Dalit man turns toilet into home after cyclone razes house to ground
Kendrapara: A dalit man in Odisha's Kendrapara district has been living in a toilet allotted to him under the Centre's flagship programme Swachh Bharat Mission after cyclone 'Fani' razed his kutcha house to ground, officials said.
The cyclone hit the district on May 3.
Rendered homeless, Khirod Jena (58), a landless daily wage earner in Raghudeipur village, has been living in 7 feet x 6 feet toilet along with spouse and two grown up daughters.
"The cyclone destroyed my house. But the pucca toilet was saved. I have nowhere to go. The toilet allotted to me two years back has become by shelter house. I do not know how long we will be staying here," Jena said.
Stating that the cyclone has completely shattered his life, Jena said he has no resources to rebuild the house and is left with no other option but to wait for cyclone restoration grants for the house rebuilding.
"Till officials award me cyclone damage compensation, the toilet will continue to be my house. With toilet being occupied, we are forced to defecate in open now," he said.
"I had applied for housing grant either under the Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana (PMAY) or under Biju Pucca ghar scheme. But the housing grants had eluded me. The cyclone would have spared my house if my kutcha house would have taken the form of pucca dwelling unit with government assistance.
But that was not to be," he bemoaned.
"It has been brought to our notice that a family has been living in a toilet in Derabish block after cyclone ravaged their house. Cyclone damage grants besides separate housing grants are being awarded to the family expeditious", said Project Director, District Rural Development Agency (DRDA), Dillip Kumar Parida.
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Bengaluru: Techie duped of Rs 1.46 lakh in IPL ticket scam via Instagram
Bengaluru: A 25-year-old techie was cheated of Rs 1.46 lakh by a fraudster posing as an IPL ticket seller on Instagram, in a case reported from B Narayanapura.
According to a complaint filed at the Mahadevapura police station, the accused identified himself as Sumit Biswal, claiming to be a senior supervisor at the ticket counter of M. Chinnaswamy Stadium. He assured the victim that he could arrange IPL tickets along with food coupons, Deccan Herald reported.
He also convinced the victim to transfer money in multiple UPI transactions from his account and his mother’s account.
Despite receiving the amount, the accused neither delivered the tickets nor refunded the money, police said.
The complainant said that the accused promised not just match tickets but ‘VIP benefits’ like food coupons and extra ID cards for friends for RCB vs CSK, scheduled for Sunday.
"He asked me to come near the stadium gate number 10, saying someone would deliver the tickets within minutes, and even sent an email confirmation to gain my trust," the victim said.
"Initially, I agreed to buy two tickets for Rs 3,700 each, but he kept asking for more money under various pretexts such as refundable security deposits, additional ID cards and food coupons. Trusting him, I made multiple payments, even using my mother’s bank account after exhausting my own limits, and ended up transferring around Rs 1.46 lakh," he said.
Police have registered a case and further investigation is underway.
