Berhampur: A 66-year-old wodow died allegedly after consuming pesticide at a village in Odisha’s Ganjam district, reportedly due to depression over not receiving her old-age pension for the last three months, family members claimed.
The woman has been identified as B Sabitri Dora of Chadheyapada village under Beguniapada block in the district. The incident took place on Sunday but came to light on Tuesday after family shared details.
“My mother was living alone in the house after the marriage of her three daughters. She was totally dependent on her monthly pension of Rs 1,000 and 5 kg rice under the food security scheme,” said B Chandi Dora, one of her daughters.
She alleged that her mother had been repeatedly visiting the bank to check whether the pension amount had been credited.
“It is suspected that my mother died by consuming pesticides as she did not get the pension for the last three months,” she alleged.
Beguniapada Block Development Officer (BDO) Sunil Kumar Samant said the woman was a beneficiary under the Indira Gandhi National Old Age Pension scheme and had last received her pension in March.
The panchayat executive officer has been asked to conduct a preliminary inquiry, he said, describing the incident as “unfortunate”.
Stating that the cause of her death was yet to be ascertained, the BDO said the administration was awaiting the post-mortem examination report to ascertain the exact cause
. The autopsy was conducted at MKCG Medical College and Hospital.
An official said over 1.49 lakh beneficiaries under the National Social Assistance Programme (NSAP) in Ganjam district have not received their monthly pensions for the last three months, reportedly due to technical issues.
Under the scheme, old-age, widow and disability pensioners receive Rs 1,000 per month, while persons above 80 years of age and those with over 80 per cent disability receive Rs 3,500 per month.
“Many of the beneficiaries are highly needy and solely dependent on their pension amount and are now facing hardship as payments have not been received regularly,” said Manoranjan Gouda, sarpanch of Kaithakhandi, who has been staging a dharna at Digapahandi block seeking immediate release of pensions.
The issue has triggered a political row with opposition parties hitting out at the state government, accusing it of having failed to provide allowances and pensions to the beneficiaries in time.
Targeting the government, Biju Janata Dal (BJD) spokesperson Lenin Mohanty alleged that the authorities are not able to spend the funds.
Because of undue delay in getting old age pension, the elderly woman was forced to commit suicide in Ganjam, he claimed, adding that there is money but the government does not care about the elderly people.
Speaking about the delay in release of pension, Chief Secretary Anu Garg said that as of now pensions have been distributed to four lakh beneficiaries of the state.
The remaining beneficiaries will receive the money soon, she said, adding that there is a problem with the portals of all states in the country but the situation is improving and the issue will be resolved soon.
Minister for School and Mass Education, ST & SC Development, Minorities & Backward Classes Welfare Nityananda Gond said the issue occurred due to technical glitches in the portal and would be resolved soon.
“The pensions could not be properly disbursed to some beneficiaries due to certain software issues in the portal. It will be corrected soon,” he added.