Beyond duty: N Kol BLO saves 93-yr-old mom of 3 from ‘eviction’

Kolkata: Sohini Dey (51), a Shyampukur BLO, completed the SIR digitisation of all 588 voters in her poll booth by Nov 25. However, a 93-year-old widow's plea to be retained as a voter at her former home in Ahiritola, where she once lived with her husband, and not at her current old-age home near Hatibagan, continued to trouble her. Dey, a teacher, went the extra mile to argue the nonagenarian's case to her superiors and helped keep her EPIC address at her former home.A widow, born in 1932, was marked as ‘shifted' following information given by the family when Dey went to distribute enumeration forms. Dey said, "I went to her house on Nov 7, and her daughter-in-law received three forms. After taking the elderly woman's form, I was told to show her as a ‘shifted' voter. I was told the elderly woman didn't stay at that address any more. I did what she told me."A few days after completing the digitisation process, Dey received a call from a woman who claimed to be the younger daughter of the elderly woman. "Madam, I am her daughter. My mother and I want her voter card to remain at the original address because if it's cancelled, it will take away her only address proof and links with her former home. This can also affect her pension, which will impact her old-age home costs," the woman told Dey. Dey told her that her SIR form was marked as ‘shifted' and uploaded on the BLO App, and nothing could be done at that point in time. She advised the woman to apply for a new card during the claims-objection period.The daughter then told her about the elderly woman's travails. The 90-year-old, mother of two daughters and a son, had lived with her elder daughter in Mumbai for many years before returning to Kolkata. However, the son and daughter-in-law refused to take her responsibility, put her up in an old-age home. The elderly woman's husband, now deceased, used to work in a bank, and she receives a pension; that money funds her stay at the old-age home. "Her husband's large house has no place for her, and her own children and daughter-in-law don't want the voter card to remain unchanged. This thought gave a jolt, and I decided to do all I could to save her identity proof," Dey added.Dey had numerous discussions with the assistant ERO about the difficulties the elderly woman might face. Dey said she told her superior, "At this moment, humanity is more important to me than professionalism. In her helpless life, the pension money is her only support. I don't want her to face any difficulty because I didn't take any action."Her seniors agreed, and Dey met the woman at the old-age home and signed her SIR form again before uploading it on the app. "Her eyes, full of tears, told me her unspoken stories. I promised to visit her again, and will definitely do it," she added.

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