Patna: Authorities in Bihar have ordered an investigation after more than 300 villagers who died long ago were ‘still receiving’ social security pension.
Officials say the number of such persons may go up after investigation. The story came to light in Fatuha block of Patna district during the scrutiny of the documents submitted to the office. “We have detected more than 300 persons who died long back but their names still figure in the list of beneficiaries of old age pension. Their number could go up after proper investigation,” local block development official, Fatuha, Dharmveer Kumar told the media on Tuesday.
The official said they were also investigating if the family members of victims had withdrawn the pension money credited to the bank accounts of dead villagers. “If that comes to light then legal actions will be taken against them since this amounts to forgery,” the official said. The probe team was also investigating how many people are availing pensions by submitting fake documents.
As per the rule, the pensioners have to submit proof of them being alive every year to avail the benefit of social security pension schemes but in many cases, the people didn’t inform the government about the death of their family members. The result was that the pension amount continued getting credited to their bank accounts even after their death, officials said.
The COVID-19 crisis too came as a blessing in disguise for such people who remained locked in their homes or had their movements largely restricted owing to the lockdown or severe COVID-19 restrictions imposed by the government to check spread of infection, reports said.
According to an official report, the total number of beneficiaries availing of benefits of the old age pension scheme in Bihar is around four million. Under the scheme launched in June 2019, the state government has been giving a monthly pension of Rs400 to the villagers in the age-group of 60-79 and Rs500 to those 80 years and above.
Till now, only Below Poverty Line (BPL) persons above 60 years are covered under the prevalent old age pension scheme. The amount is directly transferred to the bank accounts of the beneficiaries.
Even more horrible case of similar nature was reported in 2018 from West Bengal where a 45-year-old jobless youth was caught preserving the body of his 80-year-old mother — a retired government servant who died three years ago in 2015 — in a chest freezer so that he could withdraw the pension being credited to her bank account.
During investigation the accused had been obtaining the thumb impressions of his dead mother and submitting them to the bank every year as a proof of her being alive before the police exposed the matter. He even told the bank officials that she was not in a position to visit the bank and was also unable to put her signature since she had grown too old and she suffers from hand tremors.
