Rajnagar:
Government schemes for assistance to poor families have turned out to be a mere mirage for a destitute family.
Meet 30-year-old destitute, hearing- impaired Sasmita Pradhan alias Pinky of Sanagokhani village in the Iswarpur GP of Rajnagar block in Kendrapara district.
Sasmita is the mother of four girls. Five years ago, her husband deserted her and their children and left the village. Since then, the woman has been struggling to feed her family.
Sasmita used to support the family by doing menial jobs. As and when she failed to get work, she used to beg. Although the government trumpets about the National Food Security Act (NFSA), fact is many families retire for the night on empty stomachs even now.
In the case of Pinky’s family, many a day, she and her four minor girls are forced to go hungry. It has become a daydream for Pinky to access government benefits even though she and her children are living in a ramshackle house near the canal embankment in Sanagokhani village.
“I do not have an NFSA ration card. The administration has not enrolled me for getting a pucca house under any housing scheme. Most of the time I and my four daughters starve. If there is rain, it is difficult to prepare food outside the house. We find it difficult to remain inside the house, as water leaks from the roof,” Pinky said.
When it rains, floodwater enters the house, too. “We have to wade through knee-deep water for about 100 metres along the muddy road to reach the concrete road,” said Manisha Pradhan, (12), the eldest daughter of Pinky.
Her four daughters had never been to school as she found it difficult to provide clothes to them. While she goes for work, her eldest daughter takes care of her three siblings. “When I am struggling to even provide a square meal to my children, how can I think of sending them to school,” asked Pinky.
Pinky’s neighbour Gobinda Mandal said it was unfortunate that the district administration had denied an NFSA ration card and a pucca house to such a poor family. The administration should enroll her in the NFSA ration card scheme and provide her a pucca house and other benefits, he said.
The BDO of Rajnagar, Mandardhar Mahali, said steps have been taken to provide a ration card and a Biju pucca ghar to Pinky. He said that when he came to know about her and her children a month ago, ration for a month was provided to her.
PNN
