Burdened By Poverty, Widowed Woman 'Kills Self & Son’

Malkangiri: It seems Odisha government’s push for the development of tribals though numerous schemes and allocation of crores of rupees have become a farce. In Malkangiri where a woman allegedly killed herself and poisoned two of her kids today after facing years of hardship due to poverty bears testimony  to the fact.

The shocking incident occurred at Telarai under MV 79 police limits where one Muka Padiami of the village allegedly killed herself by consuming poison and also spiked the soft drinks of her two kids. While one of her sons was rescued alive and later admitted to hospital, her other child succumbed to the reaction caused by poison.

According to sources, Muka, who lost her husband four years ago had been living under extreme hardships. Although she had somehow managed to enroll her elder son and daughter at a residential school, it was getting increasingly difficult for her to sustain her family with two other kids.

Locals and other neighbours of the village said that despite her wretched financial condition, neither any local public representative nor administration made any provisions for assistance like pension, housing scheme. She only used to receive 25 kg rice every month under the government scheme.

"Over the last few days, she was undergoing through severe mental stress due to acute financial crunch which sometimes became so painful that she had to live without any food," said Singham Madkami, a neighbour of the deceased woman.

Speaking on the incident, Jagannath Sarka, Minister of S.T. & S.C. Development, Minorities & Backward Classes Welfare said that necessary steps will be taken in this connection after a probe into the incident by concerned officials.