Herbal healer who cured over a thousand people now battles poverty and illness

A Correspondent

BOKAKHAT: A special individual above seventy years of age, Jonaram Das, is a resident of Chinakan village under Kuruwabahi Gaon Panchayat of Bokakhat subdivision.

He is widely known across the Bokakhat subdivision as a distinguished social worker. Moreover, Jonaram Das has earned a considerable reputation as a reliable practitioner of herbal medicine. According to him, through herbal treatment he has cured more than a thousand people to date.

Despite this, Jonaram Das has been fighting relentless poverty and various illnesses—has anyone been keeping track of his condition?

At present, the distinguished social worker is ill and confined to his home at Chinakan village under Kuruwabahi. Due to financial hardship, he has been unable to avail of proper medical treatment. His wife is also almost bedridden, suffering from paralysis.

Furthermore, none of the developmental schemes launched by the ruling government have reached Jonaram Das’ family. This extremely humble and socially committed individual has unfortunately been deprived of various government welfare schemes. His family has been excluded from schemes such as Arunodoi and the Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana housing scheme.

“Throughout my life I thought for society, for the people, but now I feel completely alone. There is no one who has the time even to sit with me and talk for a while. My body has weakened, and the sorrow of not being able to engage in public work as before constantly pains me,” Jonaram Das expressed his grief to this correspondent.

It is noteworthy that as a social worker, Jonaram Das once played an active role in addressing flood erosion problems in Kuruwabahi, reorganising backward scheduled communities, establishing schools, and engaging sincerely in various social causes.

It may also be mentioned that during the 1970s and 1980s, he served as a “Village Health Worker” appointed by the Congress government. However, he was deprived of receiving more than two lakh rupees that were fixed as an honorarium for village health workers by the government. Additionally, at one point he served as the vice-president of the “Kuruwabahi Cooperative Society” and was actively associated with the cooperative movement.

Despite all this, no public representative has come forward to enquire about the condition of the ailing and lonely Jonaram Das. At a time when many financially well-off individuals across the Bokakhat subdivision are enjoying government benefits, the continued neglect of a man like Jonaram Das—who dedicated his life to society—raises a serious question in a welfare-orientated democratic country.

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