Vaikom: Often bungles by government employees land the public in unnecessary hassles. For instance, the pension woes of 64-year-old Sudha of Udayanapuram village here in Kottayam district began in 2018 owing to a mistake in the records of the civic body.
Sudha used to get a State government pension of Rs 1,000 for unmarried women apart from another allowance.
When she made enquiries with the Udayanapuram Panchayat, she was reportedly told that the documents showed that she was dead! As per the computer records, Sudha died on May 28, 2018; hence the pension ceased. Subsequently, the pension for unmarried women that she had been receiving abruptly stopped.
Sudha was then asked to submit a new application to rectify the anomaly. But months after submitting the new application, the pension was still not accruing and she made enquiries again. She was then told that as she was receiving another pension, she would not get the pension for unmarried women.
After Aadhaar was linked to her bank account in 2017, it became known that she was getting a second pension, that of the Kerala Coir Workers Welfare Fund Board, and her allowance under the unmarried women category was reduced to Rs 600.
"I sought legal advice and was informed that I was eligible for both the pensions," Sudha said.
Meanwhile, Udayanapuram Panchayat secretary T Rathi has said that she would check the file and action would be taken to give the pension that the woman is entitled to get.
