Unnao (Uttar Pradesh): A toilet in Uttar Pradesh's Unnaao district has been turned into a kitchen, exposing all the tall claims of the government over the Swachh Bharat Mission (cleanliness campaign).
A kitchen in a toilet! As unreal it may sound but for Mahdeyi -- a widow who works as a daily labourer, native of Bhikaripur village in the Ganj Muradabad block, this is a reality.
This village is also a mirror to the ground reality of the much-hyped Swachh Bharat Mission.
Mahdeyi has changed her toilet into a kitchen because she did not get a house under the Pradhan Mantri Aawaas Yojna and had no money to construct kitchen.
As of now, this helpless widow is forced to live under a makeshift hut with her five-year-old granddaughter.
To save the food from stray animals she has made the kitchen inside the toilet. Whenever she is away, she locks the toilet for the safety of food.
She alleges that the Gram Pradhan (village head) is asking for money to get the house under the scheme, an accusation which the pradhan denies forthrightly.
It is the irony of Government schemes, that to complete the targets, the officials made a toilet in the house of a woman who actually doesn’t have a house.
And now the woman is forced to live in the toilet. Needless to say that the toilet is not serving its original purpose.
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Nowhere to go for the woman
Mahdeyi's husband Rohan had succumbed to illness eight years ago.
Her only support was her son, but unfortunately, he also passed away two years back owing to illness.
She is now forced to earn her daily bread by working as a daily labourer.
No vote made the village Pradhan upset
Mahdeyi tells that she has approached the village Pradhan several times but she has been deliberately kept away from all the government schemes.
The villagers say that the Pradhan is upset with her because her son voted for a rival candidate during the elections for the village head.
The area Block Development Officer (BDO) has said that an inquiry will be carried on in this case.
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