Kendrapara: A 60-year-old widow has been forced to shoulder the burden of her two physically disabled sons in the absence of government aid.
Kanchanabala Das, widow of Shaktipada Das, of Narasinghpur under Mahakalapada block , has been struggling to feed her two physically disabled children as the district administration has not enlisted her family in social welfare schemes. As a result, the family doesn’t get subsidised food grains under NFSA ration card nor her two handicapped children get pension.
“There is a saying misfortune never comes alone, and it has proved right in my case. After the untimely death of my husband, I was forced to shoulder the responsibility of my two physically handicapped sons – Narayan Das (23) and Sibu Das (21), both 100 percent physically disabled,” said Kanchanabala Das.
She has to do all the routine work of her physically disabled sons, as most of the time, they are stuck to their bed.
Though the district administration had provided Antyodaya Anna Yojana card to her sons in 2010, the district administration had stopped providing rice. Nor did it provide ration card under NFSA to the family, alleged elder son Narayan.
“The state government has been providing several government- sponsored benefits to the physically handicapped persons for their uplift, but in my sons’ case government benefits seem to be a day dream,” alleged the widow.
Though Kanchanabala knocked on the doors of local PRI members, BDO of Mahakalapada and local MLA to provide ration card and government-sponsored benefits to her physically disabled sons, all her efforts have gone in vain.
When contacted, Pravas Chandra Das, the District Social Security Officer, stated that the matter has come to his notice and he has directed the Block Social Security Officer to conduct an inquiry and submit a report.
The siblings are going to be covered under government- sponsored schemes meant for physically disabled persons and they would be provided subsidised food grains under National Food Security Act after the inquiry, Das stated.
