Instead of being a boon, the Rs 1 lakh given by the prime minister to a visually challenged man in West Bengal turns out to be a curse

If the prime minister helps you nobody else will, a visually challenged father in West Bengal recently found out.

Dilip Ghosh, 45, received assistance of Rs 1 lakh from the prime minister after the media reported how he was toiling as a labourer despite his disability just to ensure his daughter Shampa, 11, went to school.

Now, fellow residents of Mayakhol, 120 km from Kolkata, as well as panchayat officials are denying him the foodgrain and pension he is entitled to, saying he is a rich man.

Dilip can only access the interest on the prime minister’s assistance -- a fixed deposit sanctioned in end-February -- which should amount to Rs 700-Rs 800 a month from April. Shampa alone can draw the principal once she turns 18.

Last week, Dilip tried explaining that to Bangshi Ghosh as he pleaded with the Mayakhol panchayat member to help him get his disability pension.

“He told me I didn’t need the pension any more. He asked me to go to the prime minister if I had any problems in the future. He said: ‘You are a rich man now,’” Dilip said.

“I told him the money was meant solely for my daughter’s education and that I had access only to the interest. But he laughed at me and told me to get lost.”

“Tumi to aar BPL nou, tomar ar takar ki dorkar (you no longer live below the poverty line, why do you need money)?” Bangshi apparently said to him.

Dilip, his wife Fultuli and Shampa are BPL card-holders. Fultuli said the village ration dealer too was refusing to give the family their weekly quota of foodgrain against Shampa’s card.

“The dealer says Shampa can’t be given foodgrain at BPL rates. Even my husband and I are getting our quotas irregularly -- the dealer says we don’t need any,” said Fultuli.

Bangshi admitted having driven Dilip away when he sought help to secure his disability pension.

“We have many poor people to look after. The other disabled villagers are not getting pension either. Since Dilip has already received aid, I asked him not to nag us,” Bangshi said. However he promised to see that Dilip received his family’s BPL quota of foodgrain.

Dilip’s neighbours, who once sympathised with him, now regard him with a vague sense of hostility.

“He is no longer like us. We are surprised he has received so much. There are so many poor in the village, but he alone got the money. Why should he receive the benefit of 100 days’ work a year (under the rural job guarantee scheme) any more,” asked farmer Ananda Ghosh, 50.

Dilip is determined to continue working. He now carries drinks for his fellow labourers -- a job he was given after a newspaper reported how he was injuring himself whilst digging and ferrying stone chips.

District magistrate S Meena says it is the government that decides on a person’s BPL status. “I will ensure Dilip gets all his dues as a BPL card-holder,” he says.

Meanwhile, Shampa, a Class V student, is busy studying for her annual exams. “I know how keen my father is about my studies. I will not let him down,” she says.

Source: The Telegraph, March 24, 2008