Bhubaneswar: An elderly woman who was denied food items under social security schemes over some technical glitches finally received the benefits. The authorities swung into action after her ordeal was highlighted by Orissa POST, November 15. The incident also exposed the dark side of linking all the social security schemes to Aadhaar details of the beneficiaries.
According to sources, Bhasi Naik, a resident of Unit 6 area under Capital Police limits, worked as a sweeper at the Capital Hospital after the death of her husband. Naik, unfortunately, had lost both her husband and son long back. Since then, she has been relying only on the food received under National Food Security Act (NFSA) and old age allowances.
However, recently she faced a double whammy as her house was damaged in the severe cyclonic storm Fani and she was also denied rice and other food items on the pretext of technical glitches. These unfortunate situations left her with no other options but to beg for survival. She was denied food items for the last four months as her fingerprints and eye retina mismatched in the biometric machine.
The lady, who was unable to walk due to old age, went from pillar to post in order to get a wheel chair, but to no avail.
Meanwhile, following the news report in OP, the higher authorities immediately called her and gave her one quintal of rice recently. The authorities also met her widowed daughter-in-law and included her name in the beneficiaries list instead of Naik as she could not go the distribution center regularly due to old age.
Based on the OP Report, a city-based lawyer Bijaya Kumar Panda also submitted an RTI application before the Bhubaneswar Municipal Corporation(BMC) seeking details about whether the BMC authorities were in the know of the OP report and if yes, then the action taken by the BMC to redress the problems faced by the elderly woman.
Expressing pleasure over the development, Bhasi Naik heaped praises on the officers for listening to her ordeal and arranging for the pending rice as well as including her daughter-in-law’s name in the beneficiaries list for future.
However, she is yet to get a wheelchair that she need desperately to be able to move around.