"Housing for all", a promise that every poor family will one day have a permanent roof over its head. But across large parts of Madhya Pradesh, that promise has collapsed into years of waiting, unfinished buildings, unpaid refunds and a growing trail of allegations pointing towards negligence, favouritism and corruption.
From Katni to Bhopal to Satna, projects meant for the poor increasingly resemble profit-driven ventures for contractors and middlemen, leaving beneficiaries trapped between loan instalments, rising rents and broken assurances.
In Katni's Jhinjhari area, what looks like a modern housing complex tells a very different story on the ground. The project, sanctioned in 2017 under the Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana (Urban), was meant to build 1,512 houses at a cost of Rs 105 crore, 792 for the Economically Weaker Section and the rest for Low Income Group and the Middle Income Group categories.
Eight years later, hundreds of beneficiaries are still without homes or refunds, despite having deposited Rs 20,000 each under the scheme.
Rani Ben, one such beneficiary, said her family has been "running from office to office for seven years" without result.
"There is no house, no refund. At the municipal corporation, no one listens. They only say it will happen. Will the poor just remain like this forever?" she asked.
Another beneficiary, Mamta Ben, said, "We deposited Rs 20,000. We are poor people. How long can we keep wandering? No one listens to us."
Even local representatives acknowledge the problem.
Local councillor Tulsa Ben confirmed that deposits were taken in 2019 but houses have not been handed over.
What appears as a delay on surface, has, however, drawn deeper scrutiny.
The Jhinjhari project is now under the scanner over allegations of irregularities in land valuation, tendering and payments. According to official records, the municipal corporation paid the original contractor an additional Rs 7 crore in 2021, after which the company stopped work and abandoned the site. A government inquiry later identified a recovery of Rs 43 lakh from the firm, which remains unpaid.
Satyendra Dhakare, the then Municipal Commissioner, said in December 2022 that "the work has been stopped for almost a year, and an investigation is underway. It has been reported that an overpayment of Rs 7 crore was made, and we have issued a notice asking the contractor to deposit that amount."
In 2025, a new contract worth Rs 26 crore was awarded not to a fresh independent firm, but to a partner company of the original contractor, which had earlier received the Rs 117-crore contract in 2018. The complaint alleges that land worth over Rs 100 crore, located near the highway, was deliberately undervalued, and that a new tender was floated without formally cancelling the old one. The reserve price was fixed at Rs 25.77 crore, and the winning bid came in at Rs 25.78 crore a difference of just Rs 1.01 lakh, or 0.0039 per cent, raising questions about whether competition was artificially restricted.
There are also allegations that confidential tender documents were leaked before the bidding process, effectively eliminating genuine competition and paving the way for a preferred bidder.
The matter, involving alleged conflict of interest, violation of tender norms and bias in issuing the Letter of Intent, is now pending before the Economic Offences Wing.
Katni Municipal Commissioner Tapasya Parihar said the administration is examining the complaint. "We have received a complaint and are investigating it. An investigation report will be prepared and sent.
Preliminary examination suggests procedures were followed, but if any other issues emerge, they will be included and sent to the Directorate," she said.
The company, however, denies all allegations.
Raj Srivastava, CEO of Assotech Windsor, said the accusations were "baseless."
"We signed the project with the Katni Municipal Corporation under the PPP model. The project has been stalled for six years and we are now working on completing it. Our group has 30 years of experience across seven states. Saying we lack experience or that there is wrongdoing is incorrect. We are fixing a stalled project and providing good homes and facilities," he said.
The pattern is not confined to Katni.
In Bhopal, several PMAY projects remain incomplete even six years after being sanctioned, although possession was promised within two years. Beneficiaries are now burdened with paying both rent and loan instalments, often without even basic amenities at the project sites.
Rinki Nanda, a beneficiary in Bhopal, said her family took a loan because they could not afford a lump sum payment.
"Sometimes we cannot pay the EMI and then penalties are added. We are paying school fees, loan instalments and rent at the same time. There is no proper water or electricity where we were told to shift. My husband has started driving for Rapido to manage expenses," she said.
Another beneficiary, Nitesh Vyas, said, "We opted for the scheme trusting the Prime Minister's name. Three years later, we still don't have possession or legal rights over the house."
In rural areas, the distortions appear even starker.
In Akona village of Satna district, government records list even thatched huts as 'pucca' houses, while families owning tractors and land are listed as beneficiaries. The poorest households remain excluded. Kitchens without gas connections fill with smoke, and families continue to live in fragile shelters even as official data shows them as "housed."
Villager Rajesh Kewat said,"My name was there, then it was removed, and no money came. The poor don't get it, the better-off people do."
Another villager, Rajkumar Kewat, said his name has been on the list for years, "but nothing moves."
This is not Satna's first brush with irregularities under the housing scheme.
Earlier investigations found houses sanctioned in the names of dead persons, funds credited and then withdrawn without homes being built, and even toilet construction money being siphoned off, pointing towards a systemic failure rather than isolated lapses.
The Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana was conceived as a transformative welfare scheme to provide dignity, security and stability to the poorest citizens. But on the ground, its implementation in parts of Madhya Pradesh points to a different reality.
