Kendrapara: Two visually handicapped brothers are facing difficulties after their pension was stopped three months ago by the BDO, raising doubts over their handicapped certificate.
Their father, Satrughan Barik, a resident of Haridadanda village in Kendrapara block, works as a labourer to feed seven members of his family. Satrughan’s sons, Praffulla and Prasanna, are visually impaired.
The brothers said their mother was visually impaired and they too had congenital vision problems. Prasanna’s daughter has also started losing vision.
The brothers, who had received physically handicapped certificates from the CDMO office in 2008, had been getting pension from the Kendrapara block office. But last July, their pensions were stopped after the BDO received a complaint from a person who had contested for the post of sarpanch. As per his complaint, the brothers were not blind.
“We have been struggling to survive since the last three months. My 80-year-old father has been working as a labourer along with my elder brother’s wife,” said Prasanna.
“We were victimised as we didn’t vote for one of the sarpanch candidates,” Praffulla said.
“We approached the BDO to know why our pension was stopped and he said it was done as per the collector’s orders. We have to undergo tests again and our certificates would be sent to the medical board for verification. If the medical board approves our certificate we would get pension,” said Praffula.
Later, they applied online under UDID for a fresh assessment of their disability at the CDMO office in Kendrapara and underwent tests, but the CDMO has not given the report.
The CDMO issued a notice, telling them to go to the SCB Medical College and Hospital in Cuttack to appear before the state medical board for a test. As they had no money the brothers could not go for it.
BDO Kishore Chandra Swain said that Subhakanta Samal had filed a petition before the Disability Commission, alleging that the handicapped certificate of the brothers was not bonafide. Hence the Commission directed the collector to take necessary steps.
Collector Reghu G asked him and the CDMO of Kendrapara to re-assess the percentage of disability of the brothers. The CDMO directed the brothers to undergo tests.
Kendrapara CDMO Baisnab Charan Sahu said that as the Kendrapara medical board had issued a physical disability certificate, he had urged the medical board of SCB Medical College and Hospital to examine the brothers, but they did not turn up. PNN