India
While the couple had nowhere else to go, they were forced to stay in their relative's bathroom in the same locality in Tumakuru, Karnataka.
Tumakuru: Kotagudda gram panchayat officials informed a couple that they were allotted a house under the scheme of BR Ambedkar Niwas Yojana and asked them to demolish and rebuild the home.
Obalappa (55) along with his wife Lakshminarasamma (45) from Karnataka's Tumakuru had to live in a relative's bathroom after a delay in the allocation of a house to them by the state government. Earlier, the couple lived in a mud house in Kadapalakere village in Tumakuru’s Pavagada sub-division.
In 2017, the Kotagudda gram panchayat had informed the couple that they had been allotted a house under the BR Ambedkar Niwas Yojana. They were asked to demolish their home, which was in a bad condition and lay a foundation for the new one. While the couple had nowhere else to go, they were forced to stay in their relative's bathroom in the same locality, The Hindu reported.
The couple requested help from friends and family for loans to begin laying the foundation for their new home. Once the foundation was laid, the officials inspected it and even issued a work order in January this year. A total of Rs 1.64 lakh had been sanctioned to the couple to build, which was to be given to them in three instalments. However, the couple has not received the promised amount.
Despite requesting the gram panchayat and Pavagada sub division office, no notable action has been taken by the officials in this regard.
“It’s like living in hell in this 4x4-foot bathroom. I am sick, and I cannot sleep here properly,” Obalappa told The Hindu.
Lakshminarasamma is an agricultural labourer, who struggles to support her sick husband. When there is no work, she relies on her son, who is a produce vendor in Bengaluru, to help them.
The couple is now left without a home again and is living in another relative's front yard, after authorities, who inspected their living condition, threatened to issue a notice to the owner of the house where the couple lived in the bathroom.
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