Woman declared dead in Madhya Pradesh records appears at public hearing
An elderly woman with impaired vision and no fingers sought the restoration of her pension and ration after being wrongly recorded as deceased.
An elderly woman appeared at a public hearing in Madhya Pradesh’s Khandwa district on Tuesday to prove she is alive after official records declared her dead. According to The Times of India, the woman has been without a pension and ration for three years because she could not authenticate her identity through fingerprints or an iris scan.
The woman, who resides at Nirmal Dham Kushth Ashram and battles leprosy, said she was forced to visit various government offices to contest the error. She alleged that she was treated with disdain and turned away by officials while trying to correct the records. She also demanded strict action against the officials responsible for the error.
The administrative mistake occurred in the Samagra ID, which is the Madhya Pradesh government's digital database for welfare benefits. Officials admitted during the hearing that her death had been wrongly recorded in the portal. The woman had been unable to complete her Aadhaar application due to her inability to provide fingerprints or an iris scan.
Zila Panchayat CEO Aishwarya Verma said a team was put together to investigate the grievance after the village administration sought a report. Verma stated that a ticket has been raised in the woman's name and an update of her Aadhaar details has been sought.
Verma added that the woman's Aadhaar details would be updated by Wednesday. She said officials are checking how long the pension has been missing and assured that the benefits would be restored soon.