Months before the West Bengal Assembly election, the Mamata Banerjee government has launched the second phase of the Banglar Bari housing scheme project.

The scheme, the first phase of which was launched in December 2024, aims at providing pucca houses to another 16 lakh families.

The launch comes three days after the state government released a new Standard Operating Procedure (SOP) for the second phase of the project.

Announced in 2024 — two years after the Centre stopped funding the Pradhan Mantri Awaas Yojana-Gramin scheme – the housing scheme aims at giving financial assistance of Rs 1.20 lakh for construction of a house with a minimum area limit of 25 square feet.

Under the first phase, 12 lakh families were given assistance of Rs 1.20 lakh in two instalments to build houses.

For verification of beneficiaries, the SOP, released on September 15, emphasises door-to-door checks by “superior officials at block, sub-division and district levels in every Gram Panchayat”, with at least one team per gram panchayat.

These officials include “Special Posting Officers, Dy Magistrates, BDOs/Jt BDOs, PDOs, PAAOs, APOs, Extension Officers, Revenue Officers, Engineers of P&RD” and others, who will conduct a “transparent” re-verification process supported by government staff from Gram Panchayats, Line departments and Block offices.

The SOP states that these teams will be held accountable for “errors or negligence”, and “disciplinary action will be initiated in case of lapses”.

Grievances “must be addressed within five working days,” it states, anticipating that complaints may be filed through petitions, the state government’s grievance redressal Sorasori Mukhyamantri and PGRS platforms, emails, complaint boxes, control rooms, or media.

In order to minimise corruption, control rooms with 5-6 staff in BDO, SDO, and DM offices will be set up to contact beneficiaries before and after verification.

The SOP states: “The house shall be constructed by the beneficiary with or without additional contribution from his/her own resources. Provision of basic amenities such as toilets, electricity, drinking water, and linkage with Anandadhara shall be ensured through convergence with various schemes”.

To be eligible, beneficiaries must be on the waiting list prepared after field verification in FY 2024-25, subject to another round of reassessment. Applicants must not already own a pucca house and should not fall under exclusion categories such as ownership of motorised/agricultural vehicles, a household with government employees, a household running registered non-agricultural enterprises, an income above Rs 15,000/month or paying income/professional tax, the ownership of 2.5 acres or more irrigated land or 5 acres or more unirrigated land, and families who have already benefited from any housing scheme.

“Teams shall collect the household list from the BDO office and re-verify eligibility at the household level. All re-verification shall be conducted using the designated mobile application. Documents such as Aadhaar, Bank/Post Office account details, and mobile numbers shall be re-verified… Verification shall be video recorded. Two photographs (including geo-referenced images of the existing house and proposed site) shall be uploaded. The District Administration shall ensure necessary publicity, logistics and law & order support,” the SOP reads.