Displaying her card, Rajmati complained, “If we do not have money in the card, we cannot drink water. ₹200 in a month is a big amount for us.”

“We used to fetch drinking water from the hand pumps nearby, but it runs dry in summers,” added her neighbour, Veerawati, whose husband works as a labourer. “In the name of the maintenance and electricity bills, we have to part with a major share of our hard-earned money. We have never seen the bill or how much they spend on maintenance,” demurred Veerawati.

Contradicting these statements, the plant operator asserted that no one paid any money for the water they utilise a month. However, the sarpanch of the village, Vijay Singh, conceded that people have been asked to pay for the water but he maintained ignorance about the electricity bill and maintenance cost charged from the villagers. He asserted that he had been asked by the representative of the Hema Malini to collect money in lieu of providing them clean water.

Advocate Asit Shankar, who is the conduit between the villagers and the MP, sneered, “We take money for the water because people do not understand the value of the drinking water.” Justifying his statement, he stressed, “People use purified water to clean clothes and dishes. That is why we began charging a fee. We provide clean drinking water at very nominal charge. Just 10 paisa for one litre. For ₹2, they get 20 litres of clean, purified drinking water.”

The water purifying plant was installed at a cost of ₹18 lakh in the village by Surat-based Hi-Tech Sweet Water Technologies Pvt Ltd. “Funds for this project were not spent from the ₹5 crore allotted under this scheme. It was installed by the business house,” clarified Shankar.

“This plant was donated to the village under corporate social responsibility. We have installed two more plants in Hema Malini’s constituency. It was up to the Panchayat to decide on the nominal fee, which would be utilised to maintain the plant,” said Bhadresh Kapdi, project manager with Hi-Tech Sweet Water Technologies.

This is not the only problem staring at the village. Filthy lanes, open drains, dingy toilets and a dung-stained dilapidated wall with a black plaque dedicated to the “Dream Girl” stand as the billboard for the project and Swachha Bharat Abhiyan – crumbling exterior with a battered interior.