I would like to bring to the notice of the authorities through the columns of your esteemed daily as how I have been made to dance from pillar to post by the authorities for the last three months.

I reside at Igrej Vaddo, in Marna-Siolim in House Number 14 and made innumerable trips for the last five years to the panchayat office asking them to help and guide me for financial assistance to repair my old house but for reasons best known to the panchayat, I was never entertained and asked to ‘come tomorrow’ and tomorrow never came.

Over the years, the condition of my house began to deteriorate and finally in the month of July, incessant rains brought down a portion of my house and fortunately we survived.

I submitted a letter to the Mamlatdar’s Office on July 15 and sought for financial assistance in order to avail compensation under the Natural Calamities Act. The inward clerk told me to contact the village panchayat talathi and ask him to submit a report immediately. When I approached the village panchayat talathi, he told me that he was busy with elections and would do the inspection later.

Three months have passed and there is still no sign of the talathi. And on Saturday, as the rains pounded the State again, another portion of my house has collapsed and the remaining will come down any moment and I will be rendered homeless.

The State government of lately has said that the files would be cleared within three days once it is received by the department but here I’m patiently waiting for the authorities to submit an inspection report so that I can atleast have a roof over my head by reconstructing my dwelling place.

I wonder whether the promises are on paper only. While big builders have constructed even on hilltops and fields in the village allegedly with the tacit blessings of the authorities, a hapless and helpless widow like me is struggling to get help from the government and I wonder whether it will ever come.