Raisuan: A tribal woman of Banshapal block in Keonjhar district had four deliveries but she claimed she never received a pie from government schemes meant for women at their post-natal stages.
Balma Munda, wife of Raya Munda of Rangamatia village under Phuljhar panchayat, said she once paid Rs 200 to an ASHA to include her name in Mamata Yojana of the government so that she can get available benefits such as financial assistance and nutritional diets under the scheme. Leave alone diets, she has not got a rupee under the scheme even as she has had four childbirths, Balma alleged.
Several tribal couples in the village had similar tales to narrate.
While Raghunath Munda with six children and wife live in a dilapidated house, Sunia Munda said he along with his four kids and wife has turned a polythene shed as his home.
According to reports, about 500 tribals live in this village but they are deprived of basic amenities. While the supply of electricity is no less than a dream for them, people remain cut off from the rest of the world during rainy season in the absence of an all-weather road.
Ignorant about government-sponsored Mamata Yojana, cent per cent women deliver children in extremely unhealthy condition and most of them suffer from malnutrition. The plight of expecting mothers makes a mockery of Janani Surakhya Yojana, a government scheme meant to ensure safe motherhood.
While 90 per cent kids here graze cattle instead of going to schools, disabled and elderly persons don’t get their allowances, alleged the villagers.
The welfare schemes conceived by the government for the poor mostly don’t reach their end. With the poor only get some 10 per cent funds of such schemes, the initiatives of the state government hardly serve any purpose, said social activist Sanjay Sahoo.
The tribals here lead pitiable lives and it is time the administration looked into the matter and ensured fulfillment of their basic needs, demanded citizens of the area. PNN
