'Cremate me with my Padma Shri': Tragedy of weaver whose award 'ruined his livelihood'



Sita Ram Pal, 72, believes receiving the prestigious Padma Shri award damaged his business as a blanket weaver

Poverty, poor health and government negligence have driven a Padma Shri awardee from Uttar Pradesh to desperation.



Sita Ram Pal, the 72-year-old blanket weaver who received the country's fourth highest civilian award under social work category in 1981, has written to President Pranab Mukherjee and Prime Minister Manmohan Singh requesting them to cremate him along with his award after his death.



Frail and bedridden, Pal was once renowned for his artistic blanket weaving. Even the then President Neelam Sanjiva Reddy had termed his work as classically and culturally rich while conferring the award on him.



"Although I suddenly became very famous in the area, the carpet manufacturers stopped giving me work fearing that the government will get annoyed with them if I was employed as a daily wager. So my bad days started with Padma Shri award," says Pal, a resident of village Sherpur Kalan in Ghazipur district.



He lost his eyesight in 1986 because of lack of money and medication.



"I wrote to the central and state governments about my condition. As a result, I was listed for old age pension of Rs 300 per month and got a house under the Indira Awas Yojana.



"But that didn't change my fate. My son also lost his eyesight because there was no money to pay for the doctors," he rues.



His son, Shrawan Pal, says: "Our life was not bad before the government awarded my father Padma Shri. We had thought our life would transform after that. It really transformed, but in a bad way. My father has been jobless since then. We couldn't learn the art that he knew because we didn't see any hope of livelihood in it.



"Since there was no electricity in our house, I got cataract which finally took my vision."



The father claims the government did not come to their help despite several pleas.



"I have written at least 20 letters to the governments in last three decades and met many Presidents, Prime Ministers and chief ministers for help. But they didn't realise my woes. Nobody came to ask about my wellbeing. Since I am on the death bed now, my last wish is to cremate me with my medal."



