House allottees heave a sigh of relief

The scheme was launched last year and the allotment letters were issued on Friday at camps across the state.

And the allottees can hardly believe their luck.

* Kamla Kumari (34) lives in a shanty in Dodakhera with two small daughters. After the death of her husband last year,she had taken to embroidery,which brings her around Rs 500 a month. Another Rs 600 comes from hiring out the rickshaw of her late husband. “I never thought I would have a pucca house,” she said. “Now my daughters will be safe when I go for work.”

* Nadira (38) is a labourer at the Aishagh slaughterhouse,where she earns around Rs 40 a day. Along with her five daughters and two sons,she lives in a shanty erected over a nullah that passes through a graveyard near Moti Jheel. “It is tough,but we have no other place to stay. This house is definitely a blessing,” she said.

* Mahavir (54),a vegetable vendor,lives in Jalalpur slum with his wife,two sons,a widowed daughter and her two children. “No one in my family ever had his own house,I will be the first,” he said.

* Ram Kishore,a rickshaw puller,lives in a tin-shed in Jalalpur slum with his wife and three sons. The rent is Rs 500 a month. “I will go with my husband to see the house. We are the first in our family to have a pucca house,” said Jamuna,his wife.

* Puttilal (57),a labourer who works in a shanty in Ahibaranpur on Sitapur Road,thinks he is lucky too. With earnings of Rs 2,700 a month,he had never dreamt of owning a house. “Last year,government officials came to my slum and told me about this scheme,” he said.

At the ‘Jan Kalyankari Shivir’,beneficiaries of the following government schemes were also given their papers,or dues
* Kanshiram Shahri Gareeb Awas Yojna (200)
* Financial help for setting up laundry and dry-cleaning business (5)
* Self-employment scheme (15)
* Old-age pension (100)
* Pension for physically challenged and destitute (110)
* National family benefit scheme (50)
* Savitri Bai Phule Balika Shiksha Madad Yojna (100)
* Mahamaya Gareeb Balika Ashirvad Yojna (83)
* Marriage with physically challenged person (10)
* Equipment for physically challenged persons (179)
* Land lease to landless people and Dalits (200)
* Callipers for polio-affected people (8)

(Number of beneficiaries in brackets)