JAGATSINGHPUR: THE Covid-19 crisis has brought untold miseries on persons with disabilities, who eked out a living by begging. Amid widespread panic over rising positive cases in Jagatsinghpur, these poor souls are forced to live on an empty stomach as residents of both urban and rural areas show reluctance to give alms suspecting them to be ‘Corona spreaders’.
The restrictions on public movement are adding to their plight as tourist places, temples, traffic intersections, bus stands and railway stations wear a deserted look.
Visually impaired Arakhit Das and his disabled wife Minati of Hatikena under Pandua panchayat in Kujang block are living in abject penury since the outbreak of coronavirus. The couple used to beg in different passenger trains plying on Cuttack-Paradip line and bus stands of Kujang, Rahama and Paradip.
However, with the Government restricting movement of trains and buses, the couple along with their two children and elderly mother are struggling to survive.
Expressing her sorrow, Minati said, “I with my blind husband and 12-year-old son had come to meet Jagatsinghpur Collector on Thursday to air our grievances by walking 50 km from Kujang. But the collectorate was closed since there is a restriction on public entry to Government offices. Dejected, we dropped our application in the grievance box and returned.”
She said though they receive pension and rice, it is not sufficient to sustain their five-member family.
Similar is the predicament of another visually impaired dalit woman Kuni Das of Dihasahi village. Kuni too earned her livelihood by begging. But ever since the pandemic broke out, she has been living in hunger and poverty. “Both I and my husband are blind. In the initial days, the panchayat used to provide us free food. But it has been stopped now. We have no house and live on the street. Our condition is pitiable,” she said in a desperate tone.
Pandua sarpanch Baijayanti Mohanty admitted that provision of free food has been stopped. “The panchayat had to stop distributing free food after the closure of the local temporary medical camp,” she said.