Polasara: A poverty-stricken family comprising eight members lives a destitute life at Deulapali village near Khanduru square under Polasara block. A toilet is what they call their ‘home’.
A pucca house under any government scheme has been a distant dream for them. Satyaban Pradhan along with his elderly mother Saria, wife Sulata, son Prashant, daughter-inlaw and three granddaughters has been living in Deulapali village for last couple of years.
While his wife Sulata and son Prashant are physically challenged, his mother is visually impaired. As if this was not enough, Satyaban got his leg fractured in an accident two years ago.
Having no roof over their heads, Satyaban has been running from pillar to post to get a pucca house under awas yojana.
“Over the years, we have met people’s representatives, sarpanch, MLA and administrative officers, requesting them to get us a pucca house under any housing scheme but to no avail,” complained Satyaban and Sulata.
When contacted, Kalamb sarpanch Prashant Kumar Pradhan said earlier the sarpanch had power to award a pucca house to a genuine beneficiary. A sarpanch is no longer enjoying this power.
“Besides, his name was not in the list of the Phailin cyclone-affected villagers. His name is also not in the Nirman Shramik Pucca Ghar Yojana (NSPGY) list either. This is why I am not in a position to help him,” he said, adding that he has discussed this with the block development officer and will take the matter up with the District Collector.
In this regard, Polasara BDO Suranjan Sahu said the beneficiary lives in Polasara mouza. So he can’t be included in the awas yojana by the panchayat. “I have discussed with the Polasara NAC executive officer.
After converting the address of the beneficiary in his identity card, he will be included in urban area awas yojana,” he added.
“If the family is staying in a toilet in Polasara mouza, how did they get work order for the toilet under Swachh Bharat Yojana from Kalamb panchayat,” he further added.
In the locality, it has been discussed that as the news of a family living in a toilet removing its pan has come to the fore, the block administration is now passing the buck to the NAC administration.
Local residents urged the block administration to see how a genuine beneficiary should get a house at the earliest.
PNN
