the draft PWL cannot, at this stage, be treated as a final rejection or deletion from the PMAY-G beneficiary selection process.
Regarding complaints about eligible households being excluded due to technical or system-generated flags or errors in the Awaas+ mobile application, the government said such complaints have been received at various levels.
On the grounds and criteria adopted for rejection or deletion from the Awaas+ database, the government said no eligible household or individual has been deliberately and officially rejected or deleted. However, cases flagged or reverted by the automated system are subject to verification or re-verification by the concerned field functionaries as per the prescribed procedure.
It said no case can be stated to have been finally rejected or deleted without verification and approval by the competent authority, wherever required.
“However, 42540 No of system flagged cases have been recommended for deletion after verification at Block as well as District Level during the deletion module,” the government said, adding that the guidelines in this regard were conveyed by the Ministry of Rural Development (MoRD), Government of India.
On the mechanism to ensure that genuine and deserving households are not wrongly rejected or deleted and are given an opportunity for re-verification and inclusion, the government said no prescribed provision or procedure is presently available for direct incorporation or re-inclusion of left-out/deleted beneficiaries in the PMAY-G beneficiary list.
However, with a view to identifying genuine and deserving households that may have been left out during the survey or re-verification process, Gram Sabhas have been conducted in the concerned Panchayats based on the identification and verification of such cases, on the basis of which the draft PWL is being prepared.
The government further said that all such cases identified or recommended by the Gram Sabha shall be examined and processed further in accordance with the applicable guidelines and instructions of the MoRD, Government of India, and the procedure prescribed by the competent authority, as and when such provision or procedure is made available.
The reply was furnished by the Minister-in-Charge, Rural Development and Panchayati Raj—(KNO)