Suicide victim’s old parents struggle to make ends meet

Karam Prakash

Tribune News Service

Patiala, December 10

An elderly couple of a Nabha village is a victim of official apathy. Their farmer son committed suicide two years ago but they have not got any compensation from the government. They are neither on the list of old-age pension beneficiaries nor are they getting any benefit under the atta-dal scheme. Further, they are struggling to raise their 12-year-old grandson, who was rendered orphan after his father’s death.

Kakrala village resident Ajaib Singh (70) and his wife Balbir Kaur wash used bottles to make them clean enough for reuse. They get some money in return, which is too little compared to the job done by the old hands.

In July 2016, their son Kesar Singh allegedly hanged himself after the family, already facing hardships due to farming, sank further in debt owing to the treatment he was taking for the injuries he had sustained in an accident. The family had to sell its entire four acres to repay the debt. Kesar’s wife had refused to live with him in poverty and left the home.

Grief-stricken Ajaib Singh said, “The only concern we presently have is to raise our grandson. Quite often, we are unable to pay his school fees. It has been more than two years since my son ended his life, but we are yet to get any help from the government.”

The only respite came when two months ago, the Child Development Project Office started orphan pension (Rs 750 per month) for the kid.

Not only that they did not get any suicide victim compensation of Rs 3 lakh, they are not enrolled for old-age pension. The family is not getting benefit under any other government scheme such as MGNREGA or atta-dal.

“We both are uneducated and unaware of the policies,” they said.

The elderly couple said they had visited various offices at the Nabha Administrative Complex, the office of the Deputy Commissioner, Patiala, and even met MLA Sadhu Singh Dharmsot for help. However, their case did not make it to the list of suicide compensation applicants.

Officials said they (the couple) might have applied late or they might not have informed the police or got the postmortem examination of their son done.

Nabha SDM Kala Ram Kansal said, “We have organised several camps to identify such cases, but they might not have reached out to us. Ask him to meet me, I will take up the matter.”

Gurmeet Singh, a social activist, said, “This shows the insensitivity of the officials. Instead of going to the family, they are asking families to plead in front of them, once again. This when the government is running various schemes to provide door-to-door service.”