NABARANGPUR: Toilets, constructed under Swachh Bharat Abhiyan, turning into homes for the homeless seems to be becoming a new normal in Odisha. Across many parts of the State, poor people deprived of houses under different schemes of both Central and State Governments are making toilets their homes. Sixty-year-old Kamal Harijan of Nuagad village under Nandahandi block of the district is one among them. Two 3 ft x 6 ft toilets are what Kamal and his family of four are calling their home for over a year now.
A rickshaw-puller by profession, Kamal’s thatched house in the village collapsed in the rain last year. Since then, he along with his 55-year-old wife Sulu, 28-year-old son Ram and two grandsons, eight-year-old Kishan and six-year-old Rishan, have been living inside the Individual House-Hold Latrines (IHHLs).
The two toilets had been constructed last year after funds were released under the Swachh Bharat Abhiyan in his and son’s favour. But he is yet to get any help for repairing the damaged thatched house let alone any assistance from the Government housing schemes.
The pans have been filled with sand to make a square floor. While his son and grandsons sleep inside the toilets, Kamal and his wife sleep in the damaged house by the side of the IHHLs, the roof of which has been covered with a polythene sheet to protect them from sun, rains and cold.
Kamal pulls rickshaw in the Nabarangpur town and his wife and son work as daily labourers. The family is not covered under any poverty alleviation scheme. Kamal is not aware if the land on which he built his thatched house belongs to the Government or is a private land.
After his house was damaged, Kamal approached several Government officials and elected representatives for help but none paid heed. Being landless, he had no other option but to stay in the damaged house. The family cooks its food in the open. Kamal is not the lone case. Even after seven decades of Independence, there are many poverty-stricken homeless people like him in the district, who are struggling to find a roof over their heads.