70-Year-Old Disabled Woman Forced To Walk To Panchayat Office In Odisha

The Panchayat Executive Officer initially claimed unawareness of her condition but later admitted to delivering her pension and ration to her home monthly.

A 70-year-old disabled woman was forced to crawl nearly two kilometers to the local panchayat office in the Keonjhar district of Odisha to avail her old-age pension, sparking outrage on social media after a video of her painfully crawling went viral.

The woman, identified as Pathuri Dehury, relies on the pension for her livelihood and has no one to help her. After an accident that left her disabled, she is unable to walk properly. Despite government rules mandating doorstep delivery of welfare pensions, the elderly woman had to crawl to the Raisuan Panchayat office under Telkoi block as her pension was not delivered to her home.

The arduous journey left Pathuri with blisters on her feet, knees, and hands. She told India Today, "The Panchayat Executive Officer (PEO) told me to come to the office for my pension. With no one to assist me, I had no choice but to crawl 2 km to reach the office."

Panchayat Executive Officer Admits Unaware Of Her Condition

The Panchayat Executive Officer acknowledged the incident but claimed to be unaware of her condition, noting that before her accident, she had collected the pension herself. "She used to collect her pension on her own earlier, walking to the office. But after an accident that damaged her leg, either her family or our office peon would deliver her pension to her home," the officer explained.

The sarpanch of Raisuan Panchayat expressed regret over the situation, explaining that they were unaware of her difficulties following the accident. "We did not know that the elderly woman had to crawl to the office. She recently suffered an accident, which may have caused her difficulty in walking. We have already decided to deliver her pension and ration to her home by the 15th of every month,” the sarpanch said, India Today reported.

The sarpanch assured that measures have been taken to prevent similar incidents in the future. He also assured her to make sure she receives all the required assistance from the next month and the matter has been addressed to officials.