The government Thursday said the survey carried by the Comtech, a consultancy hired by the State government’s Housing and Urban Development Department, was authentic meant for providing houses to the homeless and not profiling of the people or tracking their bank accounts.

Deputy Commissioner Srinagar, Farooq Ahmad Lone told Rising Kashmir that the survey carried by the Comtech, a consultancy hired by the Housing and Urban Development Department, Jammu Kashmir Housing Board, Srinagar and Jammu, was meant for implementing a beneficial scheme of Government of India, Housing for All by 2022.

The GoI under the Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana (PMAY) has identified 305 cities and towns across nine states for starting construction of houses for urban poor and 19 cities and towns of Jammu Kashmir have also be chosen for this scheme.

The surveyors have been dropping at the doorsteps of the people in many areas of Srinagar and Budgam for the past few days with two-page elaborate questionnaires seeking sensitive information including bank account numbers, phone numbers, and adhaar card numbers, creating apprehensions among them.

Talking to Rising Kashmir, DC Budgam, Mir Altaf Ahmad said the areas in which the questionnaires were being distributed among the people in the central Kashmir’s Budgam district fall under the Srinagar Municipal Corporation (SMC) limits.

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“Later, this data would be used to implement a GoI scheme, Housing for All by 2022, wherein houseless people who have their land and want to construct houses would be provided assistance,” the SMC Commissioner said. “The scheme will also benefit the people who do not even have land to build a house.”