Sukinda: An 80-year-old widow belonging to the scheduled Mankadia tribe was found inching towards death after getting stuck to her bed due to old age realted
ailments and going without food for the last few days at Mallar Sahi under this block in Jajpur district.
Madar Mani Mankadia is a native of the village inhabited by over 105 families of the tribe. She is allegedly going without food for the last few days.
This has happened as she does not receive old age pension or benefits of any other welfare schemes launched by state and Centre. The woman also doesn’t have a voter identity card.
She is one among the 20 persons in the village who have been deprived of old age pension benefits and forced to live a life of impoverishment.
Though she is awaiting death, the local administration is yet to wake up to the incident and take a call on the dispossessed woman.
Sources said the woman after the death of her husband Budu Mankadia was living with her two daughters and a son who worked as casual labourers. She collected firewood from the nearby hill for a living.
However, it became difficult for her to arrange two square meals a day after being dispossessed by age and illness. Her son who earns his living by doing odd jobs finds it difficult to provide food to his mother and get her treated for her illness.
The woman fervently pleaded with the authorities to provide her rice so that she could live in peace like others till her last breath.
However, that seems a remote possibility as the administration is yet to enroll the woman as a beneficiary of any of the state government-sponsored welfare schemes.
When contacted, Sukinda block development officer Debadutta Mohanta tried to downplay the incident by stating that efforts will be made to provide her old age pension on receipt of necessary papers. However, the question arises that who will prepare the papers when both the woman and her son are illiterate.
Social activists Muralidhar Patra, Geetanjali Mohanta and Biswanth Patra demanded rice and pension to the woman. PNN
