Bengal: PMAY Stopped, Thousands of Families in Jangal Mahal Left in Lurch

The temperature has already crossed 40 degrees Celsius. Within a few days, the formidable Kalbaishakhi Jhor (storm with thunder) will begin, posing a threat to thousands of poor and marginalised families living in dilapidated houses in the remote villages of Bankura, Purulia, and Jhargram districts of Bengal’s Jangal Mahal areas.

These marginalised families face the risk of losing their roofs and experiencing wall collapses, leading to potential fatalities, which tragically occur every year. The Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana (PMAY) housing project has been inactive for three years, and the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MGNREGA) work has also been halted for an extended period in West Bengal. Both are Centrally-sponsored schemes.

A large number of impoverished people in the area lack the financial means to afford even the most basic repairs of their houses, which can lead to catastrophic events when the Kalbaishakhi Jhor hits the state.

All three members of Parliament (MPs) from these areas belong to the Bharatiya Janata Party that is in power at the Centre (BJP), while most members of the legislative Assembly of Bengal and panchayat samiti (elected block development authority) are from the ruling Trinamool Congress (TMC). But, despite repeated requests for housing, no satisfactory responses have been received since the PMAY project halted, say local residents.

House conditions of Badulara village Bauripara of Bankura 1 Block, Bankura.

All the Central and state ruling party leaders and elected members are doing is engaging in blame games, leaving the people without any answers. Numerous protests and deputations have been made to the panchayats, block levels, and even district magistrates concerned by the Communist Party of India (Marxist), demanding construction of concrete houses under the PAMY project, but no action has been taken by the administration.

“At present, the administration is more focused on (Lok Sabha) election campaign. While BJP and TMC are busy showcasing the comprehensive development supposedly carried out in these areas by Modiji (Prime Minister Narendra Modi) from the Central government and Mamata Banerjee (Chief Minister) from Bengal. However, we do not see any tangible development,” Budhon Sardar from Rudra at Ranibandh in Bankura district and Katipada Hansda from Belpahari, Jhargram district told this writer. Sardar’s wife, Nirmala, expressed concern over the imminent destruction of their houses during the Kalbaishakhi Jhor.

The absence of school buildings in every village compounds the challenges, forcing destitute families to seek shelter in temporary tents pitched in the open air, exposing them to the threat of venomous snakes and insects. People die from snake bites every year during this time, and expectant mothers endure indescribable pain, said the two local residents The administration provides some dry food, but there is a shortage of drinking water. “Is this the development we desire? Thousands of people are literally suffering from homelessness”, yhey added.

Who Got PMAY Houses? Who Didn’t

After the 2011 Census, the Economic Survey began the following year. During this survey, government employees were accompanied by activists of TMC, which had recently come to power in the state. According to the ruling party's directives, the names of beneficiaries of the houses were registered.

“While conducting this economic survey, the financial and housing conditions of particular individuals should have been documented. Points were determined based on this information. According to PMAY rules, families without a minimum income or adequate housing should be included in the project. (Under PMAY, a beneficiary is given Rs 1 lakh 47,000 to build a room with a verandah/balcony) and a mandatory toilet. The roof of the concrete room is covered with asbestos sheets.  However, we were compelled to register the names instructed by local TMC activists. Even if individuals had financial stability or existing concrete houses, their names were identified as beneficiaries in this scheme,” a panchayat officer of Raotora gram panchayat under Raniband Block Bankura, told this writer on the condition of anonymity.

Madhuri Das of Kochkhali village under Onda Block is forced to cook and stay in this place.

Furthermore, after conducting the Economic Survey, government officials registered the names of genuine recipients, but due to political reasons, those names were arbitrarily removed from the list by the ruling TMC-led panchayat, he alleged.

For example, Bijoy Das, a poor farm labourer from Sindurpur village under the Ranibandh Block, Bankura, was listed in PMAY but allegedly his name was removed by the Rajakata gram panchayat. Das has since passed away, leaving his wife, Hiramoni, and son, Amal, in a dilapidated house with no job or income. The son has now migrated to Bengaluru as a labourer, leaving Hiramoni alone, who is barely surviving.

“I took the list and showed it to the Rajakata gram panchayat pradhan and Ranibandh Block Development Officer to highlight how my husband's name was crossed out with a stroke of a pen,” Hiramoni told this writer. She said there was no response from the pradhan or the BDO as to why her husband’s name was omitted, suspecting that it was deliberate because the family did not support the TMC. “At any moment, I could die in this house,” she said tearfully.

Jamuna and Maya Shabar of Kodolboni village in Shimulpal gram panchayat under Belpahari Block, Jhargram district, expressed similar concerns. They said despite living among 36 families in this forested area, not one of them had received a PMAY house.

Home conditions of Maya Shabar  at Kodolboni village under Belpahari Block of Jhargram district.

“We have visited the gram panchayat office and the Belpahari block office several times, but we have been ignored,” said Maya Shabar. It is a fact that not a single house is suitable for living in this area.

Aakuri Bauri, a labourer and widow, from Hansdima village in Saturi block of Purulia district, said she received approval for a house under the PMAY scheme, and began constructing an 8/6 feet house with a loan, but was not paid after building the wall.  She alleged that someone misappropriated her house-building funds. Bauri now lives with her three children, under torn tents, expressing her uncertainty about where to stay and how to repay the loan.

It  has been widely reported in the media that thousands of families in Purulia, Bankura, and Jhargram districts are spending their days in agony, with many of them not receiving the money they were supposed to get for constructing houses under PMAY.

Despite applying several times for a house under PMAY, 40-year-old widow Reshma Bibi of Punisol village under Onda Block of Bankura district has not got a house in six years. Her house in the Keshabpur area of the village was destroyed during the Kalbaishakhi Jhor a few years ago.

Reshma Bibi lives with her three minor children in the dense forest area of Punisol , Bankura

“Several times I went to the Punisol gram panchayat office and the gram panchayat pradhan's home to submit an application for a house, but the pradhan did not even accept my application. In this situation, I was forced to live 8 kilometres away with my three children in a hut that I built by collecting local materials, like soil and tree branches in the middle of the forest near the Natungram forest office,” Reshma Bibi told this writer.

This forest is so dense that people are afraid to enter during daylight, and not a single cattle graze there. Reshma Bibi collects tree leaves and branches to sell from village to village, barely subsisting. She and her children spend their days surviving on half-diet. Every year, for the past six years, her hut collapses during storms and rains.

In such a situation, too, she has not received any help from the panchayat. “How long can I live like this? Don't I have the right to get a house from the panchayat?” she asked.

She said two years ago, the Onda Block Development Officer Shubhankar Bhattacharya had promised to arrange a house for Reshma Bibi, but there has been no progress till date.

In 2018, after the completion of the PMAY project's first phase, a survey called Awas Plus was conducted, requiring still pictures of the condition of housed. The survey was conducted by civic volunteers and panchayat staff and monitored by TMC activists. Allegedly, political loyalty was given priority even here. Despite this, several genuine recipients were registered, but people from different parts of Bengal complain about housing corruption in the first phase.

When a Central audit team visited in 2021, they found multiple irregularities regarding the PMAY housing project. “When we showed the first phase houses to the Central team, we were embarrassed. Many economically well-off families, who already owned concrete houses, received houses under the project, some even built cow sheds under this project. They took advantage of this opportunity merely to show loyalty to the state ruling party,” was the common refrain of several staff from Sonamukhi, Raipur, Sarenga, Barjora, and Onda in Bankura district, as well as Manbazar, Joypur, and Jhalda Blocks in Purulia, and Lodhasuly,Belpahari and Gopiballabhpur in Jhargram district.

Dhak Shilpi (drum musician) Dhiren Badyakar forced to live in this dilapidated house, as he did not get PMAY project.

After the investigation revealed corruption, the Central government ceased funds allocation for PMAY in West Bengal. But local people question why no complaints have been filed against the culprits to take legal action.

According to official data, 2,24,072 families in Bankura, 2,50,917 in Purulia, and 99,326 families in Jhargram were registered in the Awas Plus survey. A large portion of them still live in vulnerable conditions, deprived of assistance for two years.

BJP leader Subhas Sarkar, MP from Bankura and Union State Education Minister, stated that the Central government stopped funding this project due to corruption. On the other hand, TMC leader, Ranibandh MLA and Bengal Food Minister Joytsna Mandi claimed that PMAY was stopped due to a “unilateral decision” by the Union government.

The government officials concerned of the three districts did not want to comment on this matter.

“The fact is that poor, homeless families are the victims of this political debate between the two ruling parties,” said Ujjal Sarkar, state leader of the West Bengal Migrant Workers Union. He said many youths had migrated as workers from these three districts in Jangal Mahal, leaving their parents, spouses, and children at behind in dilapidated houses. Despite being aware of this, why are the governments and the panchayats silent?

The writer covers the Jangal Mahal region for ‘Ganashakti’ newspaper in West Bengal