Bhadrak: After working as a cook for 10 years, Niranjan Biswal has been struggling to eke out a living from selling tea at Nilok Bazar under Bant block of Bhadrak.
Recalling his days of childhood struggle, Biswal says,”When I was 10 years, I had to leave my house seeking a job in remote Kolkata. I spent my life working as a cook at different places in the city.”
He had no land nor other means of livelihood. Still he has not left everything to fate. A man with steely will, he was not defeated by life struggle. He started a tea stall at Nilok Chhak in 1995. Since then, he has been earning honestly to nurture a family of six for last 23 years here.
The government has been implementing so many schemes and programmes, but they are out of reach for Biswal.
He said he was given a housing unit under IAY 15 years ago but the house has remained incomplete for want of funds till date, he lamented.
Biswal has three daughters and a son. With meagre earnings, he has managed to educate his elder daughter up to graduation. He also bears education expenses of his two other daughters who study in a college. His son studies in a high school.
He says his struggle is for the dream of my children to be realised. He also looks after his elderly parents.
He works hard for 16 hours a day.”I can’t arrange two square meals a day for my family, if I don’t work hard. I am exhausted from applying for government help.”
The tea shop is run from a dilapidated roadside shanty. He always lives under the fear of an accident when his shop will be destroyed. “I have written to the Prime Minister to avail a housing unit under IAY,” he added.
PNN