It has only been two months since the inauguration of the Jiban Jyoti Scheme, prepared for the benefit of the distressed Lodha-Sabars of Belpahari, but it has already flopped. Kicking off the scheme with much fanfare at Belpahari on 3 February, as the ruling Left Front used to do before every election to dupe hundreds of people, the Zilla Parishad sabhadhipati, Mr Pulin Behari Baske and the district magistrate, Mr Narayan Swaroop Nigam, distributed health cards to 6,000 Sabars under the lofty scheme by which they were supposed to get reimbursement of expenses up to Rs 2,000 for purchasing medicine. But these health cards are no better than pieces of paper to the incumbents like Mrs Sabitri Sabar of Samarbhula village under Silda gram panchayat, Mr Bhagirath Sabar of Simulpal village under Simulpal gram panchayat, Mr Sudhir Sabar of Bhelaidiha village and other community members of the block. For, Mrs Sabar, who has been undergoing treatment over the past 13 days in Midnapore Medical College and Hospital for her fractured legs and hands, which she had suffered while working in a stone quarry, does not know how to procure Rs 3,000 to buy a steel socket that would be set up in her leg. She had already become poor by purchasing medicine worth Rs 2,100 by selling off her cows, goats, chickens and other households as the hospital superintendent refused to reimburse the bill. The superintendent had thrown away her health card claiming he had no knowledge of such cards or any circular given by the Zilla Parishad in this regard, alleged Mr Swapan Kumar Sabar, Belpahari block Lodha-Sabar Kalyan Samiti secretary. Similar is the plight of Mr Bhagirath Sabar, admitted in Belpahari Block Primary Hospital five days ago, following an accident involving his two-wheeler, as he could not pay the Rs 450 required for getting a scan of his head. Like him, Mr Sudhir Sabar, who had been suffering from malaria, had to return home from the Belpahari hospital after three days of treatment because he could not pay more than Rs 175 for medicine. Hence, they have decided to burn the health cards as they are just like some waste papers, the Sabars said. The sabhadhipati had also announced that health department officials would visit the Sabar hamlets every week to monitor their health. But that promise too seems to have been forgotten as no medical teams have visited the area till now, alleged the samiti secretary. Sahay Cards, by which the poorest Sabars were supposed to get cooked food twice a day, has also not occurred. Only 24 distressed Sabars are being given food leaving a few hundred others without food, the samiti members alleged. All this will impact the ensuing polls with more people unhappy with the CPI-M here.