When Rambai (name changed) wakes up early on Tuesday morning, people around her would be busy preparing for the 67th Republic Day. She, however, would be grappling with tormenting cold and the cloud of dust being swept off the road in front of the TNGOs union office in Adilabad where she sleeps out in the open.
Rambai is not the only one to remain untouched by the development around her and also the benevolence expected of the government. There are at least four more middle-aged women in town who sleep on the roads and survive either on discarded food or crumbs of leftover food thrown at them by seemingly compassionate people.
None of the women in question ask for alms, and all of them spend their day doing things that are nothing out of ordinary. None of them answer questions put to them, while two of them have only use swear words for the more curious ones.
One of them has built a hut like structure for herself on the median of the cinema road on the Ambedkar side. The one sleeping on the road near TNGOs union office shuttles between Adilabad town and Mavala village all through the day before retiring at the spot at around 10 p.m.
The third woman, said to hail from Jamdapur village in Tamsi mandal, is an alcoholic who often creates problems for traffic on the junction of the old NH-7 leading to Natraj theatre. There are two more who can be found in the railway station compound.
“Of course, the government is responsible for their well being,” concurred Adilabad Collector M. Jagan Mohan answering questions posed by The Hindu . “We will do everything possible to rehabilitate them,” he assured.
“The women need special care and they may not stay at our facility,” stated R. Surender of the NGO Social Action for Integrated Development Society, who runs old age homes in the town. “We will give them a health check-up and assess what is best for them. If they have any relatives, we will try to hand them over to them,” the Collector explained.
The issue is not new to Adilabad, which is located at the terminal end of the Nanded-Adilabad railway line.
“Destitutes from Maharashtra land in Adilabad travelling in the passenger train connecting Purna town and other places in Nanded district,” Mr. Surender pointed out.
