Karnal, Aug. 2 -- Sixteen persons, including five Haryana government officials, have been booked by the state vigilance and anti-corruption bureau (ACB) in an alleged scam worth Rs.31.40 crore, where financial assistance to repair houses was allegedly given to ineligible beneficiaries through agents, flaunting government norms, officials said on Saturday. According to the ACB, former and current district welfare officers (DWO) in Ambala, two former tehsil welfare officers, a deputy superintendent at the DWO's office, nine agents and two ineligible beneficiaries have been booked under relevant sections of the Prevention of Corruption Act and Indian Penal Code (IPC) on Thursday. According to the first information report (FIR) registered on a complaint by inspector Rajesh Kumar, a copy of which HT has, the officials and agents, in collusion, misused their official positions for misappropriation of funds meant for the poor families. In the FIR, the ACB claimed that they received complaints alleging that between 2018-19 and 2021-22, the state government had released grants for the repair of houses and roofs to the scheduled caste (SC) and below poverty line (BPL) families under the Dr BR Ambedkar Awas Navinikaran Yojana. "It was alleged that the department officials and the agents got grants sanctioned for such ineligible applicants and collected nearly half of the amount. In some cases, grants were sanctioned to two or three members of the same family living under the same roof," the FIR read. The ACB said that during the course of investigation, 59 applications were examined and only four were found to be eligible. Statements of the applicants also revealed that they applied for the welfare scheme through agents. "It was found that grants of over Rs.17 crore were released to 3,922 beneficiaries during the period. At least 55 ineligible beneficiaries received grants ranging between Rs.50,000 to Rs.80,000. Six of the beneficiaries also received the grants twice within a year," the FIR said. The ACB said that after the credit of the financial assistance, 50% of them was collected back through agents....