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There are two distinct features about houses in Ghatigaon, a village that lies 75 km from the Gwalior city in Madhya Pradesh.
Firstly, locals, most of them belonging to Scheduled Tribe, live in kuccha houses made of mud with thatched roofs.
Secondly, those who do have pucca houses, built under the Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana, have them without roofs, with their walls and floors yet to be plastered.
Residents of Ghatigaon claim that every time an installment under the Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana was credited to their account, as instructed by local authorities, they would withdraw the money and hand it over to the Sarpanch and Panchayat Secretary.
As a result, it’s been a year since the construction began, but for Ghatigaon residents, the wait for a pucca house is far from over.
“All those who were allotted houses were called in by the Sarpanch, Panchayat Secretary and Prabhari. We were all asked to sign on a file. They said, ‘Give us the money (installment for house), we will complete the house and give it to you with the lock.’”Kalyan Singh Adiwasi, Resident, Ghatigaon
Kalyan, a daily wage labourer, had hoped that with the completion of house under the Awas Yojana, his family would be saved from the effort of replacing the wooden logs and polythene sheet of the roof during rainy seasons.
Kalyan’s wife, Sangeeta, is saddened by the fact that they would have to rebuild the roof of their kuccha house yet again.
“We are facing lot of difficulty. Only those who live here know what it’s like to live in a kuccha house. During monsoons, we change the thatched roof, which takes two to three months, even a year.”Sangeeta, Kalyan Singh’s wife
The erstwhile Indira Awas Yojana was rechristened as the Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana by the BJP-led government at the Centre. The newly-branded scheme was launched by the government in November 2016 with an aim to provide houses to all the poor by 2022.
Ghatigaon is a classic example of the scheme’s failure on the ground with beneficiaries forced to live in kuccha houses despite having a pucca house in their name.
For Ram Snehi, a daily wage labourer, an incomplete house under the Awas Yojana is coming at too costly a price. She has to pay a monthly rent of Rs 100 for the one-room kuccha house close to the plot where an incomplete house stands today.
She even filed a complaint at the office of district collector twice and attended the Jan Sunwais (public hearings), which is an initiative of the MP government to resolve local complaints. Nothing happened.
Ram Snehi continues to live in a house where there are no doors and a wooden frame made of bushes and twigs is used to close the entrance.
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When asked, if she’s happy with the work done by the government, Ram Snehi nods her head in disapproval.
Another local, Anita, who is also among those with an incomplete house, says that she will vote for the hand this time around. Her husband chips in on the question of voting choice as he comments, ‘Is taraf toh panje ki lahar chal rhi hai (this side it’s the wave of the hand)‘.
Angoori’s house was declared completed with officials first announcing the same on the wall only to retract later when she complained that roof is yet to be laid.
Sitting outside her house, with the label announcing ‘completion’ now hidden with streaks of blue paint after officials realised their folly, she says, ‘Will vote for that one who will give us completed houses’.
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