Koksara: Pabitra Naik, a resident of Talagaon village under this block’s Badapodaguda Panchayat in Kalahandi district is struggling hard to get his 20-year-old daughter, a physically challenged Damayanti treated for normalcy.
Pabitra Naik’s family comprises of his wife Lochani, three daughters and a son. Pabitra runs his livelihood by selling puffed rice in makeshift shops around villages. Despite poverty, he somehow managed to marry off his elder daughters and Damayanti is the third and youngest waiting for life to take a miraculous turn.
Damayanti was physically well formed at birth; like her siblings even she was able bodied to have a physically well dubbed childhood. But with time, her limbs became nonfunctional and now she is immobile.
While girls of her age are leading good lives with almost all of them married, fate has been cruel on Damayanti. Her life remains confined to the four walls of their dilapidated thatched house. Her mother is her constant support for all the physical activities and under emergency the girl has to crawl her way.
Pabitra feels sad for not being able to do anything for his daughter. “How can a father see his daughter crawl her whole life?” asked Pabitra. “With whatever I am earning I can hardly feed the family members let alone think of her treatment. Despite this, I have tried everything to get her cured but failed,” he said.
When asked if any government help came for Damayanti, Pabitra said she is getting nothing other than disability pension.
He has even attended the Collector’s grievance cell and is looking for ways and means to get a pucca house built under government schemes and yojanas, however he has failed.
Lochani, also broke out in anguish stating that, “All schemes and yojanas are for well off families. The government facilities are not for poor families like us. Who is there to think about us? If the government is truly for us, why did we not get a house even after my husband attended the Collector’s grievance cell”?
When contacted, Koksara block development officer Basant Kumar Sethy said steps would be taken for her better treatment. And her pension will be increased from Rs 500 to Rs 700. And steps will also be taken to provide Pabitra’s family a pucca house.
PNN