While both the State and Central Governments have no dearth of schemes to provide house, food and other rehabilitation benefits to the hapless underprivileged, here is a case of an old woman staying along with her three grand children in a toilet and mostly begging to feed them.
"We two sisters and one brother are staying in two dilapidated toilets with our grandmother since death of our mother. We use them for taking food and shelter," said 5 years old ST girl Payal of Baisana village of Katranga panchayat of Kishorenagar block in Angul district.
Her elder sister Rupa told that somebody of the village had allowed them to take shelter in the two toilets. "We all sleep keeping heads in the toilets and legs outside of them and most of the times in rainy time bend our legs and arms," she told. The plight of the four persons has exposed the systematic failure of various schemes in grassroots level in Angul district.
65 years old grandmother Bimala Padhan, who alone is taking care of these three children of her late daughter told, "I have no house and no Aadhar card and I am staying with these grand children after death of my daughter. The father of the children married another women and left them with me."When asked how she was managing their food, Bimala told, "Some times I work as a labourer and earn to feed them. But most of the time, I don't get job and beg them to feed." She showed 'Pakhal' (watered rice) and Sajana leaf fry which she had prepared under the open sky to eat that day.
In the International Day for Girl Child Day on last Sunday , this scribe and his friends Sanjeet Patnaik and Dilip Pradhan had gone to the ground zero and identified these cursed toilet children. The dilapidated toilets constructed from funds under the Swachha Bharat Abhiyan turned out to be the shelter house of these children. After her polythin house got damaged, Bimala and these children had no alternative than taking refuge in the toilets.
Social activist Ranjit Pattanaik told that failure of various girl child schemes, including Biju Kanya Ratna Yojana, led to misery of the girl children here. He urged Government to provide food and shelter to Bimala and the three children soon. The Distict Child Protection Unit too has shut its eyes on sufferings of the children.