Angul: In the absence of housing facility, Saibani Nayak, a septuagenarian of Patakumunda village under Chhendipada block in Angul district, has made a toilet her home.
The 75-year-old had no issues and she lost her husband about 15 years back. She had a thatched house where she managed to survive with whatever she got from neighbours. Meanwhile, she got Rs 12,000 from the Centre under the Swachh Bharat Mission in 2014 and constructed a toilet at her backyard, oblivious of the fact that the tiny room would someday be her only shelter. One day, her thatched house suffered irreparable damage by gusty winds during a monsoon rain and Saibani was left with the toilet.
Since then, she has been living in the toilet. As the space was inadequate to live, she removed the toilet pan and filled it with soil to make space for her belongings. She cooks inside the toilet and went out to relive herself. On being informed by a local representative, the administration now gives her 5 kg of rice and Rs 300 a month. Though it is inadequate to manage a month, she has hardly any option.
“After my husband’s death I was staying inside the shanty. But that too was snatched away by the nature. I started living inside the toilet as repairing the thatched house was beyond my reach,” Saibani said, narrating her plight. She expects the government to offer her assistance to build a small concrete house.
Additional district magistrate Srinibas Behera said housing units can be provided to the destitute from the district mineral foundation (DMF) funds as Chhendipada is a mining-hit region. Block officials would be asked to submit a report on which steps would be taken to grant the woman a house under DMF or other housing schemes of the government, Behera added. PNN
