Declared dead on paper, woman's pension halted

Patna: A 75-year-old woman from Muzaffarpur has been left without her old-age pension for the past three months after she was wrongly declared dead in official records.

A beneficiary of the Mukhyamantri Vriddhjan Pension Yojana, Pavitar Devi alleged her pension was stopped without any prior notice. When she approached officials, she was informed that a verification exercise had recorded her as deceased, leading to the suspension of payments.

“They killed me on paper. Govt staff declared me dead, but I am alive. I have not received my pension for three months. Now the locals have started calling me ‘bhoot’ (ghost),” she alleged.

After repeatedly approaching officials, Pavitar on Monday filed petitions before the National Human Rights Commission and the Bihar State Human Rights Commission.

A resident of the Brahmpura police station area, she said she had been receiving the pension in her bank account until Feb. Payments stopped from March after she was allegedly marked dead during an audit.

Living alone after the death of her husband, Pavitar said she survives by doing household work in other people’s homes.

“The govt pension was a major support. Now I am struggling to make ends meet,” she said.

Representing her before the human rights bodies, advocate S K Jha termed the case a serious instance of administrative negligence.

“Declaring a living woman dead in official records shows how carelessly the administrative system functions,” he said.

Jha said the woman had sought immediate restoration of her pension and action against those responsible.

Muzaffarpur DM Subrat Kumar Sen said the matter would be verified and the sub-divisional officer concerned had been directed to inquire into the complaint.

“If any clerical mistake is found, then it will be corrected and if any official is found guilty, then action will be initiated against him,” the DM added.