Purna Chandra Sahu (left) with his wife and three children in Jagatsinghpur. Telegraph picture

Paradip, July 26: A 58-year-old man in Odisha’s Jagatsinghpur district opted to send his three teenage children to an orphanage named Pallishree Short-Stay Home at Korua village after being unable to cope with pangs of hunger.

Purna Chandra Sahu was forced to take such a step because of his inability to to feed and nurture the children. Ironically, the impoverished man from Haturi village did not figure in the list of below the poverty line (BPL) families thereby being deprived of various social security schemes.

The orphanage later admitted the children on humanitarian ground while arranging for their studies in the nearby government-run school.

“Sahu was in distress owing to lack of income. He has two daughters and a son. Though the children were not orphans, we have enrolled his children as inmates at the home,” said Baishnav Nayak, office-bearer of the home.

“Government agencies are insensitive towards the plight of poor people. Sahu should have been taken care of under gratuitous and emergency relief schemes. As he and his three children were almost starving, the government is duty bound to protect them. He did not have landed property, still he was not covered under the BPL category of families, who are entitled for various poverty alleviation and social security schemes,” said former MLA Bijoy Nayak.

“It pained me a lot to shift the children to orphanage. But, I am helpless. I am not keeping good health nowadays. I am a daily wage earner. It was quite a task to support the children any more. Besides, my wife died last year. So, there are none to look after the children. That’s why I was forced to take the decision much against my conscience. The orphanage authorities were co-operative in enrolling my children at the home. I hope they would lead a better life there,” said Sahu.

“The block development officer and the district social welfare officer have been asked to conduct separate inquiry into it. Steps are being taken to redress the plight of the poor family,” said Narayan Chandra Jena, collector, Jagatsinghpur.