Modi PMAY Prithviraj Chavan Nationalist Congress Party Dhananjay Munde On October 19, Prime Minister Narendrawill be at Shirdi to do an ‘e-grihapravesh’ for 40,000 beneficiaries of the Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana (), the scheme for affordable housing, in the state. This has sent the government machinery in five districts into a tizzy to locate, coax and transport the beneficiaries to the event. Show of numbers being critical in the run-up to the elections, huge pressure has been mounted that every beneficiary should be in attendance, with the state government allocating Rs 2 crore and setting targets for its officers to identify and escort the beneficiaries to the event.The officers have been given a budget of Rs 500 to spend on transport, meals and petty expenses of each beneficiary. Around 800 state transport buses will be pressed into transporting these people to the venue. The state’s rural development department has issued written orders to its officers in Pune, Nashik, Aurangabad, Ahmednagar and Beed to take the onus upon themselves for finding these beneficiaries and ensuring that they attend the programme.This apart, staying true to the Bharatiya Janata Party’s (BJP) fancy for a publicity blitzkrieg, the government is pitching Rs 100 per banner to adorn every bus carrying the beneficiaries. Another unwritten instruction asks the officers to shoot videos of the beneficiaries ahead of the Shirdi show, in which the new home-owners should be seen praising Modi and his government for helping them build their residences.With such a push, officers are compelled to prioritise the task set for the event, over all other duties, as they are petrified that it will be difficult to meet the target set by the government. As per the order, Pune will have to send out 2,000 beneficiaries, Nashik will have to locate 20,000 of them, Ahmednagar 12,000, Aurangabad 4,000 and another 2,000 from Beed. Officers, on condition of anonymity, confided that these numbers are proving to be a huge challenge, as not as many have qualified and also, some are not willing to leave during Dussehra. While Pune’s target is 2,000, only 850 qualified for the scheme this year. Now the officials have decided to cart beneficiaries from the previous year to beef up the numbers and meet their target.Some officials confide that this is the first time the government machinery is being deployed to garner crowds and actively ensure that a function is successful. “Tasked to organise huge numbers of people, all our other work is on hold, as we focus on this exercise,” informed a district administration official, on condition of anonymity.However, people in charge of putting together the show seem clueless about disgruntle at the grassroots. Speaking to Mirror, the state’s training coordinator for the programme, Sanghratna Sonawane said, “We invited beneficiaries from this year and targets have been set accordingly. The initiative has been taken up in keeping with state government orders. I am not aware of any trepidation about meeting targets. In fact, we’ve achieved the targets and it will be reflected in the programme.”Similarly, finding nothing amiss in the manner in which the whole buildup to the PM’s Shirdi engagement is being orchestrated, the minister of state for rural development, Dada Bhuse, noted, “All the beneficiaries have been invited. Some of their homes were completed last month, while others are in the final phase of completion. This is a routine process and we’ve achieved the target set. The programme is symbolic and we have received funds from the Centre to ensure people attend the event.”He has the support of bureaucrats helming district administrations. “I am glad that the government is officially organising the transport to help beneficiaries attend the event. I’m not sure if this was done before, but it’s a good move. We’ve booked the state transport buses and having the list of beneficiaries, approaching them was no challenge,” vouched Suraj Mandhare, Pune zilla parishad (ZP) CEO.Rahul Dwivedi, district collector of Ahmednagar, whose team has to locate 12,000 beneficiaries, seemed equally unfazed. “We are in the process of identifying the beneficiaries. All of them will be sent to Shirdi. This kind of programme has been organised in Gujarat, as well. The idea is that the beneficiaries get an opportunity to interact with the PM.” Amol Yedge, CEO of Beed ZP informed, “We are sending 1,000 beneficiaries from this year, of the 2,000 target set for us. The remaining will be garnered from the previous years. We’ve almost completed 75 per cent of the target, since the scheme got rolling.”Predictably, the move has raised many an eyebrow in the opposition. “Modi is desperate to prove that his popularity has sustained. To establish this and also the traction of his schemes, he needs to mobilise the entire government machinery to bring in the crowds. While this number game is played out, the government is yet to declare the total number of beneficiaries and homes built under the scheme,” pointed out former Congress chief minister,Equally scathing, leader of the opposition and(NCP) MLC,, hit out, “None of the government schemes are reaching the target group. So now they’ve opted for false promotion of the schemes, with elections approaching. In fact, Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana, is just the old Indira Awas Yojana combined with a few other schemes and rechristened. Its implementation has been such that they are having to search for beneficiaries now. Instead of painting such fake pictures of success, the government could do better with more earnest implementation. Also given the drought situation, why are government funds being expended on such propaganda?”

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