BERHAMPUR: Even after five years of cyclone Phailin that left a trail of destruction in south Odisha, several affected people in Jagannathprasad block of Ganjam district are yet to get housing benefits. These poor families are forced to live in dilapidated thatched houses amid allegations that genuine beneficiaries are not being covered by welfare programmes. Their miserable condition goes unnoticed even by the administration and people’s representatives in the area. A case in point is Tapasi Naik, a poor woman of Khairajhola village in Alasu panchayat of the block, who has been running from pillar to post to get a house under Government schemes.
Losing all her hopes, the woman is now planning to leave her homestead land and migrate to eke out a living.Tapasi was living in a two-roomed thatched house with her husband and three children. But cyclonic storm Phailin destroyed her house in 2013. Finding no assistance, the family shifted to Bhubaneswar for work. Later, they returned to their village and repaired the house with their small earnings. However, she failed to complete the repair work after her husband fell ill.
Tapasi alleged that after the cyclone, the district administration had conducted a survey for assistance, but to no avail.“During the last five years, I have knocked the doors of authorities starting from Gram Sevak and Sarpanch to block officials. But no step has been taken to include my name in the beneficiary list of housing schemes like Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana (PMAY), Biju Pucca Ghar Yojana and Indira Awas Yojana,” she said.Panchayat Extension Officer Ranjit Kumar Panda said, “no allotment for construction of pucca houses was received by the panchayat.”