Daspalla: Hajari Behera has been holding on to the cheque for the past two years like a prized possession, hoping it could still be of some value.
Hajari and his sister Sita, both deaf and dumb and visually impaired, had been living in a dilapidated shanty at Ostia village under this block in Nayagarh district; both were starving.
It was when the local media highlighted their plight that the then district Collector directed the tehsildar (in his letter no 3089/ dated November 22, 2016) that the siblings be given an amount of Rs 8, 000 from the Chief Minister Relief Fund.
After one month — December 22, 2016 — the revenue inspector on behalf of the tehsildar handed over the cheque of ICICI bank (Cheque No- 000386) to the siblings. Before they could encash it, Sita breathed her last.
Village president Bhaskar Nayak and a ward member took Hajari to the tehsil office to request that the cheque amount be given in cash. But they had to return harassed.
Instead of lessening his sufferings, the officials asked Hajari to open an account depositing Rs 1, 000 which he failed to do. The pleasure of getting government help did not last long.
Meanwhile, Hajari has kept the cheque with care for all these two years even though it had virtually become a mere scrap of paper three months after it was issued.
PNN