BERHAMPUR: On Thursday, Hema Nayak was seen with Suryamani Baidya, Khalikote MLA, during distribution of Biju Swasthya Kalyan Yojna (BSKY) health smart card distribution. She is, after all, the sarpanch of Badapalli.
But on all other days, she reportedly goes from village to village seeking alms to support herself and her family. Badapalli is a gram panchayat under Khallikote block of Ganjam district. Thanks to the reservation policy and empowerment of women, Hema got an opportunity to represent her people and become sarpanch in 2017.
Badapalli is a remote and tribal dominated village surrounded by hills and forests and has a lone SC family. When the sarpanch's post was reserved for an SC woman, Hema was elected uncontested.
Irony though is, her tenure is about to end but most of the women in the village do not know her as sarpanch. Even Hema herself apparently does not know officials of the panchayat and even the BDO. How the GP's development works are executed remains a mystery.
Sources say 60-year-old Hema's husband works as a peon with the local panchayat office. The family lives in a dilapidated house with her husband, younger son and two daughter-in-laws. Elder son is a migrant worker while the younger one is a daily wager.
The local administration, however, expressed ignorance over her plight. Khallikote BDO Mitali Patra told thie paper that Hema is getting a honorarium of Rs 2,350 per month. Besides, a house under Indira Awas Yojana has been allotted to her family. The BDO said, her husband is around 70-years-old and also getting old age pension.
Recently, the panchayat also contemplated to engage her son as peon. "However, I will visit her tomorrow and will check the facts," said the BDO. Collector Vijay Amruta Kulange, too, expressed his surprise over the begging issue and assured to check it with the authorities.