A 39-year-old Steel Authority of India Limited (SAIL) employee's social initiative has helped an octogenarian destitute woman staying in a rickety house in Saranda forest of West Singhbhum district in Jharkhand receive government medical help.

Santosh Kumar Panda, who has been providing free food and grants and even helped students with reading materials staying in the difficult terrains of Saranda forest, noticed Luduri Purty during one of his philanthropic visits.

“I have been visiting villages in Saranda forest since 2017. So far I have found 14 such destitute old persons who have no one to look after and am continuing to support them with whatever I can. However, the condition of Luduri Purty turned me helpless,” said Panda who is deputed in SAIL Kiriburu mines.

Luduri stays in a wooden house in Dharnadiri village of Uttari Kalita panchayat under Manoharpur block of West Singhbhum district.

“As per her ration card, she is 80 years old. She has a leprosy wound on her right leg thumb which has developed into gangrene and few months back I learnt during my visit that she was having high fever, I got her admitted at SAIL Hospital in Kiriburu and after treatment she was released. However, nothing much could be done for her leprosy wound which is continuing to worsen and the area around that wound has got numb and even insects and lizards are biting on the wound. It is so pathetic and I felt so helpless that I tweeted her photos describing the condition and tagged West Singhbhum deputy commissioner Ananya Mittal on Monday,” said Santosh.

Mittal, acting on the tweet, sent a team to Luduri’s house on Tuesday afternoon. “We have sent a team of medical and social security staff to the elderly woman. She has been given a medical kit and instructed about care of the wound. We would also get her linked to the pension scheme and also let her get benefit of the Ambedkar Awas Yojana for the poor,” said Mittal.