Sita Debi, a well-known Gandhian Sarvodayee worker of the undivided Koraput district has passed away at the age of 70. She is survived by her husband Jayaram Jena, a son and a daughter. As an orphan at Kujendri Ashram, Sita Debi was taken care of by late Biswanath Patnaik. At the age of 11, she took basic training and later joined Naba Jiban Mandal in Angul, which was run by Malati Choudhury, wife of the then Chief Minister Nabakrushna Choudhury. After that, she started working as complete Gandhian Sarvodaya worker in Bonda tribal Ghat and spreaded messages on liquor, girls’ education, etc.
At a condolence meeting held at the Seva Samaj here, Prof Dr DK Mohanty from the Rayagada Women’s College said, “The journey of an orphan girl like Sita Debi to a renowned Gandhian worker is certainly noteworthy.”