Sitapur villager sells goats for family dignity, bags a bounty
LUCKNOW: Jabbar Shah, a Sitapur villager who sold all his seven goats to build a toilet for his family, especially the womenfolk, is now a happy man twice over.
Thanks to a bit of attention and politics that his act triggered, Jabbar again has seven goats besides Rs 12,000 from the administration for the toilet. He is also on the list of potential beneficiaries for a house under the Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojna and will get a ration card, too.
“I was ashamed that womenfolk of my family had to still go to the fields to answer nature’s call despite the rising awareness against open defecation. I had sought help from the village pradhan and some district officers but did not get any help. Eventually, I sold off all my seven goats for Rs 15,000 and constructed a toilet a fortnight ago,” said 55-year-old Jabbar of Navada village in Laharpur tehsil of Sitapur district.
The goats were not only a source of livelihood for Jabbar but also provided milk to children of the house. But, this daily wage labourer had to sell them off. Jabbar, on an average, earns just Rs 100 to Rs 150 per day as labourer.
But now Jabbar now has a ‘pucka’ (concrete) toilet and a ‘kachcha’ house (of mud and thatch). His family comprises a married daughter, son-in-law, one minor granddaughter and two minor grandsons. His wife is no more.
While the plaster on the newly-constructed toilet was still fresh, someone posted his ‘toilet story’ on social media.
On getting to know about the goat story, Samajwadi Party chief Akhilesh Yadav asked party MLC Anand Bhadauria to buy seven goats and give them to Jabbar.
“We found the goat story true. We (SP leaders and workers in the area) bought seven goats, which are bigger and better than what Jabbar had, for Rs 22,000 and gave them to him on Saturday,” said Bhadauria.
That was not all. The next day, the local media published the story that sent the administration into a tizzy. The block development officer (BDO), Laharpur, Rabia Begum reached the village with all paperwork ready to hand over government benefits to Jabbar.
Begum said: “Jabbar is
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I was ashamed that womenfolk of my family had to still go to the fields to answer nature’s call despite the rising awareness against open defecation
JABBAR
extremely poor. He doesn’t have a ‘pucca’ house and is landless. Sanction for his toilet has come and Rs 12,000, the sanctioned amount, has been transferred to his account. He will also get a house under PM Yojna and ration card too.”
Meanwhile, Bhadauria flayed the administration for the delayed action. He said: “The government action was taken, perhaps, to save it embarrassment. That is why they have given the sanction through a back-dated letter, dated a day before we helped the family. The question is that if the government is doing so much talking on ODF, then why did Jabbar not get a toilet in his house under the government scheme.”
Whatever the politics, Jabbar and his family have never had this better so far.