Tattered hut-like houses, mud walls blackened by smoke, and total darkness as evening sets in. Women of the house cooking food with tears streaming down from their cheeks, choking, coughing due to smoke rising from the stove.
This was the condition of Bunty Saharia's house and many other houses in Amargarh village. But now the situation has changed. When conditions changed, the health of the women of the house and the standard of living of the family also improved.
Bunty, a tribal, lives in Amargarh village of Ghatigaon, a hilly and forest area of Gwalior district. He belongs to the 'Sahariya', one of the most backward tribes of the State.
Under the Pradhan Mantri Gramin Awas Yojana, the Government has got a pucca house built for him. Thanks to the Saubhagya scheme of the Government, electricity connections have also been given in the houses of other tribal families of the village including him.
Now the whole village is lit up with lights in the evening.
Free LPG connections under the Pradhan Mantri Ujjwala Yojana have been given to the women of the village including Bunty's wife.
Under the Samriddh Paryavas Yojana of the State Government, the tribal families of the village have got various types of facilities. Under the Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana, 25 Sahariya tribal families of Amargarh village have built pucca houses.
Apart from this, 15 types of other facilities have also been provided to them free of cost under various schemes of the government.
Bunty told, “We got a total of `1 lakh 20 thousand from the Government to build a pucca house. With this we have built our pucca house on 300 square feet. The house has 6 skylights, 2 windows and 2 doors. This ventilates the whole house with pure air. We have got a pucca platform built in front of the house with our own savings, on which the women of our house are giving a new look to herbs including Safed Musli and making them more valuable. ”