Dhenkanal: Six orphan siblings are battling for their survival after the demise of their parents at hill and forest locked Dandeibereni village under Poruhakhoja panchayat, about 3 km from the Gondia block in this district.
The siblings, all children of Sumi and Jayaram Bankira, have taken shelter in the house available to their father under Indira Awas Yojana.
With no one to look after them, the siblings – five sisters and a brother – are fighting leading lives of deprivation in the dense forest.
While Sumi died of labour pain four years back, Jayram died a year back due to lack of treatment for fever.
The matter came to fore after a paralegal activist Tankadhar Barik of the district legal services authority visited Dandeibereni and came to know about the plight of the orphaned siblings while interacting with them.
While the state government has introduced a host of schemes for welfare of people, the siblings had to struggle all over the day to earn their daily bread. The block administration is yet to wake up to their situation despite several reminders. The siblings are Buduni Bankira (13), Muguni Bankira(12) Kuni Bankira (7), Gurbari Bankira (6), Mali Bankira (4) and brother Ganesh Bankira (8).
While Buduni and her younger sister Muguni had to work as casual labourers to earn a living for their family, Ganesh tends goats in the hills to arrange two square meals a day. The siblings wanted to study but gave up due to acute poverty and lack of social security measures. Buduni while talking to Barik said she works as a casual labourer to earn food for her siblings. Sarpanch Balaram Parida said he often meets the siblings and enquires about their condition and helps them in whatever way possible for him.
He even tried to contact the local hospital a number times to get the death certificate of the siblings’ father, but in vain. He has even apprised the block officials on providing government assistance to the orphaned children but none cared to address the problem. Block development officer Rabindra Kumar Sabat said he was in Bhubaneswar and will take a look at the issue after reaching the station.
The response of the BDO when asked abiout what can be done for the poor children is only indicative of the apathetic attitude of the block officials towards the plight of the children.
Sub-collector Abanikanta Pattnaik blankets, clothes and rice would be dispatched for the orphaned children through Gondia tehsildar. While the two elder sisters are not willing to leave their home, the remaining four kids will be rehabilitated at a short-stay home after getting necessary direction from the collector, the sub-collector added. PNN
