Kendrapada, Jan 5 (Odisha.in) A landless and retired Jawan of Border Security Force (BSF) is struggling for survival after his legs paralysed in an accident 12 years ago.
Both the legs of Prasanta Raj 42 of Dalanta village under Marsaghai block in Kendrapada were paralyzed after he met an accident in Kashmir in 1996.
In December that year his two legs were paralyzed after an armoured vehicle turned turtle in Kharadu Mulla hillock in Kashmir when he and other Jawans were going in the vehicle.
“I remained two days buried from my waist to legs in the snow before I was rescued as a result my two legs were paralyzed” he said.
After that I lost my job. The officials of BSF declared me unfit to perform my duty as a soldier. I was retired from the service .After reaching the village; I applied the district administration to provide me land to build a house as I am a landless person, he told Odisha.in.
But, the authority is yet to provide me any land”, dejected Prasanta said. Prasanta has been running from pillar to post to get a piece of land. But, the authority has been paying only lip service to his problems.
“I served my country with utmost dedication. For me work was worship”, Raj who lives with his wife, parents and two children in a ramshackle mud-walled thatched house on a government land said.
He gets four thousand pension amounts each month and it is the sole money that caters to the requirement of all family members.
The district collector, Kashinath Sahoo said “At present, the district administration has no plan to grant him any land. However he said he has directed the BDO of Marsaghai to submit a report.
Odisha.in