Around 11 married women, native to Uttar Pradesh, reportedly ran away with their lovers after they received the Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana (PMAY) money. The scheme helps poor and lower middle-class families build permanent houses. The issue came to light after a man, Sanjay, reported that his wife, Suniya, was missing after she received the first tranche of Rs 40,000 of the scheme. Preliminary investigation by the Block Development Officer revealed that Suniya had eloped with an unknown person, taking the Rs 40,000 installment recently released by the government.
Around 2,350 beneficiaries received the instalment under the PMAY scheme in the Maharajganj district recently. Subsequently, 10 other similar cases came to light, where husbands reported their wives to be missing. Suniya's father-in-law requested the government to transfer the remaining two instalments to his son Sanjay's account. "The money was sent to our daughter-in-law's account, and we later found out she had run away with a boy. We demand the government send the money to my son's account," he said.
Condemning the misuse of the scheme, Maharajganj District Magistrate Anunay Jha said, "It has come to notice that the first instalment of the Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana was misused by 11 women who did not use it for building houses. The concerned department has been directed to take legal action against the beneficiaries and recover the funds. "Under the Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana scheme, poor and middle-class families receive assistance from the government to build a permanent home. The government provides around Rs 2.5 lakh for building the houses. The funds are allotted depending on the financial conditions of the families.