A poverty-stricken man in Gurundia block under Bonei sub-division here preferred to ditch his 20-day-old baby following the death of his wife. Sources said Rajlus Horo’s wife Kripa Horo had given birth to a baby on August 6 in the Rourkela Government Hospital. Kripa died on August 15 last. She was suffering from malaria and died of it as she did not get proper treatment.
After the death of Kripa, Rajlus had no money to carry out the cremation. As a result, he decided to give up his child and send it to an orphanage. When the villagers came to know about this and tried to convince him to keep his own child with him, he simply refused. Finally, the child was sent to its old grandfather’s (mother’s father) house.
Meanwhile, the villagers demanded the intervention of the district administration in the case for the upbringing of the child since the child is not safe with the old man who too is extremely poor.
“I do not know about the incident. I’ll however inquire about the matter from the concerned village Sarpanch and do whatever is possible,” said Gurundia BDO S Naik.