Ex-CM's kin can't make ends meet
Prabhakar Kumar
CNN-IBN
Posted Sunday , November 05, 2006 at 10:05
Updated Sunday , November 05, 2006 at 11:33

REALITY BITES: Shastri's family has been trying to get a house under
the Indira Awas Yojana but has been unsuccessful.

Purnea (Bihar): Shiya Devi is a daily wager and a mud house is her
only property. These are tough times for her and her family but there
was a time when the family was held in high-esteem. Shiya Devi is the
daughter-in-law of three-time Bihar chief minister, Bhola Paswan
Shastri.

Shastri's family is now struggling to get a house under the Indira Awas Yojana.

"We work very hard to sustain ourselves. If we don't work we will
starve," Shiya Devi said.

Shastri had been Bihar chief minister thrice from 1968 to 1972. A
Dalit, he was widely perceived to be an honest man. Yet, it is only a
neglected statue, a signboard and a photo that brings back his
memories in this village.

His family has been trying to get a house under the Indira Awas
Yojana, but has been unsuccessful.

"There should be some help for people like us. There is widespread
unemployment and one has to find solutions for it. There are no job
cards also," Shastri's grandson, Mahesh Paswan said.

"The Shastri family is in a very bad condition. The entire family
works in other people's farms. They don't get medicines from the
hospital and neither do they have a house," a villager, Baiju Ram
said.

It's ironical that on one hand the people of Bihar swear by the name
of Bhola Paswan Shastri's honesty and on the other hand his family is
living in such penury.

(With inputs from Puja Mishra)