Can anyone tell me when I will get my Old Age Allowances Card? A 90-year-old widow keeps asking this question while begging through the street in Phulbari upazila of Dinajpur district.
Midu Bala Roy, a 90 plus widow of village Boardpara in Phulbari upazila, has never received any widow allowance card after her husband Anil Ram Roy passed away about 10 years ago.  Without any means of living Midu Bala has been forced into begging.
While talking with the reporters she said she has a thatched house at Boardpara village. “Nobody is there to look after me. I walk about 6 to 8 kilometres of way for begging everyday to feed myself”, she added.  She said she has approached many people, including Shah Abdul Kuddus, chairman of Kazihal Union Parishad, several times for the old-age widow allowance card. “Nothing has happened,” she regretted. “I am now 90 plus, she said and questioned when will one become old enough to get the allowance?
She said: “The chairman thinks that I am not eligible.”
Midu Bala said she often get surprised seeing the cards are in possession of many people much younger than her.
When contacted Shah Abdul Kuddus, UP chairman of Kazihal union parishad said he could not recollect anything about Midu Bala; but he has asserted that old age and widow allowances cards have been distributed among the eligible people -- male and female – in his area.