‘We are alive sir…’ Husband roaming around with a placard around his neck, wife taking widow pension

Report- Amit Singh Parihar, Singrauli. Such a case of corruption and negligence of the system has come to light from Singrauli district of Madhya Pradesh, which anyone will be surprised to hear. Here a man is making rounds of offices to provide proof of his being alive because in the government records, his wife has declared him dead and has been deducting widow pension for the last 10 years. The surprising thing is that the same wife is also collecting maintenance allowance from the living husband every month on the orders of the court. Actually the matter is of Karsosa village under Baidhan district of Singrauli district. Chandrabali Patel, a resident of this place, was married to Anjoria Patel 30 years ago. After family disputes and Chandrabali’s second marriage, both of them started living separately. The wife filed a dowry harassment case in 2014, in which Chandrabali also had to go to jail.

Chandrabali alleges that his first wife Anjoria presented fake documents in her maternal village Jeer and declared herself a widow and has been continuously taking government widow pension since 2014. The limit was reached when in 2018 the court ordered Chandrabali to pay alimony of Rs 5000 per month to his wife. Since then Chandrabali has been paying money every month, which means he is dead on paper for the government and alive for his wife.

Appealed everywhere
Chandrabali Patel said, ‘I have appealed everywhere. I made rounds from the police station to the collectorate but no one was ready to listen, so now I am roaming around with a placard saying that sir, I am still alive.

Stir in administrative staff
The administration has lost sleep after the picture of a person roaming around hanging a placard went viral on social media. Taking the matter seriously, District Panchayat CEO Jagdish Kumar Gome has ordered an investigation. A detailed investigation report has been sought from the CEO of District Panchayat Baidhan and it is being ascertained with the connivance of which officers the widow pension was sanctioned without verification. If found guilty, an FIR can be registered against the concerned employees and the woman who gave wrong information.

Big question on verification process
However, this incident raises a big question mark on the verification process of the government system that how a woman remained widow in the government records and married in the court records at the same time. When will Chandrabali get justice, it will be clear only after the investigation, but the story of this living corpse has created a discussion in the entire district.