BARIPADA: The death of seven persons including five children in separate incidents of wall collapse after the flood in the Mayurbhanj district has brought to the fore vulnerability of the poor and underprivileged who, despite being eligible, have been left out of Central and State government schemes.
Sources said such incidents could have been avoided had the district administration conducted a proper survey and allotted houses to genuine beneficiaries. It is alleged that while the poor are yet to get concrete houses, several ineligible people have been extended the benefits of Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana (PMAY) and Biju Pucca Ghar Yojana in the district.
Several beneficiaries who had approached the authorities concerned and have their own land too have been deprived of the benefits of the housing schemes.
In such circumstances, many people are forced to live in thatched houses which often fall to natural calamities. Makudi Singh and his wife Soma from Govindachandrapur near Similipal National Park in Shyamakhunta block live under tarpaulin sheets.
Similarly, Chandamoni Singh of the village lives in a thatched house. Gurubari Singh of the area said she has not been able to avail of a concrete house under any government scheme as of now. She said several people in Kuchilaghati gram panchayat are yet to get the benefit.
This apart, several people from Mankadia and Khadia communities residing in Patpura village in Bijatala block on the border with Jharkhand are yet to get concrete houses. Programme officer of District Rural Housing department Kanyakumari Mishra said as per reports, under PMAY, construction of as many as 1,90,428 houses has been completed in the district.
Around 22,269 houses under the scheme are in different stages of construction. Similarly, 11,478 houses have been constructed under Biju Pucca Ghar Yojana in the district while 732 are in various stages of construction. Under Nirman Shramik Pucca Ghar Yojana, 2,632 houses of 2,922 have been completed and 290 are being constructed.
Mishra said as per the rural housing status report, as many as 1,64,513 houses are required under various housing schemes for the beneficiaries across 26 blocks of the district. Betnoti block requires the highest 10,048 houses followed by Karanjia (9,148), Kaptipada (9,146), Morada (8,096) and Jashipur (8,752). The officer further said the houses under the schemes were provided based on the 2010-11 Socio-Economic Caste Census (SECC).
Sheltering the poor