The old age pension of a 70-year-old man in Prayagraj district who was wrongly declared dead in 2023 has been restored, officials said on Tuesday.
District Magistrate Manish Kumar Verma told PTI that the matter came to light during a public grievance hearing on Monday.
“During 'Janata Darshan', 70-year-old Sukuru complained that in 2023 he had been wrongly declared dead by a Gram Panchayat officer, resulting in the stoppage of his pension,” Verma said.
Sukuru, a resident of Pali Karanpur village in Bahadurpur block, informed officials that he had been struggling to make ends meet after his pension was discontinued.
Acting on his complaint, Verma ordered Chief Development Officer Harshika Singh to investigate the matter.
The inquiry confirmed that the complaint of Sukuru, son of Sampat, was genuine.
The officials found that then Gram Panchayat officer Ranjana Yadav had incorrectly marked Sukuru as deceased in the verification report, leading to the termination of his pension.
The DM directed the district panchayati raj officer to suspend Ranjana Yadav, currently posted at another Gram Panchayat in the district, for negligence and instructed the district social welfare officer to immediately reinstate Sukuru's pension.
He also ordered disciplinary proceedings against then assistant development officer (social welfare) Akhilesh Kumar Yadav for supervisory lapses.
(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)
