Bhubaneswar, July 30: Elderly woman Kuntala Rout finally got her legitimate post-retirement benefits from the East Coast Railway Bhubaneswar on Tuesday after over 2 years of frantic struggle.
It was a spontaneous glance of News7 on the woman, languished in misery and sheltered on an open pendal with no food or water for long, to fetch her pension, gratuity dues and other statutory provisions from the Indian Rail authorites following a series of media interventions.
Kuntala Rout (Aprox. 62 Years) had retired from her job as a Bungalow peon (previously Khalasi) under the East Coast Railway, Bhubaneswar in 2022. Being an ignorant woman, she had not processed her pension papers prettier before her superannuation period begins. Thus she waited for months to get her post-retirement benefits and regular pension, but in vain.
Rout failed to get her dues paid by the authorities even after 2 years despite a number of submissions she lodged with the DRM and East Coast Railway headquarters. Every of her application was found dumped in the dustbin whereas she lived a miserable life due to lack of money, as her regular salary was stopped from the day one, she was relieved from the post. Getting no way out, she spent day & nights under the open-sky on a cemented-platform at the BDA Mini Market, Chandrasekharpur. She chose the new adress here on a cemented-slab, so that she could meet her two ends, at least from the benevolent denizens living nearby and to make the Railway headquarters, pillar & post, in order to put forth her grievance at ease on a regular basis.Meanwhile, the News7 team discovered the elderly mother, living on the left-out food & diet of some residents, who was still sitting under a leafless tree despite bitter cold and heavy monsoon shower.
On being asked, Rout briefed her ordeal, how she was living a happy life with the family, serving in the Indian Railway even as a ministerial crew member, and also her penury she was undergoing due to non-payment of her statutory dues from the government, years after after her retirement. Later, the tragic episodes on penury of the former railway staffer, made a headlines in news7 till the voice melts the callusness of the authorities.
Today, the Railway authorities suo moto reached out at Kuntala, the woman who continued her fight for her rights a few meters away from the railway platform for years. They handed over all the papers regarding her pension, gratuity and other post-retirement benefits to her, on the basis of which poverty-stricken Kuntala would encash her long-cherised dues within a couple of days.
Kuntala, on her achievement attributed all credits to the News7 team, that became instrumental as a media partner raising voice on the issue, in tune with the distressed woman.
