“We have electricity, but we also have to pay for water tankers as the handpump is broken and the water level in the well has gone down. Nothing has really changed here since my grandfather’s time,” said Narayan Singh as he stood outside his hut in Nayapura village in Gwalior district’s Ghatigaon area.
Like him, the village is home to members of the Sahariya tribe, one among the 75 tribes declared Particularly Vulnerable Tribal Groups by the Ministry of Home Affairs. Over the years, the tribe has faced issues of malnutrition and stunting among children in Madhya Pradesh.
On the eve of polling for the sixth phase of the 2019 Lok Sabha election, which includes the Gwalior constituency, residents of Nayapura on Saturday said they will cast their votes but without harbouring any hope.
“We only go to vote so that our names don’t get cut [from the electoral rolls] so that if the government comes out with any scheme, we can apply,” said Prakash, a resident of Nayapura who works as a labourer.
The village handpump has been broken for about three months now, forcing residents to buy water from private tankers for ₹30 to ₹50 per “drum” every other day or scrounge for whatever is left in the well a little distance away, said Rekha, who works in the Anganwadi centre in Nayapura.
“ Paani hi samasya hai (Water is the only problem),” said Budh Bai.
All around the village are symbols of the Narendra Modi government’s flagship schemes — toilets built under the Swachh Bharat Abhiyan, gas cylinders given through the Ujjwala Yojana and a handful of homes built under the Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana.
Scattered throughout the hamlet are the locked-up and unused toilets. With no running water and limited supply through a government tanker every two-three days, the residents who have built toilets don’t use them.
In Gwalior, the BJP’s Vivek Shejwalkar is up against Congress candidate Ashok Singh.
