Tamil Nadu Postman Mounts A Hill To Keep His Promise By Delivering Pension

Every month on the Sunday, a 55-year-old postmaster goes on a day-long walk deep into the Kalakkad Mundanthurai Tiger Reserve forest to fulfil a five-month-old promise done to a 110-year-old woman. After Collector V Vishnu visited the Injikuzhi tribal hamlet at the Tiger Reserve and met 110-year-old Kuttiyammal, S Christuraja of the Papanasam Upper Dam Branch was given this special duty.

The postmaster was able to only delivers on Sundays because the travel takes a day.

The Collector informed the elderly woman that she would receive a monthly Old Age Pension of Rs 1,000 and instructed the officials to transmit the money to her via the India Post office.

Since Christuraja runs the Branch post office on his alone, it was up to him to make sure Kuttiyammal got her pension. While the Injikuzhi tribal hamlet is located near the Papanasam dam, uphill from Chinnamayilar Kaani.

While explaining his journey to reach there, Christuraja said that the forest officials organised a four-kilometre boat excursion across the dam's banks, after which he trekked approximately ten kilometres. However, he travels 25 kilometres via the Chinnamayilar Kaani, enduring leech bites, whenever the water level in the dam is too low for a boat ride. He stated that he usually starts his journey at 7 a.m. and hike to a forest stream, then he approaches the temple beside the hamlet and takes bathe in the river before entering Kuttiyammal's house after breakfast by the stream. He gets back to catch the boat back by 5 p.m. again after a conversation with Kuttiyammal.

However, Christuraja, a native of the forest's Agasthiyar Kaani village, entered the service on May 19, 1997, as an Extra Departmental Delivery Agent. As per Sivaji Ganesh, Senior Superintendent of Post Office, Tirunelveli Division, this offers him an advantage.

Iyyappan, 40 years old, a relative of Kuttiyammal, adds that having access to the pension has provided the supercentenarian tremendous peace of mind.