MALKANGIRI: Acute poverty allegedly forced a woman to poison herself and her two minor sons here on Friday. While she perished along with a child, another son is battling for life, The 30-year-old woman, Muke Podiami was married to a daily wage earner Singa Podiami, a native of Telrai village under Kalimela block. The couple had four children - three boys and a girl. After Singa’s death three years back, Muke had been maintaining her family by taking up work as a labourer but it was a life of drudgery for her. The only benefit that she ever received from the Government was allegedly the Rs 1 per kg rice.
Neither Singa nor Muke received any other benefit under Government poverty alleviation schemes. Although she had applied for widow pension, Muke did not get it. While her eldest son and daughter were studying in Venkatpallam and Kangrukonda ashram schools under Kalimela block limits respectively, two others stayed with her. Villagers said Muke was going through extreme hardships and had borrowed money from some villagers recently.
On Friday night, she laced with food with poison and served it to her two children and consumed the same. When the neighbours came to know about the incident, they rushed the three to Kalimela community health centre where Muke and her son Muna breathed their last.
The other son Debendra is battling for life. Kalimela BDO Uma Shankar Dalai said Muke was not given the one time assistance of `20,000 under National Family Benefit (NFB) scheme and widow pension as she could not produce the necessary document including Singa’s death certificate. Dalai claimed that Singa was covered under the Indira Awas Yojana in 2013-14 but villagers refuted the claims and said the Podiami family resided in a thatched house.