BALASORE: Support has started pouring in for the seven-year-old girl Krishna whose story of tending to her infant brother after losing both her parents to Covid-19 within a month made it to the headlines. Bhograi MLA and Chairperson of Balasore District Planning Board Ananta Das on Tuesday provided assistance of Rs 10,000 on behalf of the district Red Cross Society.
The story which was widely circulated on social media saw MLA Das along with District Child Protection Officer Youvak Majhi, Bhograi Tehsildar Kamalakanta Panda, Additional Tehsildar Santosh Kumar Panigrahi and BDO Satyajit Rout paying a visit to Nimathpur village. They met Krishna along with her grandfather Ramnarayan Panda and uncle Debasis Panda, who were looking after the children.
As the family of Krishna refused to leave the children at the child care unit of the district administration, Das assured that all help will be extended in raising the sibling duo. Krishna’s father Kamalesh was working in the Safety Department of East Coast Railway in Bhubaneswar and mother Smita was serving as staff nurse at Acharya Harihar Cancer Hospital in Cuttack.
While Smita lost her battle to Covid a week after delivering the baby boy in Cuttack, Kamalesh succumbed to the virus a few weeks later in Bhubaneswar.