Number of forest fires in Himachal has doubled, says Report
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Her life is limited to a cage-like tiny wooden makeshift shelter.
She crawls and struggles every day to get away from the fate less living.
This is how 26-year-old Anitu alias Nooni has been living in a sleepy village Kungal Balti, near Nankhari in Shimla district of Himachal Pradesh for past three years, when she was left there by her poor aged grandparents.
Just that her food requirement is taken care of by them even today.
The girl cannot stand or walk and crawls with the help of her hands which also don’t function well.
She has a little locomotor control and low vision and can answer only in Yes or No.
Her shelter is obviously hygienic as it is difficult for her to go out for nature’s call every time. Only that she sometimes creeps out to stay under the sun.
The details were shared at a press conference here on Sunday by Chairman of Umang Foundation (a Shimla based charitiable organisation), Ajai Srivastava, who went to see the condition of the girl with his team on a tip off.
“Anitu’s story is heartrending. She lived with her maternal grand parents until three years ago. Later, however, the ageing grandparents left her at a small place as they were unable to take care of her in routine,” he said.
“Poverty and unawareness apart, the tough topography also remained a barrier for her grandparents to get Anitu medically examined when she was a kid,” he added.
Srivastava, who is a disability rights activist, said Anitu has never seen a doctor. “She does not possess a disability certificate that entitles a disabled person to get monthly pension,” he said, adding that, “We don’t know about the girl’s parents.”
He said the Umang has now written to the Secretary, Social Justice and Empowerment, Anuradha Thakur to intervene.
“We want the government to get the girl medically examined and shift her to a state run home for the destitute women near Shimla before December 15. After that the road is blocked to the area due to snowfall,” he said.
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