Post News Network
Kaptipada, August 23: Despite the Union government providing lakhs of housing units under the Indira Awas Yojana (IAY) to poor and disadvantaged people, scores of landless families in Mahuladiha panchayat under this block in Mayurbhanj district are deprived of this benefit.
The landless families, including Dibiri Nayak and Sukanti Bhitiria, have been running from pillar to post, but nobody pays heed to their pleas.
“We are tired of repeatedly apprising the collector, sub-collector, BDO, tehsildar, revenue supervisor and revenue inspector of our plight,” Dibiri and Sukanti lamented.
“I have run short of my energy from running here and there in this old age. Besides, I have no money to pay for travel to government offices. My efforts have gone waste,” bemoaned Dibiri. She said she had earlier built a house on a patch of government land, but it was pulled down in 2010. Now, the two families have been residing in polythene-sheet covered shanties.
Elaborating on their other problems, Dibiri said, “We are poor, illiterate and have no land or resources. In the absence of homestead land pattas we cannot produce residential and caste certificates for availing government benefits.” As a result, her family has remained neglected while her children are deprived of education, she added. After their houses were demolished, the families had brought the problem to the notice of then Kaptipada sub-collector, who had directed then tehsildar to look into their matter.
An inquiry was to be done in this regard April 14, 2010. The RI had assured that after the inquiry, the families will be provided homestead land under the Basundhara Yojana. However, as there was a delay in the process, the families again approached the tehsildar. November 4, 2010, their lease cases were disposed of with an order to provide four decimal of land each to Dibiri and Sukanti.
Both were given land belonging to khata no.137 and plot no.319. However, five years have passed since then, but they are not provided pattas. When they visit the tehsil office, they are misbehaved with, they alleged.
In the absence of homestead land patta, they are not eligible to get housing units under IAY. After they intimated the matter to the tehsildar, the latter issued a letter to the BDO asking him to consider the cases June 21, 2014 and issue work orders in their names under IAY.
However, the block administration refused to issue work orders on the basis of the tehsildar’s letter, Dibiri and Sukanti alleged.
Tehsildar Manjulata Mallick said she was well aware of the matter and would look into what can be done for the families.