Every Sunday, Christuraja from the Papanasam Upper Dam Branch, took over the responsibility when Collector V Vishnu paid a visit to Injikuzhi, which is a tribal helmet at the Tiger Reserve and met a 110-year-old woman named Kuttiyammal.
During that visit, the Collector made a promise to the elderly woman that her monthly old-age pension of Rs 1,000 will be delivered to her without any delay.
The duty of delivering the message was given to the India Post Office from where S Christuraja took over the responsibility. S Christuraja manages the post office of the branch alone, he was responsible to ensure that the pension was delivered on time.
The area where Kuttiyammal lives is known as Injikuzhi which is located on top of the hill of Chinnamayilar Kanni. The journey from Christuraja’s home to Kuttiyammal’s home takes a day on foot, he explained that he starts the journey at 7 am going uphill and having his breakfast by the stream in the middle of the forest.
The next stop before Kuttiyammal’s house is a temple located near the hamlet where he takes a bath before reaching Kuttiyammal’s house. After delivering Kuttiyammal’s monthly pension and catching up with some small talk, Christuraja returns to catch the boat back home by 5 pm.
S Christuraja joined The Indian Post office on May 19, 1997, and has been an employee here working as an Extra Departmental Delivery Agent. He is a native of the village named Agasthiyaar Kaani located amidst the forest.
On enquiry The Senior Superintendent of Post Office, Tirunelveli Division, Mr Sivaji Ganesh stated that earlier no officials were willing to take such a dangerous route to deliver pensions, but Christuraja was the only one who embarked the journey every month.
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One of Kuttiyammal’s relatives said that the pension being delivered to their house was a big relief as they lived in such a remote area where no one was willing to come.