Divyang woman running from pillar to post since 3 months for ration
| Date :25-Jul-2022 |
By Divyansh Thakur
An elderly woman, with no fingers in her hands, has been wandering from pillar to post for the past three months to get the ration she has the right to. Due to the fallibility of the system, the woman is shooed away by the operator of the ration shop and has to return empty handed.
This case is of Ashoka Garden area. Amravati, 65, a differently-abled woman living here, has been suffering from the shortcomings of the system for the last three months. She is struggling to get ration from the Government fair price shop. When she reaches the shop to get ration, the operator slams her and drives her away, saying, “How do I give ration without fingerprints?” Amravati told ‘The Hitavada’ that since birth she does not have fingers on both hands. With no toes, she can barely walk. Her sister Rukmani used to live with her, who went to the village after the lockdown was over. The elderly differently-abled woman has been facing such problems since then.
She says, “The last ration I got was 5 kg rice and 15 kg wheat in March 2022. Since then I have not received ration.”
Whenever she reaches the shop to get ration, the shop operator refuses, making lame excuses like not being named in the list, not being able to make a thumb impression. Since then she has hardly made a living with the help of people around. FPS operator says no facility of retinal scan, have raised the problem: Rajesh Sharma, the operator of the Government fair price shop number 256, said that till now her sister lived with Amravati. So she used to get ration for her. Now she is alone, she doesn’t even have fingers. Ration was not distributed to her, due to lack of thumb impressions.
“I have also reported this problem to the authorities. We do not have a system to give ration even on the basis of retinal scan of the eyes. Even after this, I have been providing ration to Amravati till now,” Sharma said. Differently-abled couple says euthanasia is better than begging: The story of Bharat Tiwari, who lives in Abbas Nagar, Gandhi Nagar, is not very different from that of Amravati’s. He and his wife Rekha are visually impaired. They also have a seven-year-old daughter.
Bharat Tiwari says that his mother used to bear the expenses of his house, who died on May 12. Since then both of them have been troubled. It is very difficult for them to reach the ration shop. They also have a debt of about 40 thousand rupees. Bharat says that he would prefer euthanasia over begging. He has appealed to the government to provide employment to him and his wife so that they can lead a dignified life. Bharat has pursued BA.
Will take action after investigation: “Arrangements have been made at every shop to provide ration to the differently-abled. If they do not have fingers, the ration is given by identifying them from the retina of the eyes or given to their successor. If there is none, then ration is given with the help of someone else. If any Divyang is not getting ration somewhere, then I will investigate. They will be given ration and appropriate action will be taken against the operator,” said District Supply Controller, Jyoti Shah Narwaria.