Activists seek safeguards for vulnerable sections after elderly woman’s death in Odisha

Activists on Saturday demanded a robust mechanism to protect vulnerable sections after a 67-year-old widow allegedly died by suicide following the stoppage of her government pension in Odisha. 

Members of four organisations visited Chadiapada village in Odisha’s Ganjam district after concerns were raised over the death of B. Sabitri Dora, a resident of the village under Mardakote gram panchayat in Beguniapada block, whose pension had allegedly remained unpaid for three consecutive months. 

“From April to June, social security pension was stopped for the beneficiaries under the National Social Assistance Programme supported by the Centre. It affected approximately 20 lakh pension holders, primarily old age, widow and disability pension,” said Samit Panda, convener of the Odisha Right to Food Campaign. 

Mr. Panda said the State government had attributed the delay to technical glitches and software problems in the digital payment portal used to process Direct Benefit Transfer payments through the SNA-SPARSH (State nodal agency) platform. 

Report findings 

According to the fact-finding report, Dora, who lived alone, depended on a monthly widow pension of ₹1,000 and subsidised food grains received through the Public Distribution System. However, her pension remained unpaid for the past three months despite repeated visits to the gram panchayat office, block office and the bank. 

Presenting the findings, journalist Rakhi Ghosh said, “No immediate effort was made to resolve Dora’s grievance despite her age, vulnerability and solitary living condition”. 

“This pushed her into severe financial hardship and mental distress,” said Sricharan Behera, a member of the Campaign for Survival with Dignity. 

The report alleged that the delay in pension payments, administrative negligence, failure of the digital payment system and absence of an effective grievance redress mechanism had pushed lakhs of beneficiaries into distress. It said the case reflected a wider systemic crisis, as “no contingency mechanism such as cash disbursal or manual payment had been put in place despite the State government acknowledging technical failures in the payment portal”. 

The activists alleged that only after Dora’s death received widespread public attention did the State government release the pending pensions. 

(Those in distress can contact Tele MANAS at 14416 to seek help)