Post News Network
Rourkela, Sept 17: This is a man’s story with no redemption, no glorious finale in sight. At the age of 62, Munnilal Sharma is homeless, penniless and has nobody to call family.
The verandah of the electricity substation office at Sector 17 in the Steel City is what Munnilal calls home. At an age when most people put up their boots and look forward to a relaxed life with grandkids, Munnilal spends his days doing backbreaking jobs at small eateries, and his nights under the open sky on the electricity office’s verandah. To add insult to injury, Munnilal has never been eligible for any poverty alleviation scheme whatsoever, with government agencies seemingly oblivious to his presence.
Be it the gruelling summer heat or the bone-biting winter cold, Munnilal has braved all with fortitude for 17 years, but is apprehensive of his future. With nobody to lean on, he says thinking about what is in store for him fills him with dread.
Several pleas to officials and people’s representatives for a BPL card and accompanying sops have continued to fall on deaf ears. An old-age pension instituted by the government for elderly people living in poverty has also evaded Munnilal, with locals saying the schemes are all meaningless if deserving people like Munnilal do not reap their benefits.
At the age of 15, Munnilal had migrated with his parents and a brother to the Steel City from a remote village in Bihar in search of a better life. Working as a contractual help at a firm that provided services to Rourkela Steel Plant, Munnilal had a nervous breakdown at the age of 30 after which he decided to remain unmarried. His brother decided to go back to Bihar after their parents’ death, but Munnilal chose to stay on in the city that gave him his first job. However, he soon found himself unemployed after the firm with which he was employed ended its contract with the steel plant.
Munnilal began hunting for a job, without success. He then bought a bicycle and began working as a daily wager, pedalling door-to-door in search of work. One day, after his cycle was stolen, Munnilal decided to make the verandah of the electricity office his ‘home’ and he has lived there ever since.
Several locals, kind to Munnilal’s plight, have tried getting government help for Munnilal. “The government should include Munnilal in at least some of the many welfare schemes it has launched. Where else is the taxpayer money going? The schemes are all moot if their benefits don’t reach people like him,” said Narayan Maharana, a resident of Sector-17 market who is sympathetic to Munnilal’s troubles.