Six years ago, in June 2010, 42-year-old Chand Khan’s mother was making dinner at their house in Bholakpur, Musheerabad. At around 7 p.m., a wall collapsed on her due to continuous rainfall for over 10 days. Though she was alive when removed from under the debris, Amina died later that night.
“It was raining since the past 10 days before the wall collapsed at the back. I was out working, while my wife and children were also out at that time. I was told by the then Congress government that I would be paid an ex-gratia. In spite of running around so many government offices, I gave up,” recalled Mr. Khan, who now works as a plumber for a living.
Mr. Khan said that he had to borrow Rs. 80,000 to rebuild his house, which he had to repay in instalments for many months after. “I even went to Darussalam to meet MIM leaders, but nothing helped. I gave up after that,” he added.
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Munavvar Chand from Basti Vikas Manch claimed that he had filed an RTI on behalf of Mr. Khan, and the response had surprised him. “I asked the district Collector to provide information about Khan’s ex-gratia amount, and the reply said that they lost his file. What can we say after that?” he asked.