For divyang Prafulla Das, a resident of Ragadi area in Jajpur district, the long wait for a piece of land finally ended on Saturday when the district administration handed a patta (land document) over to him at Vyasanagar tehsil office.
The help came his way only after OTV aired a report on his plight. Till the telecast of the report, the district administration had been in deep slumber, closing its eyes to the sufferings of Das.
Vysanagar tehsildar Ashok Majhi and additional tehsildar Bikram Mallick handed over the patta of a piece of land measuring four decimals to Das under Vasundhara Scheme.
After receiving the patta, Das, a visually impaired person, thanked the state government, Jajpur Collector, Vyasanagar tehsildar and OTV, in his usual way of singing a song of his own composition.
When contacted, Vysanagar additional tehsildar Bikram Mallick said some other facilities under government schemes and yojanas would soon be provided to Das.
“Following the direction of the District Collector, we gave a patta (land document) of a piece of land measuring four decimals today. It was provided under Basundhara Yojana. After consultation with the block development officer (BDO), all the possible benefits will also be provided to him,” said Mallick.
When asked about his demands for an artist pension and a house under Indira Awas Yojana, Mallick said he has discussed it with the BDO and soon both demands will be fulfilled.
Notably, Das caught the attention of the media when he visited Korei Panchayat office two days ago, while expressing his plight of not getting a land document and pucca house under any schemes.