The state government reduced housing targets for the poor due to lack of funds.
Life has been a bit too harsh on 50-year-old Kalavati Bisne at Mangli Dewahada village in Vidarbha's Bhandara district in Maharashtra. Speech and hearing impaired, she has no one to look after her, forcing her to work as a daily wager to survive. This year, she lost her dilapidated house in the floods.
To add insult to injury, her name has now featured in the list of the Below Poverty Line or BPL families who will not get the benefits of Indira Aawas Yojna, the Centre's flagship housing scheme, this year.
Another daily wager, Sudhakar Agashe, 55, resident of neighbouring Karkapur village brought his old house down hoping to get Rs 70,000 that the government gives under the scheme. After being in the wait list for eight years, he was informed by the village Sarpanch of being selected as a beneficiary this year. The Sarpanch asked him to pull down the old house because if the foundation pits were dug up in time, he would get a cheque of Rs 25,000 towards the first installment.
His family now lives in a rented accommodation, while Sudhakar spends most of his time trying in vain for a loan to rebuild his house.
Even after agreements were finalised, the Maharashtra government in May revised the list of beneficiaries cutting it down by 53,000. For Bhandara district, the number came down from 2374 to just 448.
When contacted, Arun Dube, the Chief Executive Officer of Bhandara Zila Parishad, admits that revising the list of beneficiaries of Indira Awas Yojna has hit his district hard. "The central government, is the major contributor to the scheme and upon its directives, the targets were revised," he says.
Today, Kalavati Bisne has no other place to light lamps but the ruins of the dilapidated structure that used to be her home. Hira Punde, her neighbor, says the villagers are planning to collect money to help her repair the house.
For those below poverty line in Maharashtra, who brought their old houses down hoping to build new ones this year, life continues to be uncertain as the world around them celebrates Diwali.