Off BPL list, Nurpur man struggles to get due benefits

Rajiv Mahajan

Nurpur, December 14

For the last two years, 23-year-old Meghnath, who belongs to the Gaddi community, has been running from pillar to post to get his name included in the panchayat’s BPL list.

He is a resident of Ward No. 4, Gagwal gram panchayat, in Indora development block of Kangra district.Notwithstanding his poor living conditions, Meghnath’s name was deleted from the BPL list two years ago and since then he has been making futile efforts to get due benefits.

His father had died in a road accident 15 years ago. Meghnath works as a labourer and has been living along with his wife and a younger brother in a kutcha house, which is on the verge of collapse. Being the sole breadwinner, he spent his entire savings on the weddings of his two elder sisters a few years ago and couldn’t build his house.

His wife Anju Devi said they had been approaching the local gram panchayat for the last two years and pleading their case for the construction of a house under the Prime Minister or Chief Minister Awas Yojana. However, the authorities had only been giving hollow assurances.

“Our names were deleted from the panchayat’s BPL list and entered in the APL list, thus depriving us of all benefits. The panchayat has included the names of some well-off and undeserving persons, who already have pucca houses, in the IRDP and BPL lists,” she alleged.

She said they had not been extended the benefit of free cooking gas connection distributed by the government under the state-sponsored Grihini Suvidha Yojana.

Gram panchayat pradhan Kavita Devi could not be contacted for her comment.

Randhir Singh Bablu, up-pradhan of the panchayat, however, admitted that the family was entitled to a house under government-sponsored schemes.