Odisha man makes a Swachh toilet his home
A homeless tribal family in Odisha’s mineral-rich Keonjhar district has been living inside a toilet built under Swachh Bharat Abhiyan in the absence of a pucca house.
Daktar Naik, a tribal in Bhuyansahi of Ichinda village of the district was living inside the toilet which was built by state-run Odisha Mining Corporation a few months ago, the Odia daily Sambad reported Sunday.
Hours after his family’s condition was first reported by the Odia daily, officials said the family had been moved to a proper house.
“He would be staying in the quarter till the construction of his house by OMC is over,” said the Keonjhar district collector. HT, too, carried a story on the condition of the Naik family on its website.
Photographs showed Naik sitting near the toilet door, while another shows his baby girl Nisha next to the toilet pan. Several sacks of grains were stacked over each other next to the baby.
None of the 40 tribal families of the village who belong to the BPL category have been given houses under the Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana (or its earlier version of Indira Awas Yojana). Even the District Mineral Foundation formed under the Mines and Minerals (Development and Regulation) Amendment Act, 2015 for development of the tribals in mineral-bearing areas have not been able to improve their lot. Mineralrich states like Odisha can receive around ₹800 crore annually in DMF as mandatory contribution from mining companies.
Though a daily labourer like Daktar Naik and his family live under tattered polythenes or in someone’s dilapidated house, in rainy days things become difficult for him. Naik told the newspaper that since last few months he has been sleeping inside the toilet with his family.
His wife Nandini cooks outside the toilet. The family goes out to nearest forest for defecation.
In 2009, Keonjhar district came into focus over the unbridled theft of minerals like iron ore and manganese by allegedly by existing leaseholders in violation of a host of mining laws. The Justice MB Shah Commission which later probed the ₹59,000-odd crore scam said that if the value of the iron ore and manganese mined in Sundargarh and Keonjhar districts for one year were given to the tribal families of the two districts, each of the tribals would be richer by ₹9.43 lakh.