85-yr-old woman stops receiving pension after being declared ‘dead’ on paper

Jaipur: Eighty-five-year-old Gattu Devi who lives in a village in Rajasthan’s Ajmer district with her family was in for a shock when she learnt that her widow pension was stopped by the government declaring that she was dead.

A resident of Banjari village under Todgarh tehsil, the grandmother of three received her last pension of Rs 1,500 in February 2022, which too she discovered recently.

“We did not check the account as we thought the pension was being deposited regularly for the past many years. I went to the panchayat samiti and realised that my mother was declared dead and pension was stopped in February last year,” Chunnilal Regar, Gattu Devi’s son said.

The authorities of the Department of Social Justice and Empowerment have initiated an inquiry to ascertain the loophole that led to the mistake. In the meantime, the department has verified Gattu Devi’s identity and said her pension along with the arrears will be released next month. According to officials, the octogenarian was declared dead by the panchayat samiti without verification. To declare someone dead, the panchayat requires a death certificate without which it is impossible to update the system. However, my mother’s name was not even present in the list of dead persons, said Regar.

Gattu Devi, accompanied by her son, also visited the e-Mitra centre for biometric identification with a fractured leg, but to no avail.

“We went to the centre three-four times. However her finger prints could not be taken due to old age,” her son said.

The issue was resolved after it came to the notice of authorities.

“ The matter has come to our notice. Why would the department declare someone dead? There must be some technical error. We will get the matter checked. We have also sent a person to the beneficiary’s residence for verification, which has been completed. The pension will be resumed from next month and arrears will also be deposited,” said Hari Mohan Meena, Director of the Department of Social Justice and Empowerment.