Panaji, Sep 20 (IANS): The Goa Governor on Sunday gave approval to the state government's decision to end a house building allowance scheme for government servants and lawmakers, drawing criticism from the opposition Congress.

The BJP-led coalition government's decision also disallows any recourse to persons, who have already availed of the scheme, to appeal against the government order.

"With Governor Bhagat Singh Koshyari approving the government's decision with a diktat to ban any challenging in any court of law is against the democratic rights of the citizens and a complete injustice to hardworking employees," Leader of Opposition Digambar Kamat said in a statement.

In June, Chief Minister Pramod Sawant, as part of an austerity drive, had announced that the scheme would no longer offer loan subsidy component to government servants and MLAs, which sparked anger among government employees who subsequently appealed to then Governor Satya Pal Malik for relief.

Under the scheme, the beneficiaries could avail of loans up to Rs 36 lakh towards construction of houses at subsidised rate of interest. Around 5,000 government servants had availed of the scheme, for which they would now have to pay interest on home loans at regular bank rates.