BHUBANESWAR: Panchayatiraj Minister Raghunath Mohanty on Saturday told the Assembly that the government sought clarifications from the Planning Commission before finalising the revised list of families living below poverty line (BPL).

Replying to the issue of BPL list revision, Mr. Mohanty said that a letter to the Planning Commission seeking clarifications was sent on May 22 this year.

Only after the response was received from the commission that the government would finalise the revised BPL list of 2002, the Minister informed.

The BPL list would be revised every five years. Surveys were carried out in 1992 and 1997 based on the income and expenditure of the families. However, in 2002 the survey was conducted by taking as many as 13 socio-economic indicators into account, Mr. Mohanty said.

Earlier, Opposition legislators rushed to the well and disrupted the proceedings by blaming the Biju Janata Dal-Bharatiya Janata Party alliance government for its "failure" to finalise the BPL list.

They termed the government's "inaction" as unfortunate and demanded that the BPL list for 2002 be finalised at the earliest to help thousands of poor families in getting various benefits.

Apart from availing themselves subsidy on various essential commodities, the poor families included in the BPL list would also become eligible for Indira Awas Yojana house, the Opposition said.

The Minister said that at present the government was identifying beneficiaries under the IAY housing scheme by preparing a five-yearly list of permanent BPL families on the basis of the 1997 list.

For the current financial year also, the government received Central assistance and accordingly district Collectors had been informed about the target, Mr. Mohanty said.

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