Widow threatens self-immolation on I-Day

Yavatmal: Finding herself perennially on the wait-list of beneficiaries for allotment of a house under government’s Gharkul scheme, a widow from Wai (Rui) village in the district has threatened self-immolation on the Independence Day.
Talking to TOI, Sumitra Shankar Bansod claimed she was enlisted as a Gharkul scheme beneficiary in 2002. However, nothing has changed for her since then even after 20 years. The 50-year-old woman, who stays with her 75-year-old mother in a dilapidated hut, belongs to Bhoi community.
In a letter to collector Amol Yedge, Bansod has alleged that gram panchayat office-bearers take bribe and allot dwellings under the scheme to even those who already own a house or landed property. Fed up of the bureaucratic delays and corrupt practices, the widow has threatened to commit self-immolation along with her mother in her hut.
Despite a below poverty line (BPL) card holder, Bansod claimed she was denied free ration for the last four years.
Bansod has urged the collector to order a probe into the red-tapism and rampant corruption prevailing in the allotment of Gharkul scheme dwellings. “We are not sure of getting justice. One of the gram sevaks has even dared her to lodge complaint against him saying no action would be taken,” she said.