Two Bihar Revenue Officials Suspended Over Mishandling of Housing Scheme for Landless Families
Patna: The Bihar government has suspended two senior officials from the Revenue and Land Reforms Department for alleged negligence and misinformation in implementing Abhiyan Basera 2.0, a key welfare scheme aimed at providing residential land to landless families.
The suspensions followed a state-level review meeting held in Patna on May 8, chaired by Revenue and Land Reforms Minister Sanjay Saraogi, where discrepancies in field reports submitted by local officials came to light.
Nikhil, Circle Officer (CO) of Bagha-2 in West Champaran, was found to have declared 1,709 out of 1,912 surveyed homeless families ineligible without conducting independent verification. Many of the rejections—some involving applicants from Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes—were based solely on revenue employee reports, despite inconsistencies. The department concluded that the CO failed in his duty to investigate and verify these cases properly.
Similarly, Nagendra Kumar, Revenue Officer (RO) of Jagdishpur Zone in Bhagalpur, had marked 689 out of 764 applications as ineligible, citing urban classification. However, departmental records showed the applicants were from rural areas, raising questions about the accuracy and intent of the report.
The review found that both officers displayed negligence and a lack of sensitivity toward the intended beneficiaries of the scheme. They were accused of misleading the department and undermining a significant government initiative for the homeless.
Minister Saraogi stated that indifference toward the deprived would not be tolerated, warning, “The harshest punishment will be given for insensitivity towards the poor.”
The Additional Chief Secretary has directed all District Magistrates to ensure that rejected applications are re-examined by senior officials and that residential land is promptly allotted to eligible families.
