PARADIP: Three sisters in Pandua, the ancestral village of Gurudev Rabindranath Tagore in Jagatsinghpur, have taken to daily wage for survival. Education has become a distant dream after the demise of their parents. Acute poverty, no support of any kind even from the government has forced them to work as domestic helps and daily wagers for a living. The sisters, Rasmita Das (16), Sasmita (14) and Chinmayee (12), have lost their parents and their brother has been missing since the 1999 super cyclone. Their mother died of cancer in 2002 and father Purosttama, who worked as a priest in the village temple, passed away last year after prolonged illness. With no relative to look after them, Rasmita started working as a daily wager to raise her two sisters. She was forced to discontinue their studies this year due to financial constraints. “We even had to borrow money from neighbours for the funeral rites of our father,” said Rasmita. Now, Sasmita too has started working as a domestic help in the village. Government’s poverty alleviation programmes hold no meaning for them as their parents were not covered under any scheme. Pandua Sarpanch Susant Mallick said government intervention to help the three sisters is required. “When their father was alive, they did not need a BPL card or government help of any kind. But now the situation is different. At least, provision should be made to provide them ` 2-a-kg rice every month,” he said.Kujang BDO Ramakant Kar said their plight had come to the notice of the administration and measures would be initiated to provide them social security at the earliest.
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