Kostha: Hundreds of villagers including senior citizens staged a hunger strike in front of their gram panchayat office at Kostha village in Mayurbhanj district on Gandhi Jayanti, alleging that the assistance available under the Harishchandra Sahayata Yojana is not made available to them in the villages.
Being informed Sulipada block chairperson Thumpu Hembrom, BDO Parikhita Jena, Zillaparisad chairperson Sudhir Kumar Behera reached at the spot and discussed the matter with the agitators.
Sarpanch Chandramohan Nayak had signed an agreement paper with the agitators mentioning 74 families of the village who were excluded from Harishchandra Sahayata Yojana will be provided the allowance soon.
After that the BDO invited the senior citizens to the meeting organised on the special occasion of Gandhi Jayanti.
In the meeting Sarapanch said that no money was provided to them under the Harishchandra Sahayata Yojana.
He said the concerned department had not released Rs 1.5 lakh arrear of 74 beneficiaries under the yojana.
The BDO assured the senior citizens that he would inspect the matter and will facilitate the families of the beneficiaries with the allowance money.
Notably, the government of Odisha has initiated “Harishchandra Sahayata Yojana” to provide financial assistance to the poor and destitute for conducting cremation. Under this scheme, the government provides assistance of Rs 2,000 in rural areas and Rs 3,000 in urban areas to the family of the deceased to perform last rites and rituals.
In the meeting, the villagers alleged that no developmental works have taken place in their village due to the delay in release of government funds. They urged the administration to take swift action on all these matters. .