Villagers from Jewar, Jhajhar, Dadri and Muradnagar accuse their pradhans of creating hassle and blocking their access in availing subsidies. They claim that pradhans along with their associates take advantage of the schemes implemented by government due to which the beneficiaries are not able to reap any benefits.
A local resident from Dadri who didn’t want to be named said, “It is no surprise that the pradhan takes advantage of the people. He manipulates us and doesn’t even care if we receive any subsidy.”
Manoj Sharma, a driver in Muradnagar said that the government is entrusting the pradhan with money but he is hardly working towards village welfare. “He is the one responsible for the villagers and if he does not work towards that, an entire village and its people suffer,” he added.
Villagers have claimed that schemes implemented by government have failed to reach their homes, despite them filling all the favourable forms required to get access.
Although the schemes such as Pradhan Mantri Ujjwala Yojana (PMUY), Pradhan Mantri Jan Dhan Yojana (PMJDY), Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana (PMAY) among others are in place, few people have claimed that they are unaware of the qualifications required to get the subsidies. The schemes are mainly viable to Below Poverty Line (BPL) households. However, people get confused and apply for the schemes due to which families that are supposed to get the subsidies, fail to receive it.
Speaking to The Sunday Guardian, a few farmers from Jhajhar in Uttar Pradesh, said, “We haven’t received any gas subsidy. There were a few people who came and filled the forms for the yojana but that was 7-8 months back and we have still not received any information whatsoever.” Although the farmer claims to come under the BPL category, many villagers don’t have a proper idea of the scheme.
A resident of Bisada village in Dadri said that the officials had informed the people that only a certain category of people will get the beneficiary.
He however added that the officials sometimes don’t check the identification cards and judge the person by their surnames, due to which a lot of miscommunication occurs and many people are left behind. “First, we haven’t received any benefit from these schemes. In one case, the officials asked the people their names; on giving them the information the officials said the scheme was not viable to their category. They judged the caste of a person by their name,” said Sharma.
On the other hand, PMJDY deemed many people calling the zero bank account “unnecessary”.
A local resident of Bisada, while speaking to The Sunday Guardian said, “I don’t understand the point of zero bank account. I have no money to put in a bank account.”
He also added that he doesn’t even receive his pension, and questions as to where will he get the money from. “Even though I worked under the District Magistrate, I still don’t receive any pension. It has been about 15 years, since I retired.”
Another resident of Muradnagar, Monica Sharma said that she “filled forms for Rs. 5000 income at home for women, where we were promised employment with minimum wage at home. But days passed and no one showed up with any concrete result.”
The government has implemented these welfare schemes but there is no way to monitor whether they are actually reaching the villagers or not.