LINGARAJ ROUT,OP
Barang: A 25-year-old woman with a 95% disability has allegedly been deprived of her monthly allowance and 5 kilograms of rice for the past three months, despite repeated appeals by her family to government officials.
The incident was reported from Gandarpur village under Kalyanpur gram panchayat in Bhubaneswar block and has recently drawn attention on social media.
Sukanta Barik, a resident of Majhisahi in Gandarpur, lives with his mother, wife and three daughters. While his wife works as a teacher at a private school, Barik runs a salon to support the family.
His eldest daughter, who has been disabled since birth, requires constant care and assistance with her daily activities.
Her condition has also affected the family’s ability to earn a livelihood, Barik said.
The daughter had been receiving a monthly disability allowance of Rs 3,500 and 5 kg of rice through the panchayat.
However, the benefits have reportedly stopped for the past three months. Barik said the panchayat officials told him that biometric authentication was necessary to receive the benefits. Despite great difficulty, the family took the woman for biometric verification.
However, her condition made it impossible to record her fingerprint or scan her eyes. BDO Debiprasad Mahanty said, “As per government rules, we will send the girl’s Aadhaar card and other documents to the concerned authorities.
We will extend full cooperation to ensure that she receives all the benefits,” he said.
