‘Sir… I am alive, the officer stopped my pension by showing me dead’, the old man pleaded, DM ordered an inquiry

A shocking incident has come to light from Kaushambi district of Uttar Pradesh. Where a 65-year-old living man was declared dead. The old man kept wandering from door to door for months to prove that he was alive. Tired of all this, the old man went to the DM and presented the proof of his being alive, seeing this the DM was also surprised. After coming to know about the incident, the DM ordered an inquiry and said that strict action will be taken after fixing the responsibility.

65-year-old Chandrapal, a resident of Saurai Bujurg village of Sirathu tehsil, runs a small paan shop one kilometer away from the village. The old man used to get old age pension, which was his livelihood. But Village Development Officer Vikas Sharma stopped his pension by showing Chandrapal as dead. When the pension did not come for several months, the old man went to the officer and gave proof of his being alive. But it is alleged that the Village Development Officer misbehaved with the old man and drove him out of the office.

The village development officer declared the living elderly man dead

After this, the elderly Chandrapal started visiting the offices of the officials. When his pleas were not heard anywhere, he went to District Magistrate Madhusudan Hulgi and told him his ordeal. The DM took his complaint seriously and ordered an inquiry. It is alleged that Gram Vikas Adhikari Vikas Kumar declared Chandrapal dead without any proper inquiry so that money could be taken in his place and another person could be given pension.

Let us tell you that people taking old age pension have to give their life certificate once a year. Verification has to be done by taking biometric thumb and photo at e-mitra. If the person taking pension does not follow these rules, then the employees of the pension branch go to the house of the concerned beneficiary. They check whether he is alive or dead. If the person taking pension is dead, then his report is sent to the SDM office. After this, an order to stop the pension is issued from the SDM office. In such a situation, the question arises that, on whose orders and for what reason was Chandrapal declared dead while he was alive. The DM has said that strict action will be taken after investigation.

DM ordered investigation

District officer Madhusudan Hulgi said that an elderly beneficiary of Kada block was getting pension but was shown as dead on paper. After investigation in this case, strict action will be taken against whoever is found guilty. This is a wrong way of making government schemes reach the wrong people. Strict action will be taken in this matter.