Athagarh: A 12-year old girl was forced to bury her deceased mother on the Sapua river embankment at Sabar Sahi in Manpur village under this police limits in Cuttack, due to abject poverty, a report said here Saturday.
The girl, Ranjit Dehuri, is the daughter of Sanju and Dama Dehuri. She had lost her father a year back to paralysis. After which she was managing to survive with her mother.
However, life became too hard for her after her mother was afflicted with paralysis five months back. She died April 15. With no money coming her way, she was clueless to perform the cremation of her mother. She resorted to begging to perform the post death rituals with no help from the administration coming her way.
Her neighbour wanted to help the minor girl but was unable to do so as they themselves were poor.
The Biju Yuva Vahini’s local president, Manoranjan Mohanty, urged the Bentapada sarpanch to provide her help under the Harishchandra Yojana. However, that never came her way with the result that she was forced to bury her mother on the Sapua river embankment with the help of her neighbours.
When contacted, panchayat executive officer Madhav Sahu said the sarpanch had not informed him but the financial assistance under the Harishchandra Yojana was provided to the girl after the authorities came to know about her plight.
The girl studied up to Class-VI but she had to wrap up her studies as her mother could not afford this when she was alive. She is now completely clueless on how to survive in the absence of both her parents.
Locals have urged the state government and the local administration to intervene and provide financial assistance to the orphan girl.
PNN