Covid-19: Landlady in Odisha waives off rent for seven tenants
BHUBANESWAR: Soudamini Samantaray, 60, a landlady from Baramunda in the city, waived off one month’s rent of around Rs 45,000 for her seven tenants keeping the difficult situation arising out of Covid-19 in mind. Her tenants are small traders and employees of private companies.
“I found many people are facing difficulties due to the Covid-19 crisis. Financial hardship is the biggest one among these problems. Some of my tenants are small traders who closed their shops due to lockdown. Others are working in private companies. My small help will at least reduce their financial burden,” said Samantaray.
The landlady is a social activist and also a trained singer. Her husband is a retired professor of statistics. She has a son and two daughters. “I am connected with many cultural and social organisations including Mahila Suraksha Manch and help people whenever they need me. I wanted to help people in the field during this pandemic situation, but lockdown order and my age did not allow me. So I thought waiving rent will be a great help for our tenants,” she added.
The idea came to her mind after chief minister Naveen Patnaik requested house owners to waive off and defer rents by three months. “My family members agreed with my proposal to waive off the rent for one month. These tenants are like my family members, so I did not want to give them more problems,” she added.
Samantaray said she had worked with many organisations to provide relief during cyclone and flood. Though I cannot come out during the lockdown period, my younger daughter, a government officer, is working tirelessly in the field during this Covid-19 time,” she added.
This social activist also donated money to PM CARES Fund and Odisha chief minister’s relief fund (CMRF) as a small contribution to fight against the deadly disease. She has helped some people to get ration and food. Her tenants thanked her for the kind gesture.
Tenants of other areas of the city also praised this noble work. “I really appreciate the compassionate heart and empathetic spirit of the land lady. Other landlords should follow the footsteps of Samantaray,” said Susanta Behera, a tenant staying in Nayapalli.
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