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A recent audit by the Comptroller and Auditor General of India has pointed out irregularities in the implementation of the Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana-Gramin in Bihar. The report, tabled in the state Assembly in the past week, found that houses were sanctioned to ineligible beneficiaries, including minors whose parents were alive, and that several units were wrongly geo-tagged at distant locations, even outside the state. The findings raise concerns over beneficiary verification, monitoring systems, and fund utilisation under the rural housing scheme.
The Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) of India has identified multiple irregularities in the implementation of the Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana-Gramin (PMAY-G) in Bihar. The findings were presented in a report tabled in the state Assembly in the past week. The audit reviewed selected districts and examined whether beneficiary selection, fund release and monitoring were carried out as per guidelines. Advertisement
PMAY-G, launched in 2016, aims to provide financial assistance to rural households living in kutcha or dilapidated houses so they can build pucca homes with basic facilities. The scheme provides central financial support, which is shared between the Centre and the states. Proper identification of eligible beneficiaries through the Socio-Economic Caste Census data and Gram Sabha verification is a key requirement under the scheme guidelines.
The audit found that this verification process was not followed properly in several cases. Houses were sanctioned in the names of minors even though their parents were alive. As per guidelines, minors can be considered beneficiaries only under specific conditions, generally when they do not have living parents or legal guardians eligible for assistance. However, in the cases examined, these conditions were not met. Funds amounting to INR 2.50 lakh were released to two such ineligible minor beneficiaries.
In addition to beneficiary irregularities, the report highlighted serious issues in geo-tagging. Under PMAY-G, houses are required to be geo-tagged at different stages of construction to ensure transparency and real-time monitoring. The audit found that in 52 cases, houses were geo-tagged at locations far from their actual sites within Bihar. In three other cases, houses were geo-tagged outside the state, including locations in Delhi and Jharkhand, at distances of up to 915 kilometres from the recorded beneficiary village. These discrepancies indicate weaknesses in data validation and supervision at the field level.
The CAG noted that incorrect geo-tagging affects the reliability of the monitoring system and raises concerns about whether physical verification was properly conducted before releasing instalments. Since fund disbursement under PMAY-G is linked to construction stages captured through geo-tagged photographs, such errors can compromise accountability.
The rural housing scheme has been a major welfare programme aimed at improving housing conditions in villages and reducing homelessness. Bihar has been among the states with a high allocation under the scheme due to its large rural population. Previous reviews at the national level have also stressed the need for stronger monitoring mechanisms and accurate beneficiary data to prevent leakages.
The latest audit observations add to concerns about implementation gaps at the state level. The report has pointed out the need for stricter scrutiny of beneficiary selection, better validation of geo-tagged data, and stronger oversight to ensure that assistance reaches genuinely eligible rural households.
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