Bhubaneswar: In a bizarre scene, an 80-year-old man was seen crawling on a concrete road with a scarf tied around his head under scorching heat, struggling to stand upright, to receive his old age pension at Kora Panchayat in Kendrapara district.
Sridhar Sahoo’s daughter had previously collected the pension money from the Panchayat office, but this month, the Panchayat Executive officer refused to give it to her, forcing the frail elderly man to undertake the arduous journey himself.
As Sridhar was creeping, hundreds of people from the Panchayat stopped him on the way, and he went on to complain to the Panchayat Executive Officer, creating tension in the area. The Executive Officer eventually met Sridhar halfway and handed over the pension money, bringing some relief to the elderly man.
Sridhar’s plight has sparked concern among locals who demanded measures to prevent such incidents in the future.
