UP: Even after 3 years of application, elderly farmer did not get PM Samman Nidhi, was deprived of housing scheme and Ujjwala scheme

In 2019, all the people of the village applied for PM Kisan Samman Nidhi Yojana. The elderly farmer had not even received the benefits of the PM Awas Yojana and had no choice but to live in a tiled-roof shack. Being still excluded from the Ujjwala scheme, they have to cook on a Chulha.

UP/Sonbhadra— Some people are still waiting to receive the benefits of the several schemes for farmers and villages started under the name of the country's Prime Minister. Farmers and villagers are remained excluded from these schemes because pradhan, block, and tehsil officials keep putting them off. Exactly such a case has now come to the fore from Sonbhadra in UP. Even after applying to the scheme, a poor farmer has not received the benefits offered by PM Samman Nidhi Yojana. The farmer has also not received the benefits under the Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana and the Ujjwala Yojana, due to which the wife of the elderly farmer has no option but to cook food on a chulha[earthen cooking hearth].

The farmer had applied for the Samman Nidhi Yojana in 2019, and he had been declared as eligible under the scheme. However, he has still not seen the benefits of this scheme. The elderly farmer is still making visits after visits to the block and tehsil offices so that he can start receiving the scheme's benefits.

What is the whole matter about?

The village of Mahukhar in the Ghoraval block of Sonbhadra district, UP, is spread over about 600 bighas of land. There are about 40 houses in the village, in which about 200 people live. Elderly farmer Ram Chandra Maurya (70) also lives in this village with his family. Ram Chandra has two sons.

Both sons are married and live separately with their families. Whereas Ram Chandra lives with his wife Tapesari (58). Even today, Ram Chandra lives in a kutcha house [shack]. The makeshift roof of the house is 'decorated' with some broken tiles, and rests on earthen walls. These walls also appear very dilapidated, as if they will collapse any day. As a support for the house and to shelter themselves from the rain and the sun, Ram Chandra has propped up a plastic tarpaulin on a bamboo stick. This is the house in which Ram Chandra is spending the remaining days of his life with his wife. He has about two and a half bighas of land, on which he and the families of his two sons somehow manage to survive.

As yet no benefits received from PM Kisan Samman Nidhi Yojana

The PM Kisan Nidhi Yojana was started by Narendra Modi, the Prime Minister of the country. Under this scheme, every farmer is given Rs.6,000 per year by the union government as a form of pension. For this, Rs.2,000 are deposited every four months directly into the farmer's bank account. To take advantage of this, Ram Chandra also applied to the scheme in 2019 along with all the villagers. Ram Chandra explains, "On 7 October 2019, my name appeared in the Kisan Samman Nidhi. I was declared eligible for this scheme, but three years have passed since, and to date, not even a single paisa has been sent to my account. But several other people and relatives in the village have been receiving this money on a regular basis."

Ram Chandra further says that he has visited tehsil and block [offices] hundreds of times so that he can start receiving the benefits of this scheme, but no one is paying any attention. Every time he is sent back saying that the file is stuck in Lucknow.

No benefits received from PM Awaas Yojna either

Pointing to his dilapidated mud house, Ram Chandra says, "Look brother, I'm having to pass my days with great difficulty. Many people in the village have been allocated to the colony, but till today, I have not been allocated anything."

Describing further his difficulties, Ram Chandra says, "My name has been put forward many times for the colony, but I have not been assigned one. The roof starts leaking during the rainy season. To stop the mud floor from turning into sludge, I have to put a bucket and pans [to catch the dripping rain]. When it rains heavily, water also enters inside the house."

Still excluded from Ujjwala scheme as well

Ram Chandra says, "My wife still cooks food on a Chulha. During the rainy season, the wood becomes wet, and because of which it becomes difficult to cook. I applied for gas underUjjwala, but I have not received anything. When my eldest son Mulayam Maurya was married, his wife received the benefits of the Ujjwala gas, but his family now lives separately."

12 of 40 houses in the village assigned to the colony

Guddu Yadav, the head of the village, says that there are a total of 40 houses in Mahukhar village. Four of these houses were already pucca [brick and mortar] houses. About another 12 families have been assigned the colony. But the houses belonging to many other villagers living here, including Prahlad, Ram Chandra Maurya, Tej Bali, Nav Chandra Dhari, and Datharu, are still Katchha [mud] houses. A list has been sent to the block to help these families get assigned to a colony. The villagers are having to face problems because of delays on the part of the block officials in investigating the matter.

What the responsible officials say?

The District Magistrate ofSonbhadra, Chandra Vijay, told The Mooknayak, "An investigation will be carried out regarding the matter. Those who have not been given the benefits of these schemes will be contacted to resolve their issues."

यहाँ हिन्दी में भी पढ़ें: आवेदन के 3 साल बाद भी बुजुर्ग किसान को नहीं मिला पीएम सम्मान निधि, आवास योजना और उज्ज्वला योजना से भी वंचित

[Story Translated By Lotika Singha]