Drones, or unmanned aerial vehicles, are globally used to serve many purposes. From photoshoots to politics, drones have been modified to cater to the job they have been put to. In India, drone technology has been slowly taking form and making it easier to reach out to people and locations that were previously difficult to reach.
The northeast’s use of the technology had made it to the news for enabling drone delivery of goods, including medicines, groceries, food, and much more. However, in a first-of-a-kind initiative, a sarpanch of a remote village in Odisha has put drone tech to use for a heartwarming reason.
No More Hardships For Traveling
Hetaram Satnami has been a physically challenged person since birth and lives in a remote village in Odisha’s Nuapada district. In the face of his physical challenges, he had to travel about two kilometres every month to collect the government pension. While two kilometres may not seem much for an able-bodied person, it’s a walk of many struggles for the specially-abled through the dense forests.
However, this month, his pension came knocking on his door, much to his surprise. Helping Hetaram out of one of the many ordeals he faces every day, the Sarpanch ordered a drone to have his pension delivered straight to his home. The New Indian Express quoted Hetaram saying, “It’s a big relief for me as the panchayat office is over 2 km away from the village, which is surrounded by a dense forest.”
Need For A Change
Talking about the need for such a service, Sarpanch Saroj Agarwal said that she had bought the drone online after having seen the plight of the beneficiary. She had enrolled him under the state pension scheme but could see that he struggled to make it to the panchayat to collect the pension benefits. Seeking a solution for it, she said, “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.”
Praising the Sarpanch’s efforts, the block development officer (BDO) of Nuapada, Subadar Pradhan, said that such a move in their remote village was only possible because of Ms Agarwal’s dedication. Subadar conveyed that it was solely her initiative as the government did not have the provision to buy such tech to deliver pensions to the differently-abled yet. Agarwal’s move to take home pension to Hetaram would hopefully bring in ripples of change that would make government schemes accessible to all.
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Uplifting
2023-02-20 13:08:02.0
Accessiblity For All! Village Sarpanch Delivers Pension To Differently-Abled’s Home Through Drone
