layman's space

Thursday, 18 July 2019 | AJIT PANDA | NUAPADA When the death news of Goutam Behera (18) of Sargimunda village under Boden block of Nuapada district broke in social media in the morning of July 7, the block administration immediately rushed to the village. It remained completely unconcerned, when the news of Goutam’s wretched living condition was reported in media six months ago. Posting of tweet at the twitter handles of Collector, @districtnuapada and @CMOdisha on January 8 last resulted in issue of a PHH (Primary House Hold) ration card with provision of 10 kg of rice per month to Goutam and his sister Debanti (20) on January 14. This time the administration however was on its toes, because Debanti alleged that Goutam died of starvation. Reaching at the village on 7th morning, the first effort of the officials was to pursuade the villagers to do the cremation. “When I informed the block officials that Goutam died of starvation as I had nothing in my hou...

Wednesday 10 July 2019 | AJIT PANDA | NUAPADA Gautam Behera (18) of Sargimunda village under Boden block of Nuapada district died on Monday night. He was differently-abled. He used to travel to different towns by his tricycle to beg and that was the only source of living for him and his sister Debanti. "We were getting 10 kg of Re 1 per kg rice every month from the panchayat. Last time, we got it on May 25. How could we live with that for so long?  "We had nothing to eat for last five days. My brother was ill and needed good food, but there was nothing," said Debanti. This correspondent had posted a Tweet on January 5 @cmodisha and @nuapada Collector telling about the plight of Debanti and Gautam. The administration said that they would provide 5 kg rice to Gautam. "They kept their promise, but was that sufficient?" ask villagers. "The Government would now defend that the death has not occurred due to starvation and the issue would die down...

Wednesday, 10 July 2019 | AJIT PANDA | NUAPADA A State-level MGNREGS team visited Nuapada district on Monday to review works done under the scheme. The review consisted of both field visits and meetings with officials at block and district levels. The team visited Dabri, Bhairajpur, Bhimapadar, Nehena, Khudpej and Bargaon villages in Khariar block to see various works like farm pond, model tank, dug well and nursery etc, done under the scheme. They praised the dug well work of one beneficiary named Kamla Majhi in Dabri village. The team members, however, expressed their resentment over the slow progress and less number of works undertaken. Later on in the review meeting held after the field visit, the team members resented that the works done under the scheme are not visible and the benefit provided to people is not up to the mark. They suggested that a large number of innovative works could be taken under the scheme like development of play grounds, development...

Wednesday, 03 July 2019 | AJIT PANDA | NUAPADA     Hundreds of farmers of Nuapada district demonstrated at the office the Collector, Nuapada, on Tuesday, protesting the apathy of the district administration in procurement of paddy in the Rabi season. When the farmers are waiting with their paddy in different Mandis of the district, the millers have declared that the procurement target has already been achieved. The district had fixed a procurement target of total 3. 20 lakh quintals for the current Rabi season. But much before the last day of procurement i.e. June 30, the millers declared the targets to have been met, where as the farmers still have thousands of quintals of unsold paddy with them, alleged the agitators."The millers have procured paddy of Chhatishgarh at a cheaper price to fill their respective targets and by that way have made huge profits.  The...

Tuesday, 11 June 2019 | AJIT PANDA | NUAPADA     Sukri Paharia (60) is unable to move out of her village due to an injury in the sole of her right foot, which she got while collecting bamboo from the nearby forest. The wound is aggravating as she is unable to get treatment. “The hospital is located at a distance of five hours walk from our village, how can I go there with this wounded foot?” asks Sukri. Sukri lives in Badurpen - a small hamlet of Patdarha village with sixteen households belonging to Paharia community, who are one of the PVTGs in Chhatishgarh and MP but are non-tribal in Odisha. Patdarha, which is one of the unreached areas of Boden block in Nuapada district is 25 km far from the block headquarters. The people in Badurpen walk through the hilly track of about six km to reach the main village. A six km long ghat road from Buaisadani to Patdarha ...

Saturday, 01 June 2019 | AJIT PANDA | NUAPADA     Gura and Kadli, five and three years old, respectively, belong to Mandal Pakhan hamlet of Armala village in Nuapada district. They hardly remember their father Rupsingh, who deserted them in November last and migrated to a brick kiln in Madhapur near Hyderabad with three of his elder children to earn a livelihood. They do not even remember their mother, who succumbed to her chronic illness that started during her stay in a brick kiln in Hyderabad. The kids are now under the care of Rajman, the elder brother of Rupsingh. “These are my younger brother’s daughters; their mother died when the younger one was breastfeeding. They are now under my care as their father deserted them and migrated to a brick kiln in Madhapur near H...

Tuesday, 23 April 2019 | AJIT PANDA | NUAPADA Hemraj (14) and Tularam (10) were herding their sheep in the forest. Tularam was chewing raw dates collecting it from small palm trees. Hemraj, sitting on a stone, was screaming at the sheep to keep them together. "The sheep belong to us; our parents have gone to Hyderabad with two of our sisters and the younger brother four months ago; they will return at the arrival of rain; we are here to look after these six animals," said the boys. The children belong to Dungripada hamlet of Kotamal village under Sinapali block of Nuapada district. It is located at a distance of 115 km from the district headquarters and 5 km from the block office. There is a primary school in the village, but the children have never got an opportunity to go there. "Who will look after these animals if we go to the school," they ask. Gundhar Raut and Dhane, parents of the boys...

Thursday, 25 April 2019 | AJIT PANDA | NUAPADA The world is a place of darkness for the children who have taken birth in last two years in Malpada hamlet of Kulingamal village in Boden block of Nuapada district. Women who are now pregnant here are afraid, because they apprehend that the children they are carrying may come to this world with blindness.  "We don't know why such thing happened to the children of our hamlet in last two years.Is our village under a curse?,” ask the villagers. Narendra Majhi and Ramesh Kata have two sons each and one in each family is blind. Two other children born last year in the family of Thabira Bharasagaria and Pabitra Kata are also born blind.  Not only this, three others born last year are physically-handicapped. The villagers here are unable to take this as normal, but they are clueless. Malpada hamlet is located one and a half km from the main village Kulingamal,...

Saturday, 09 March 2019 | AJIT PANDA | NUAPADA An auto driver here is providing free 24/7 emergency ambulance services to patients in nearby villages of the Komna CHC. “The man providing free auto services to patients to reach hospital in spite of his ill health. The Government ambulance service may get delayed for a few minutes, but this man’s vehicle reaches in time,” said the people of Komna. Most pertinent point is the messiah of the locality is HIV positive. "After I was detected positive, the doctors advised me to take my wife for diagnosis and unfortunately she was also tested positive," said the man. The auto owner was a ganja smuggler till he was caught red handed in 2010 in a town of Andhra Pradesh. After spending several months in jail, when he was released, he had turned a different man. However, by tthat time, he had been affected by AIDS. “When I knew about our health conditions, we got shocke...