ODISHA: In a first of its kind, a physically disabled man received pension at his door step. Considerate enough of the ordeal Hetaram Satnami had to face every month in order to collect his pension, Bhutkapada village in Bhaleswar panchayat Sarpanch Saroj Agarwal resorted to using a drone to deliver his pension this month.
“I have seen how things are sent through drones in other countries. That’s why I placed the order for a drone and got the money delivered to his doorstep,” she said.
Hetaram Satnami, is physically-challenged, a beneficiary of the Odisha’s Madhu Babu Pension Yojana– had to travel 2km every month from his home in Bhutkapada village in Nuapada’s Bhaleswar panchayat, wading through a dense forest, to collect pension.
However this month Satnami, was taken by a surprise. Overjoyed at this gesture of the local panchayat and he thanked Sarpanch Saroj Agarwal, who made the drone delivery system possible after she found out his ordeal.
Nuapada block development officer (BDO) Subadar Pradhan, the of Nuapada, showered praises on Sarpanch Aggarwal and revealed that the initiative was conceived and funded by Aggarwal herself as the government has no provisions to purchase such devices to deliver services.
The Union govt has authorized sending essential supplies of a certain weight and category through drones. However this is for the first time cash was delivered using the unmanned device.