Kolkata, Jan 28 (IANS): National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) has sent a letter to West Bengal chief secretary H. K. Dwivedi seeking clarifications on several allegations received by the commission regarding irregularities in the implementation of Prime Minister Awas Yojana (PMAY) in the state.

In the letter, the commission has sought explanations in the matter within the next two weeks.

The NHRC has sent the letter to the state chief secretary based on the complaints received from an independent human rights activist Sangita Chakraborty, who had updated the commission about 500 complaints that names are not being enrolled as beneficiaries under the scheme unless the applicants have association or links with a particular political party.

She claimed that this is the second time that the commission had forwarded the notice to the state government seeking clarifications in the matter since the commission was not satisfied with the earlier reply given by the state government in the matter.

In the last couple of months, a number of central field inspection teams from the Union Ministry of Rural Development have conducted inspections on the implementation of the PMAY schemes in the state.

Meanwhile, the state government has communicated to the Union government that the deadline to complete the construction of 11 lakh houses under PMAY will not be met unless the pending Central dues on this count are cleared.

In the communique, the state government has claimed that it has kept its share of expenditure of Rs 4,800 crore under the scheme and is ready to spend the same on this count as soon as the state gets the Central share Rs 13,000 crore on this count.