Anandapur: A tribal widow is leading a miserable life along with her five minor kids in her dilapidated house at Budhikuda under Anandapur block in Keonjhar. However, the administration has not taken notice of her plight.
After losing her husband a year ago, Srimati Gagarai has been struggling to arrange two square meals a day for her kids and herself.
She collects sal leaves and firewood from forests. But the income from sales of firewood is too meager to meet her expenses of food. As she is unaware of the various government benefits, she has not been able to take up her issue with the administration.
However, a local people’s representative has ensured her a ration card with which she gets subsidized rice.
She had not been provided with a widow pension and a housing unit. For lack of proper food, two of her kids Leba Gagarai and Sumitra Gagarai-are suspected to be affected by malnutrition.
The kids had been admitted to a nutrition rehabilitation centre under ICDS at Ananadpur in 2017. After 15 days of treatment, the children had returned home. Now, their condition is back to square one.
Locals demanded immediate help to the needy widow and kids.
