Khurda: Due to the lockdown and shutdown restrictions across India, thousands have been rendered jobless. The Khurdah district is also not an exception. There are a number of people who have lost their jobs in this district.
However, housewife Rashida Begum (48) of Ward No-7 under Jatni municipal limits in the district has proved to be an exception. Rashida started driving an auto-rickshaw to eke out a living for her family including her paralysed husband. She was not one to just sit and wait for the Odisha government’s assistance.
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Rashida’s husband had taken an auto-rickshaw on loan through a private finance company. However, once he became paralysed and also started suffering from vision problems, the woes of the family increased. Then came coronavirus and all other lockdown restrictions along with it.
A daily wage earner, lockdown prevented Rashida from going to her work. Initially the three-wheeler was given to another person on a contract basis. But the earnings were not enough to support Rashida and her husband along with their two daughters and a son.
Rashida then decided to learn to drive the auto-rickshaw. It has helped her in overcoming the financial woes the family was facing. “I usually move out in the wee hours every day after cooking and completing other household chores. I drive the auto-rickshaw on the Jatni- Bhubaneswar-Nimapara route,” Rashida said.
Daily fuel expenses apart, Rashida earns approximately Rs 200 to Rs 300 per day. She somehow manages to run the family with what she earns and repays the monthly loan installment.
PNN