SAMBALPUR: A 75-year-old woman from Motijharan in Sambalpur city has allegedly been deprived of her pension for the past two years after being mistakenly ‘declared dead’ in official records.
The woman, Belamati Bhuyan, has approached the Sambalpur Municipal Corporation (SMC) commissioner and district administration, seeking their intervention to rectify the error and restore her pension.
“I am alive and living in Motijharan with my niece. The officials can visit my house or ask my neighbours if they have any doubts. Please look into the matter and arrange for my pension to be restored. You can stop it when I actually die,” she appealed.
Belamati lives with her widowed niece and depends on her pension and rice supplied through the public distribution system to make ends meet. Though the two continue to receive ration rice, the suspension of her pension has left them struggling to meet their daily expenses.
Belamati said that the ordeal began in 2024 when she fell ill and was admitted to a hospital for treatment. As she was unable to visit the authorities to collect her pension during this period, the benefit was reportedly stopped. After recovering, she approached the SMC office to resume receiving her pension, only to be informed that she had been declared dead in official records.
Belamati said she immediately informed the officials concerned that she was alive and requested them to restore her pension. However, her pleas allegedly went unheard. Around five months later, she submitted a fresh pension application, but it too was unsuccessful as the records continued to show her as deceased.
Since then, Belamati has been running from pillar to post, carrying documents to prove she is alive. Despite repeatedly approaching SMC officials and employees responsible for pension disbursement, she alleged that no corrective action has been taken.
Belamati said her husband went missing a few years after their marriage, and she later learnt he had died. The couple had no children, leaving her dependent on her widowed niece, who is also financially disadvantaged.
SMC commissioner Rehan Khatri said the matter had come to the civic body’s notice and was under verification. “Her case is presently under verification by SMC. However, today, the online portal concerned was unavailable due to scheduled operational maintenance, owing to which her pension disbursement history and beneficiary status could not be ascertained,” he said.
Khatri said the matter was being examined on priority and the relevant records would be verified by Monday once the portal became operational. The commissioner, however, said the allegation that Belamati’s name had been deleted from the beneficiary records after she was declared dead did not appear to be substantiated prima facie. A detailed verification of her beneficiary status and pension disbursement history is necessary before arriving at any conclusion, he added.